On the heels of a three-team tie for the 2023 SCIAC regular season title, the University of Redlands is projected to win outright to extend a three-year run atop the conference according to the 2024 SCIAC Softball Preseason Poll, as voted by the league’s coaches.
The Bulldogs claimed the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship by winning the 2023 SCIAC Tournament, notching two victories over Chapman University and one against Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the double-elimination format. In her rookie year, Katlyn Gandara was named SCIAC Pitcher of the Year after leading the conference with 10 wins in 16 appearances while allowing fewer than a hit per inning. The groundball specialist did not surrender a single home run over 73.0 innings pitched and was the Bulldogs’ lone First Team All-SCIAC pick, with catcher Isabella Culp and shortstop Natalie Horton making the Second Team.
The Panthers earned a share of the title last season and return all five All-SCIAC players, including arguably the top pitching duo in the conference in Rose Malen and Simi Lauwers, who made the First and Second Team, respectively. Third baseman Iliana Serna tied for the league lead in doubles to join Malen on the First Team alongside outfielder Miranda Murphy with outfielder Samantha Kennedy also cracking the Second Team.
Just two points behind Chapman in the poll is Pomona-Pitzer, which boasts the conference’s top tandem in two-way star and SCIAC Athlete of the Year Devin Waddell and Newcomer of the Year Kylie Liu. Waddell ranked fourth in the conference with a 1.48 ERA over 61.6 innings pitched and posted a .366/.444/.549 triple-slash line at the plate while Liu led the conference in on-base percentage (.500) and ranked second in batting average (.417) and slugging percentage (.661). Although the Sagehens were the #4 seed in the 2023 SCIAC Tournament they finished just a single game out of the three-way tie for the title and won the regular season series against Redlands while dropping two of three to Chapman in a series where all three games were decided by a single run.
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges have been tabbed for fourth place, though nearly three times as close to third (five points) as fifth (13 points) in the poll. All four infielders were named All-Conference last spring in First Team choice Abby Thompson and Second Teamers Emma Suh, Destiny Garcia and Rachel Sapirstein. First baseman/outfielder Jacqueline Solomon also made the First Team while rookie Maya Loper was one of seven pitchers named.
Though Emily Adkison was the lone All-Conference representative for Whittier College, she was as impactful as anyone with the second-best OPS (1.043) in the league for a Whittier College squad that is expected to beat out the University of La Verne for fifth place after the pair tied at 9-12 last spring. The Leopards have kept one of their two First Team selections on the bench in graduate assistant Rachel Rubio, with second baseman Erika Garcia, a Second Team selection, the lone returning All-Conference performer.
California Lutheran University’s Olivia Vargas and Casey Edwards made the All-SCIAC First and Second Team, respectively, last year. Vargas was the conference RBI leader with 16 in 20 games played at the hot corner while Edwards ranked second in innings pitched and handled part-time hitting duty. Rookie shortstop Alysha Wagner was a major bright spot for Occidental College after ranking third in batting average (.390) and OBP (.478) with a .923 fielding percentage.
The softball season has opened in earnest with the majority of teams beginning competition this Saturday, Feb. 10 with the 2023 championship trio of Chapman, CMS and Redlands facing each other in nonconference play in Redlands while the first official SCIAC contest will be between Whittier College and Pomona-Pitzer on Friday, Mar. 1.
2024 SCIAC Softball Preseason Poll
1. Redlands, 60 points (4 first-place votes)
2. Chapman, 51 pts (3)
3. Pomona-Pitzer, 49 pts (1)
4. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 44 pts
5. Whittier, 31 pts
6. La Verne, 27 pts
7. California Lutheran, 16 pts
8. Occidental, 10 pts
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