The California Lutheran University softball team split a double-header on the road against Redlands on March 14. The Regals took a 4-3 win in game one before a 9-8 loss in extra innings in game two. This was the Regals’ first road loss of the season.

According to clusports.com, sophomore pitcher Courtney Sooy pitched her 10th complete game this season. Sooy allowed 10 hits and three runs, striking out three and walking none in game one. Sooy also came in to pitch 6.2 innings in relief in the second game.

“My performance was as good as I could do. I pitched 14 innings and I gave my team everything I had to get the win,” Sooy said in an email interview. “I would describe our performance pretty much the same [in both games]. We fought hard in both games. We ended up coming out on top in the first game and the second game was sort of taken away from us.”

This one win and one loss comes after a series sweep against Redlands when Cal Lutheran played them last on Feb. 8. This time around the Regals wanted to prove the previous sweep was not a fluke.

“We were able to show them the first game, we are fighters too. Even though we lost the second game, we put up a good fight, kept it going 10 innings and we scored every inning,” Sooy said.

“Even though we swept Redlands last time, I feel like we put a better product out on the field this time around. Even though we split the games, our defense, offense and pitching were a lot stronger,” senior first baseman Christina Hunter said in an email interview.

According to clusports.com, Hunter had two hits in this series against Redlands. She also came in to score the tying run off of a single from freshman Olivia Leyva in the fifth inning of game one.

Sophomore catcher Amanda Lewis then hit a double and Leyva was able to break the tie. Freshman second baseman Makenna Pellerin hit a single allowing Lewis to score and gave the Regals a 4-2 lead. According to clusports.com, Pellerin had two hits and an RBI in the game one victory.

“I thought we had really strong warm-ups before the games, and it seemed to really carry over well into the first game. Both games we played really well, and we knew coming into the series that Redlands wouldn’t be easy to beat. I believe we showed up prepared to play, and we left it all out on the field,” Pellerin said in an email interview.

Game two stretched 10 innings and the Regals fought hard but came up short.

Redlands started with an early 2-0 lead after the first inning, but the Regals tied up the game at the top of the second when freshman Antonia Rapisardi hit a two-RBI single. Redlands answered with two more runs in their half of the inning and kept a 4-2 lead.

“Our team did a really good job of not letting pressure get to us especially when we were trailing runs. We knew we needed to work harder and work as a team in order to get back on top,” Hunter said. “Also our pitcher worked incredibly hard to keep us in both games today which allowed us to keep the gaps close.”

In the fifth inning, Cal Lutheran had four hits and three runs and took a 5-4 lead. Sooy was able to get senior third baseman Liz Mertel home with a double and Hunter came up next with an RBI single. Redlands answered with scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth to reach a 7-5 lead. Neither team scored from the sixth through ninth innings until Cal Lutheran advanced in the tenth.

Redlands came up with a quick RBI single and tied up the game 8-8 in the bottom of the tenth. With two outs and bases loaded, one more walk brought the game-winning run in for Redlands, according to clusports.com.

“Overall, I thought we played really well. I know there were some mistakes that cost us a couple runs, and in the end those missed opportunities might have changed the outcome of the games,” Pellerin said. “So moving forward I think we just need to make every pitch count and make sure that we are executing in every opportunity.”

Amber Rocha
Staff Writer
Published March 18th, 2015