The California Lutheran University Regals softball team (10-15) split a doubleheader against the Williams College Ephs (6-8) on Wednesday afternoon, after losing the first game 7-1 and regrouping to win the second game 10-2 in a five-inning run-rule victory.
“We talked about magic, M-A-G-I-C, and it’s ‘Make A Greater Individual Commitment,’” Head Coach Kecia Davis said. “Our focus today is that everybody’s going to do the best they can to make their individual commitment and work as hard as they can. If we as a team all do the best we possibly can and make a commitment to be the best we can, we can’t lose.”
Game one started slow, with the Ephs scoring a run in the top of the first, the only point on the board until they scored again in the top of the fifth. By the seventh inning, the game was still within reach for the Regals, that is until the Ephs hit a three-run home run off of junior starting pitcher Kalli Strahm. Williams went on to score two more runs in the seventh for a total of five in the inning to win the game 7-1.
“We did better as the game went along,” Strahm said. “Clearly, earlier on in the game, we had a lot more strikeouts, but by the end, we were barreling some balls, we were getting some hits, we were making contact.”
The Regals were able to score just one run in the seventh inning, with first-year Kate Brandeberry getting a solid hit that allowed her teammate to score a run and avoid a shutout.
“I’m really happy about my performance,” Brandeberry said. “I wanted to step up for my team and be able to score runs for us, and I stayed positive throughout the whole game.”
The Regals were only able to get four hits throughout the seven innings in contrast to Williams’ thirteen hits total. Davis said the key for game two was to get more hits and more people on base.
“The toughest part of the first game is just staying up and energetic consistently throughout,” Strahm said. “There’s a lot of ups and there’s downs, … when the good is good, like, we’re great, we’re loud, we’re energetic, but when it’s bad, it’s hard for us to kind of keep that same energy level and keep that momentum going.”
After the slow start and disappointing finish for the Regals in game one, there was a short intermission to prepare the field for game two. Davis said she was confident that if the Regals could keep their momentum up and their energy high, things were going to happen for them.
“In between games, … it’s a saying Kecia has, she tells us to just flush it. You know, whatever happened with the first game, the good, the bad, we just have to flush it, reset, because it’s a completely new game,” Strahm said. “We have seven new innings to play, so whether we had the best game of our lives or the worst game of our lives, it doesn’t really matter what we did the game before.”
This ability to “flush” away the previous game proved to be successful for the Regals as they were able to make a comeback in game two. Williams started off strong with two runs in the first, but Cal Lutheran quickly responded in the second inning with three runs of their own.
Cal Lutheran was able to bring in an additional three runs in the third and fourth innings of game two, and after junior Jessica Waters scored another run in the fifth, the victory was sealed for the Regals via the “run-rule,” winning the second game 10-2.
The Regals will continue their season on Friday, April 3, traveling to face the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas at 3 p.m.
