Tech's Brittany Cherry had 2 Homeruns Today (Photo by Kelly Caleb)
Cherry Leads Owls to Split with Raiders
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon split a crucial doubleheader today with the Raiders winning the first game 11-7 and Tech grabbing the night cap 8-3.
The split keeps the playoff picture wide open in the Cascade Conference with only the top spot being locked down, that by Concordia who will host the top three teams May 7 -8th in the CCC post season tournament.
Four teams are separated by 2 games or less, all fighting for the final 2 spots in the playoffs heading into the final weekend of regular season play. Corban College currently sits in 2nd place with a 12-8 conference record. They have 4 games yet to play, 2 with Northwest Christian and 2 with College of Idaho. Oregon Tech holds onto 3rd place with a 12-10 CCC record. They have 2 conference games remaining, both at Concordia next Sunday. Southern Oregon is in 4th place with an 11-11 CCC record. They also have 2 games remaining at Concordia this Friday. Also in the playoff picture is Northwest Christian at 10-12 in the CCC.
In game 1, Southern Oregon scored 3 runs in the top of the first and 3 more runs in the 2nd to go up 6-0 before Tech answered with 5 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. SOU scored once in the 4th and 3 more times in the 6th on a 3 run homerun by pitcher Karri Johnson who had 3 hits and 5 RBI in the game and also picked up the win improving her record to 8-7 on the season.
After the Raiders added 1 run in the top of the 7th to take a 11-5 lead, Oregon Tech made it interesting as Brittany Cherry hit a 2 run homerun in the bottom of the frame with 1 out but Tech couldn’t muster anything else, falling 11-7.
SOU was led by Johnson’s 3 hits but also had Justine Fulton, Meghan Laughlin and Rayna Okimoto contribute 2 hits each in the win.
In game 2, SOU started the scoring, plating 3 runs in the top of the 3rd but Oregon Tech answered with 6 runs in the bottom of the frame highlighted by Brittany Cherry’s 2nd homerun of the day, this a 3-run shot as Tech had 6 hits in the inning.
Tech added 2 more runs in the 5th inning to win the night cap 8-3.
Taylor Schmidt went the distance picking up her 12th win of the season to go along with 5 losses.
Jessica Flores pitched the first 2.1 innings giving up 5 runs and 6 hits in picking up the loss for SOU.
Jess Plummer, Andria Wheatley, Sara Coates and Taylor Schmidt all had 2 hits in the win for OIT.
Oregon Tech will travel to Portland to play Concordia on Sunday, May 2nd (Concordia has Graduation ceremonies on Saturday) before wrapping up the regular season with a non-conference doubleheader header against Simpson University Monday, May 3 at Oregon Tech Softball Complex at 2:00pm.