Redlands wins first-ever NCAA softball title

University of Redlands softball team won its first-ever NCAA Division III national championship Wednesday with a come-from-behind 7-6 win over defending national champion Trine University of Indiana, sweeping all five games the Bulldogs played at the World Series in Salem, Va.

The Bulldogs trailed 6-3 entering the sixth inning, tied the game at 6-6 with three runs, then scored the winning run in the top of the seventh when Redlands High 2022 graduate Mya Holshoe singled and stole second, then came home on Avery Provenzano’s timely single to center field off Trine All-American pitcher Debbie Hill that scored Holshoe.

Senior pitcher Brianna Garcia of Redlands, who relieved starter Katelyn Gandara in the bottom of the fifth, not only retired Trine in order in the sixth to preserve a 6-6 tie but retired the Thunder in order in the bottom of the seventh, inducing Trine senior Macy Rocha, who hit a three-run homer in the first inning, to fly out to Jenay Scott in left-center field for the title-clinching third out.

The Bulldogs closed out their record-setting 48-6 season with two wins over a Trine team that beat them soundly in the 2025 national championship tournament. Redlands, the 2026 SCIAC conference champions, won Tuesday’s first game of a best-of-three series, 11-3.

Redlands players and coaches received individual NCAA championship trophies before the presentation of the team trophy during the tournament’s closing ceremonies. The players wore “National Champions” T-shirts during the ceremony.

Gandara was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and outfielder Leila Gomez (Aquinas High School/San Bernardino) was voted to the all-tournament team. Before the tournament began, Gandara was announced as a second-team All-American, the only Redlands player named to the three teams selected by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

Gandara pitched 4.2 innings against Trine on Wednesday, allowing all six Trine runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks.

Garcia pitched 2.1 innings of hitless and scoreless relief to earn the victory, her fifth of the season, mixing up her pitches that were primarily off-speed curves and drops that seemed to unsettle the Thunder hitters.

Down 4-0 in the second, Redlands rallied for two runs off Trine freshman pitcher Kami Arnett. After Natalie Lowthers (Serrano High School/Wrightwood) walked, Scott tripled to right field, scoring Lowthers. After Holshoe popped out, Adyson Kim hit into a fielder’s choice as Scott scored to make it 4-2 Trine.

Redlands narrowed the gap to 4-3 in the fourth. With two out, Natalie Lopez reached on an error and advanced to second on the play. Saya Fujii ran for Lopez and scored on Brooklyn Bard’s single down the left-field line to make it a 4-3 game.

Trine added two runs in the fifth off Gandara on a two-run homer by Emma Lee for a 6-3 advantage.

The Bulldogs pulled even in the sixth inning. Adyson Kim led off with a double and advanced to third on an infield out. Lopez then drove in Kim with a single to left. Bard sacrificed Lopez to second for the second out. The fleet-footed Gomez beat out an infield bouncer to shortstop as Lopez moved to third. Gomez then stole second and Gandara walked to load the bases. Lowthers then lined a single to center, scoring Lopez and Gomez to tie the game at 6-6. Hill then replaced Arnett in the circle.

In the bottom of the sixth, Garcia’s off-speed pitches resulted in easy fly-ball outs to left and center to retire the side in order.

Leading 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh, Garcia gloved a comebacker in the circle for a 1-3 putout, watched as Scott made a diving catch of a bloop fly in shallow center and Rocha made the final out of the game with a fly ball caught by Scott in left-center field to seal the championship.

Provenzano, Lopez, Scott, Kim and Bard each collected an RBI in the game while Lowthers had two RBI.

Scott wound up the season as the Bulldogs’ leading hitter at .473 with 78 hits, 50 runs scored, 12 doubles, five triples and 35 RBI.

Gandara, who was the SCIAC conference softball athlete of the year, batted .450 while playing in all 54 games with 68 hits, 21 doubles, four home runs and a team-high 60 RBI.

Gomez hit .427 in 54 games with 70 hits, 54 runs scored and 34 steals in 35 attempts.

Lowthers hit .386 in 53 games with 64 hits, 34 runs scored, 18 doubles, five home runs and 42 RBI.

Holshoe batted .346 in 52 games with 46 hits, 29 runs scored and 38 RBI.

As a team, the Bulldogs hit .380 on the season, scoring 391 runs and averaging 7.2 runs per game.

Gandara finishes her Redlands career with a 24-2 record in the circle in 32 starts and picked up two saves in relief. She pitched 10 complete games and logged 162.1 innings. She leaves with a school record for career wins with 72 against 21 losses in four seasons.

Freshman left-hander Caitlynn Griffith (Rancho Christian High School/Temecula) did not pitch in the two games against Trine but finished her first season at Redlands with a 13-0 record, a 1.85 earned run average in 30 appearances, two of them starts. She had 73 strikeouts in 75 innings in the circle with a staff-high seven saves.

Head coach Jose Ortega closed out his eighth season with the Bulldogs, having built the team into a national title contender in 2025 and a title winner in 2026. The team is 88-17 over the past two seasons with back-to-back national championship tournament appearances.

The Bulldogs are 223-107 in his eight years as head coach. He was assisted this season by Kaitlyn Hooper-Bell, Andrew Aguilera and Cassandra Mittman.