THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - In a showdown between the top two teams in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings, two homeruns and solid pitching doomed Cal Lutheran as it fell 8-0 in both games during a doubleheader against Redlands Sunday. Both games were nearly mirror images of each other as Cal Lutheran got just three hits in each contest while Redlands hit a homerun in the fourth inning of both games to put things out of reach.
Game one saw Redlands get out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Amanda Clark was hit by a pitch then came around to score after Vicki King fisted a single into left field.
Katelyn Downing would lead off the bottom of the first with base hit for the Regals but Redlands starting pitcher Kaitlyn Hooper would go on to retire the next eight straight batters.
Redlands increased its lead to 5-0 when Amanda Lievanos launched a two-run homerun in the top of the fourth. The Bulldogs would tack on three more runs in the top of the fifth after an RBI single by Clark and a two-run double from Kristen Hooper.
Cal Lutheran had a chance to extend game one when it loaded the bases following a Kayla Sakamoto single but Redlands third baseman Addie Oeleis snared a hard-hit grounder from Blake Lewis and threw it over to first for the game's final out.
Shonna Christianson (5-1) was tagged with her first loss of the season as she went all 5.0 innings and allowed eight runs on 12 hits while striking out one.
After Redlands got out to a 2-0 lead to start game two, Cal Lutheran had its best offensive chance of the afternoon when it loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third. Christina Hunter led off the inning with a single and then Downing reached base after the Ka. Hooper had a fielding error. Sakamoto followed that by ripping a base-hit back through the box and sending Lewis, CLU's No. 3 hitter up to bat. Unfortunately for the Regals, Lewis hit a chopper to first base that Dani Santos was able to field and turn into a 3-2-4 double play. Ka. Hooper would then get Stephanie Martello to groundout and end the scoring threat.
The Bulldogs would break things open the next inning when King sent a three-run homerun to straight away center and put Redlands up 7-0.
Downing (4-5) suffered the loss despite giving up just two earned runs and striking out five. Sakamoto, Hunter and Andrea Brackpool collected the only hits for the Regals in game two.
Cal Lutheran (16-10, 10-6 SCIAC) will look to rebound when it travels to La Verne, Calif. to take on the Leopards in a doubleheader on Saturday, April 5. First pitch of the doubleheader is set for 12:00 p.m.
Game 1 Box Score: UR 8 CLU 0 (5 innings)
Game 2 Box Score: UR 8 CLU 0 (5 innings)
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