Down four runs to a two-time national champion with the season on the line? For the University of Redlands, that’s just a setup.
The Bulldogs erased a 6-3 deficit over the final two innings Wednesday morning, beating Trine University 7-6 to complete a sweep of the NCAA Division III championship series in Salem, Virginia — and claim the first national championship in Redlands softball history.
Comebacks were the whole identity
Both games of the series followed the same script. In Tuesday’s opener, Trine jumped out to a 3-0 lead on two first-inning home runs before Redlands answered with a six-run third — capped by Maya Holshoe’s bases-clearing triple — on the way to an 11-3 run-rule win in six innings. Holshoe drove in five, Jenay Scott went 3-for-3 with three runs, and ace Katlyn Gandara settled in after the rocky start to earn her 24th win of the season.
Game 2 was tighter and tenser. Trine — the 2023 and 2025 national champion out of Angola, Indiana — built a 4-0 lead in the first inning and pushed it to 6-3 in the fifth. But the Bulldogs chipped, clawed, and finally broke through with a three-run sixth to tie it, then manufactured the title-winning run in the seventh: Holshoe — a senior from Redlands High School, playing for her hometown program — led off with a single, stole second, and came home on Avery Provenzano’s single through the middle.
A diving catch in center field helped slam the door in the bottom of the seventh, and the dogpile was on.
The heroes
Senior pitcher Katlyn Gandara was named Most Outstanding Player of the championship series after working nearly 18 innings across the World Series with a 2-0 record and a save — while also swinging one of the hottest bats on the roster. The all-tournament team featured two more Bulldogs, junior outfielders Leila Gomez and Jenay Scott, who spent the week setting the table, stealing bases, and (in Scott’s case) robbing hits in center.
The unlikeliest hero might have been the winning pitcher: a senior reliever who hadn’t thrown in weeks came out of the bullpen in the fifth and retired seven straight Trine hitters to finish it.
What it means
This is a program-defining moment. Redlands finished the season 48-6, delivered head coach Jose Ortega his first national title in his eighth year leading the program, and became just the second SCIAC school ever to win the Division III softball championship — the first since Chapman more than three decades ago.
For a conference long overshadowed in the national softball conversation, the Bulldogs just changed the story. And they did it the only way they know how: from behind.
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