Softball advances to Championship Sunday at SCIAC Tournament

REDLANDS, Calif. – The Chapman University softball team advanced to the Championship round of the SCIAC Postseason Tournament and will play tomorrow at 11 a.m. Chapman split a pair of games in the SCIAC Tournament, falling 9-2 to Redlands and bouncing back for an 8-3 win over Cal Lutheran.

Game 1 – L, 9-2 vs. Redlands

Redlands jumped on top early and rallied late to advance to the championship game through the winner's bracket. Redlands broke open a 2-2 tie with four runs in the fourth and added three insurance runs in the sixth.

After falling behind 2-0 heading into the fourth inning, Chapman tied the game at 2-2. Junior Rani Lauwers singled in a run to put Chapman on the board and sophomore Emily Hayes singles in another one to tie the game.

Lauwers ended the game 2-for-3 and junior Tracie Okumura added in two more hits for the Panther lineup.

Game 2 – W, 8-3 vs. Cal Lutheran

Chapman opened the game with a six-spot in the first and cruised into the championship round. The Panthers sent 10 batters to the plate in the first inning to take control of the game and eliminate Cal Lutheran from the tournament.

Okumura opened the bottom of the first with a single and the first seven batters reached safely before an out was recorded. Junior Allie Tajii followed with a walk but both runners moved up after an error. Lauwers' grounder drove in the first run before junior Julia Muniz doubled in two more for a 3-0 lead.

The Panthers kept rolling with RBI hits from freshman Summer Lake and sophomore Alyssa Ahinger. Okumura drove in another run to complete the six-run inning.

Freshman Simi Lauwers went to work in the circle, allowing two runs on six hits and three walks over 5.1 innings to pick up the win. Cal Lutheran pushed two runs across the pate in the fifth on a single from Ariana Mendoza but she was thrown out at second by Muniz trying to stretch her single into a double

Chapman added a run in the fifth on an error and another in the sixth on an Okumura double to pad the lead. Juniro Kelly McCarty recorded the final five outs to put Chapman into the Championship round.

Chapman will face Redlands tomorrow at 11 a.m. in search of two wins. The Panthers will need to beat Redlands twice to secure the SCIAC's AQ into the NCAA Tournament.

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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