After clinching its 10th-consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) regular-season title on Friday, the No. 18 University of Redlands softball team traveled to the University of La Verne on Saturday for a doubleheader with the Leopards. The Bulldogs won the first game of the day, 8-4, but dropped the nightcap in five innings, 1-9.
In the opener, senior designated player Erika Houseman (Scotts Valley, CA) got the scoring going for the Maroon and Gray in the top of the second frame with a sacrifice-fly to right field.
The Leopards then kept Redlands quiet until the fifth inning when senior center-fielder Amanda Lievanos (Anaheim, CA) and junior third baseman Nikoli Sharp (Lincoln, CA), laced singles that both resulted in runs to put Redlands up, 3-0. In the sixth frame, sophomore left fielder AJ Carrasco (Whittier, CA) smacked an RBI single up the middle for her team-best third hit of the contest, pushing the advantage to four.
La Verne responded in the sixth inning, however, scoring on four occasions to tie to game at 4-4.
The Bulldogs immediately answered in the seventh frame when junior pinch-runner Aisha Salami (Gardena, CA) stole home to give Redlands the lead. After a few walks and errors from La Verne, Carrasco hit a sacrifice-fly that plated Redlands' fourth run of the inning.
That would be more than enough, as sophomore pitcher Lauren Henson (Highland, CA) shut the door on the Leopards in the bottom of the seventh, giving the U of R the 8-4 victory.
Senior pitcher Kaitlyn Hooper (Riverside, CA) also pitched valiantly for Redlands, going 5.2 innings while surrendering four runs, all of which were unearned.
At the plate, Carrasco finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and one run scored, while Sharp tallied two hits, one RBI, and two runs scored.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Redlands struggled to get the bats going, ultimately recording three hits as a team.
After falling behind early, the Bulldogs tied things up in the third when Lievanos brought in the only run the Bulldogs would get in the game via an RBI single to right field.
Henson, freshman pitcher Courtney Ludlow (Petaluma, CA), and freshman pitcher Casey Maltz (Palo Alto, CA) all received innings in the circle in what was only the fifth SCIAC loss for the Maroon and Gray during the 2014 campaign.
Redlands (27-11, 23-5 SCIAC) takes a break from games during Commencement week, but returns to action when it hosts the SCIAC Postseason Tournament on May 2nd – May 4th at the Softball "Field of Dreams. The Bulldogs host the entire tournament based on their finish atop the conference standings. Stay tuned on www.goredlands.com for updates on the schedule when the top-four seeds are finalized.
