Corban College won their 11th conference game of the season, after winning just four conference clashes in 2007.
Corban Sweeps Up After Seven Beacon Errors
EUGENE, Ore. – The Corban College Warriors took advantage of seven Northwest Christian errors to the tune of six unearned runs as the swept a Cascade Collegiate Conference double-header on Saturday, 6-0 and 2-1.
After three scoreless innings in game one, Corban put up their first run in the top of the fourth when Jessica Pierce scored from third after a stolen base was put in motion by Jennifer Childers. The Warriors added a second run in the fifth with an RBI groundout by Pierce, scoring Josie Strange.
The Warriors added three more runs in the sixth and another in the seventh and pulled away with the win. Erin Sailors (10-7) struck out nine batters and allowed just three NCC hits for the victory. Megan McLearn (1-16) struck out four batters and allowed just two earned runs over seven innings of work.
Game two was quickly turned into another pitching duel with neither starter allowing a run until the fifth inning. In the top of the fifth, Megan Gaylord reached on an error and later scored on an RBI single by Jennifer Kollaer. The Beacons answered in the bottom of the inning when Cassie Bishop singled home Brittany Robles for the tying score.
The game remained knotted at 1-1 until the top of the seventh inning, which Jessie Jones led off with an infield single. Jones, however, didn’t stop at first, taking advantage of a distracted Beacon infield to take off for second base on what became an infield judgement error. After a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to third, a sacrifice fly to left field by Lindsay Batey scored the eventual game-winning run.
Kollaer (4-7) picked up the victory on the mound, allowing seven hits while striking out three. Darci Byrne (8-14) took the loss for the Beacons, despite failing to give up an earned run and striking out five batters over seven innings. Byrne also had a 15.2 scoreless inning streak snapped in the fifth. It was the second longest scoreless streak in school history. She has not allowed an earned run in 21.2 innings.
Freshman shortstop Cassie Bishop continued her record breaking season for the Beacons, passing two more single-season school records. She had two hits in the second game, putting her in first place all time for hits (42) and multi-hit games (14).
The Beacons (10-31, 3-19 CCC) will close out the 2008 campaign on Sunday afternoon as they play host to Concordia University Portland at 1:00 pm. Corban will also close out their regular season next Friday against the same Concordia team.