The California Lutheran University softball team snagged two victories over the Occidental College Tigers in a double-header on Saturday.  With these wins the Regals improve their record to 9-4 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, according to clusports.com.

This win is credited to a long week of great practice and two good games against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps the previous weekend.

“We had a strong ending of the weekend last weekend, so I think that really pumped us up for coming into this week,” second baseman, Makenna Pellerin said.

The pitchers in both games, sophomore Courtney Sooy and senior Shonna Christianson, made a difference for their team.

“Our pitching definitely kept us in these games,” junior designated hitter Blake Lewis said.

Both Sooy and Christianson allowed only one run in their respective games.  Aided by a catch from freshman outfielder Olivia Leyva, the Tigers were denied any other runs in the first game.

“We didn’t have to play a ton of defense to be honest,” head coach Debby Day said.

The offense was strong during both games. Lewis led the offensive attack, going 5-6 combined in both games, including an RBI double and two runs scored.

Leyva also hit big with an RBI double, freshman infielder Antonia [Scooter] Rapisardi had two RBIs, and sophomore outfielder Amanda Lewis racked up two runs scored for the Regals in game one, according to clusports.com.

“I’d say it was just machine hitting,” Pellerin said.

The second game proved to be just as collaborative as the first.  It began with a run from Occidental in the third inning, scoring the first run of the game, but turned when senior first baseman Christina Hunter batted in two runs to take the lead.

“I expect the same defensively and pitching wise, so it’s just if our hitting keeps building I think it’s a big priority for us,” Pellerin said.

The last inning called for three outs for the Regals to take the game.  Christianson induced three ground balls hit to the left side of the infield, and all three outs were gained with the combined effort of third baseman Liz Mertel, Rapisardi and Hunter.

The Regals left the field with a 9-1 victory in game one and a 5-1 victory over the Tigers in game two, improving their team average to .295 on the season, according to clusports.com.

“Every win matters, so it’s just beating the teams we’re supposed to beat and getting better every time we play, and getting ready for the next two now,” Day said.

Blake Lewis said she hopes the remainder of the season results in the Regals snagging a top four spot in SCIAC.

“We have goals we want to make and these two wins help us reach that goal,” Blake Lewis said.

Day said today’s wins were a team effort more than anything.

“You know, it’s a really hardworking group,” Day said. “I think they are really easy to coach, eager to learn.  Every time we take the field we do something a little bit better, and we’re a little bit smarter.  So our goal from the start has been get to the post season and so we’re right where we need to be.”

The Regals are set to play Redlands on the Bulldogs’ campus, March 14 at 12 p.m.

“Hopefully we can build just off of these wins, take it when we play Redlands next week,” Blake Lewis said.  “Redlands is going to try to come out because we took two from them previously, so we’ve got to come out ready to play next weekend and hopefully win two more.”

Katrina Petty
Staff Writer
Published March 11, 2015