The semester is drawing to a close and so are the seasons for California Lutheran University’s spring sports teams. Here is a look at what has already happened this year and what is still on the horizon.

After a 12-game winning streak that culminated in three wins at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Post Season Tournament, Kingsmen baseball brought their overall win-loss record to 34-8. In the conference, they went 23-6. They now have several more games ahead of them at the NCAA Division III Baseball Regional in McMinville, Ore. held May 14-18 and the NCAA Division III Championships held May 23-27 in Appleton, Wisc.

Regals softball started the season strong, winning their first four double-headers. The rest of the season brought a mixture of victory and defeat, finishing with losses in the team’s last three double-headers. They ended the season 19-19 overall and 13-15 in the conference.

“We did some things really well and then we fell short on some things,” Debby Day, Regals softball coach, said. “There’s definitely room for improvement, but we did have some highs during the year.”

The season is also over for men’s golf. After finishing fourth place in their first SCIAC tournament and third place in their second SCIAC tournament, the Kingsmen ended the season with a fourth place at the SCIAC Championships.

Women’s golf finished their season in third place at the SCIAC Championships. This came after a third place finish and a second place finish at their previous SCIAC tournaments.

Regals water polo ended their season 10-21 overall and 6-5 in the conference. According to head coach Craig Rond, there were several highs in the year, but the team finished below its expectations in the SCIAC Championships.

“We played great defense all year and won some big games,” Rond said. “The heartbreak was the way the first game of the SCIAC tournament ended with Redlands beating us on a last second shot.”

The season ended for women’s tennis with three consecutive losses at the SCIAC Championships. This made their final record 4-15 overall and 1-9 in the conference.

Men’s tennis finished the season 8-11 overall and 5-4 in the conference, ending with a win against Chapman at the SCIAC championships and a loss to Pomona-Pitzer in the SCIAC semifinals. Their coach, Mike Gennette, said the season exceeded his expectations since the team lost six of its key players from the previous year.

“I had lowered my normal expectations for this season and told the team we would be focusing on improving rather than winning and rankings,” Gennette said. “But, it turned out that by mid-season, the team had bounced back nicely and has actually had a pretty good season.”

After a mixture of wins and losses at SCIAC meets throughout the season, men’s track and field finished in fourth place at the SCIAC Championships. Their work is not over yet, however. They still have the Redlands Last Chance Qualifier meet May 15 and 16 and then they will head to the NCAA Division III Championships May 22-24.

Women’s track and field went undefeated in the conference this season and concluded with a first place victory at the SCIAC Championships. They will also attend the Redlands Last Chance Qualifier and the NCAA Division III Championships.
Spring sports may be coming to an end for 2014, but many of CLU’s athletes will return after a few short months of summer to begin training again for next season.

Nerissa Cauthen
Staff Writer
Published May 7, 2014