The California Lutheran University Regal’s softball team played five games against two Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference teams over the weekend.
The games started on Friday, April 26 with a single game against Chapman University where the Regals topped the Panthers 7-2 after scoring 5 runs in the last two innings. Junior pitcher Ashlyn Flinchum pitched her 11th complete game and picked up her ninth win this season, according to CLU Sports.
The Regals played Chapman again in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 27 where they dropped both games.
โWe were told to have different approaches when we go up to hit, the pitcher was just throwing outside and we kept rolling over ground balls after ground balls so we kind of just made her come to us and waited,โ junior infielder Olivia Vargas said.ย
In the first game on Saturday, the Panthers took an early lead by scoring two runs in the first inning and kept the Regals off the board for six whole innings.
In the seventh inning, first-year outfielder Reyna Perez and sophomore outfielder Nadia Collins both hit singles with one out, first-year infielder Jessica Waters got the Regals on the board with a 2-RBI single scoring Perez and Collins.
The first game ended with the Regals losing and falling 4-2 to the Panthers.
In the second game, the Panthers managed to score five runs on the board in the first three innings, two in the second and three in the third.
The Regals fought back in the bottom of the fourth inning with Waters smashing a solo home run to get the Regals on the Board and made the score 5-1.
The Regals managed to score two more runs in the fifth inning which made the score 5-3 but the Panthers retaliated with another run in the sixth inning.
Nobody scored in the seventh inning and the final score of the game was 6-3.ย
The Regals were ranked fourth in the SCIAC going into this past weekend. Softball Head Coach Debby Day said the team is more than capable of making it into the SCIAC playoffs but they need to be more consistent overall.
โI know we were in fourth todayโฆ I know that our team is definitely capable of being in the postseason the way we work, we have enough players, we have enough pitching, and overall, I think weโll be able to come through,โ Vargas said.
The Regals split Sundayโs doubleheader against the Whittier College Poets, losing the first game 8-6 in nine innings and winning the second game 6-1. Flinchum pitched another complete game and secured another win in the circle for the Regals.
โWe’re used to playing multiple games in a day. They all grow up playing multiple games in a day. It’s exhausting because of where we sit in the playoff chase, right and so every game matters but this is where we want to be,โ Day said.
The games on Sunday, April 13 were originally scheduled to be played two weeks ago but were rescheduled due to rain.
The Regals have already played one game against the Poets which ended with the Regals losing 4-3.
After this weekend the Regals are Scheduled to play their final SCIAC games against the University of Redlands on May 3 and May 4.ย
