The 2008 Lady Owls (photo by Kelly Caleb).
Lady Owls Win CCC Title with Sweep of EOU
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Oregon Tech women’s softball team clinched the Cascade Conference softball title and the right to host the NAIA Region I Tournament May 8-10 with its two-game sweep of Eastern Oregon University Friday, 8-0 and 2-1. With the two victories the Owls improve to 32-10 on the season and 18-2 in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. The loss knocked EOU to sixth place in the CCC with a conference record of 8-12 and an overall record of 16-22.
Oregon Tech came out swinging in game one with two runs in the first, two runs in the second and then put the game away in the fifth with a grand slam home run by Jenny Austin (Grants Pass, Ore) as the Owls won 8-0. Jenny Bittle (Central Point, Ore) pitched all five innings giving up just four hits while striking out five. Sunny Titus (Salem, Ore) and Brittany Warren (Longview, Wash) each had two RBI’s in the win.
In game 2, Oregon Tech was the first on the scoreboard picking up one run on doubles by Sunny Titus and Katie King( Hillsboro, Ore). The game stayed at 1-0 Tech until EOU scored its only run of the afternoon in the fifth on a pinch-hit home run by Megan Monagan to tie the game at 1-1. Oregon Tech quickly answered in the top of the sixth with back-to-back doubles by Brittany Warren and Bess Fagan (Klamath Falls, Ore). The Fagan double ended up being the game winner as Eastern could only muster one hit the rest of the way, eventually falling by a score of 2-1. Keri Gesner followed up her perfect game the night before by allowing just four hits while striking out nine Mounties.
The No. 19 Lady Owls will take their 16-game win streak into Idaho on Saturday for a doubleheader against the Yotes from College of Idaho at 10 a.m.