Senior pitcher Kaitlyn Hooper (Riverside, CA) and freshman pitcher Casey Maltz (Palo Alto, CA) led the 19th-ranked University of Redlands softball team to a doubleheader sweep of the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens on Saturday afternoon, giving the Bulldogs their second-consecutive sweep to open their 2014 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) campaign. The Maroon and Gray won the opener, 6-2, while taking the nightcap, 5-0.
In the first game, sophomore shortstop Vicki King (Thousand Oaks, CA) got Redlands on the board in the top of the first inning when she hit a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring junior first baseman Nikoli Sharp (Lincoln, CA) on the play. A batter later, sophomore left-fielder AJ Carrasco (Whittier, CA) ripped an RBI single to left field, plating sophomore third baseman Addie Oeleis (Temecula, CA). The Bulldogs would tack on one more in the opening frame and two more in the second to make it 5-0 in favor of the road squad.
The Sagehens did pull a pair of runs back in the bottom of the second, however, cutting the deficit to just three runs.
Both teams' pitchers cruised effectively through the next four innings before Bulldog senior center-fielder Amanda Lievanos (Anaheim, CA) gave Redlands an insurance run in the top of the seventh when she blasted a solo-homerun over the left-field fence to give the U of R the 6-2 lead.
That was more than enough, as Hooper was dealing from the circle and went the distance to earn the win, dispersing nine hits while allowing just two runs on the day.
At the plate, Sharp finished with a 2-for-4 performance with two runs scored, while Lievanos went 2-for-4 as well with a pair of RBI and one run scored.
The nightcap proved to be a pitchers-duel, as neither squad scored until Redlands finally found the breakthrough in the fifth frame, taking advantage of a passed ball to nab the 1-0 lead.
The Bulldogs then tacked on three more runs in the sixth inning, with sophomore catcher Dani Santos (West Covina, CA) recording the big hit when she singled to left-centerfield to score two Bulldogs on the play. Not long after that two-RBI base knock, senior second baseman Amanda Clark (Riverside, CA) registered an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Maroon and Gray scored once more in the seventh, and that was all they would need as Maltz was spectacular from the circle for Redlands. Maltz pitched all seven innings for the Bulldogs, scattering just four hits and no runs in her first-ever collegiate win.
At the plate, Carrasco led the way with a 3-for-4 effort, one RBI and one run scored, while Santos notched two hits and two RBI in the important conference triumph.
The U of R (6-6, 4-0 SCIAC) returns to action next Saturday when it travels to Cal Lutheran University (8-0, 4-0 SCIAC) to take on the undefeated Regals. First pitch of the doubleheader in Thousand Oaks is scheduled for 12 p.m.
