U of R Bulldogs trounce Rowan 10-2 in NCAA softball

University of Redlands is 2-0 in the NCAA Division III softball championship tournament for the first time following a 10-2 rout of Rowan University of Glassboro, N.J., Friday, earning a day off Saturday before resuming play Sunday against the survivor of elimination games at the Moyer Complex in Salem, Va.

Senior pitcher Katelyn Gandara allowed only four hits in five innings and one earned run with a pair of strikeouts in a 56-pitch outing that improved her season record to 23-2 and the team’s record to 45-6. Gandara aided her own cause with three hits in four at-bats with two doubles and a run batted in. Through two games the SCIAC conference athlete of the year is 5-for-7 at the plate with three doubles and four RBI.

Junior Leila Gomez, an Aquinas High School graduate from San Bernardino, had another productive day for the Bulldogs, going 3-for-4 at the plate with three runs scored. In the win Thursday over longtime West Coast rival Linfield University of McMinnville, Ore., Gomez went 4-for-5, scored twice and drove in a run. She has seven hits in nine at-bats in the tournament, collecting one RBI, scoring five runs and stealing two bases. She has seven putouts in right field and one assist in the two games.

Redlands, the No. 5 seed, took a 3-1 lead over No. 8 seed Rowan (43-10) in the bottom of the first inning at Moyer Complex in Salem, Va., Friday. After Gomez reached base on an error, Gandara drove her home with a double. Natalie Lowthers, a Serrano High School graduate from Wrightwood, then doubled in Gandara. Jenay Scott reached first on a bunt single and Lowthers scored on a Rowan error.

In the third frame, after Rowan closed the gap to 3-2, Scott scored on a ground-out to third base by Adyson Kim to make it 4-2 after three innings.

The Bulldogs scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 9-2. Gandara doubled to score Gomez and Brooklyn Bard. Mo Bassett ran for Gandara and Rowan lifted starting pitcher Emily McCutcheon (22-6) for Beth Ann Doderer. After Lowthers grounded out, moving Bassett to third, Scott walked and stole second. Mya Holshoe, a Redlands High graduate, walked and the bases were loaded.

Avery Duran, who hit a pinch-hit two-run double against Linfield in a 9-7 Redlands victory Thursday, got another RBI when she walked, plating Bassett. Avery Provenzano followed with a double that scored Holshoe and Scott for a 9-2 lead.

Redlands tacked on a 10th run in the fifth when Scott doubled in Gomez to end the game on the eight-run mercy rule. Scott was 3-for-3 and scored twice, giving her five hits in seven at-bats in two games with three RBI.

Sunday’s opponent at 8 a.m. PDT could be either Rowan, Linfield or Virginia Wesleyan depending on how elimination games go Friday and Saturday. Follow the Bulldogs via live streaming or live stats at the Redlands athletics website: goredlands.com.

In Redlands’ visit to the Division III championship series in 2025, the Bulldogs lost 8-0 to Trine University in the opener, defeated Texas Lutheran in an elimination game 2-0 behind Gandara’s single that scored both Bulldogs runs and pitching a four-hit shutout. Redlands was eliminated 9-1 by the Linfield Wildcats, who own a 16-4 advantage in their all-time series.

A crowd of 225 fans watched the Bulldogs-Rowan game.