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PORTLAND, Ore.—With the top two teams in the CCC facing each other, the Concordia and Southern Oregon softball teams split a highly-competitive doubleheader on Monday.

Concordia (13-13, 4-2 CCC) grabbed the win in the first game, topping the Raiders 4-3 thanks to a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the sixth. Southern Oregon (13-7, 3-1 CCC) came back strong in the second game though, using a power-fueled, five-run rally over the final two innings to beat the Cavaliers 8-5.

Both teams will return to action tomorrow, March 27, as Concordia steps out of conference for a road doubleheader at Willamette, while Southern Oregon hosts a doubleheader against rival Oregon Tech. Concordia will start its doubleheader at 12 p.m. tomorrow, while SOU will start its at 2 p.m.

Fresh off a strong performance against Eastern Oregon on Saturday, Concordia’s Mary Lugar came through for the Cavs again in the first game Monday.

With the score tied 3-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Lugar launched a leadoff home run over the center-field wall to put the Cavs on top for good at 4-3. The home run was only Lugar’s third all season, but her second in the last three games to that point. By the end of Monday, Lugar had gone 8-for-14 with two home runs, five runs scored and eight RBI over the last four games for the Cavs.

Before Lugar’s late-inning heroics, however, each team took turns sharing the offensive momentum in the game.

Concordia opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, with catcher Kate Santos starting the rally with a one-out walk. Jordyn Brown followed with a grounder to third that should have let SOU get Santos at second, but an error on the catch gave Concordia runners on first and second with still only one out in the inning. Lugar flew out to right after that for what should have been the third out, before back-to-back singles from Jennifer Lutton and Sam Genskay brought both Santos and Brown home for the first runs of the game. Both runs went unearned, as the Cavs took advantage of the extra opportunity to score.

SOU returned the favor in the top of the fourth, however, as the Raiders had their inning extended thanks to a dropped foul ball. Consequently, SOU had a runner on second with two outs when Stephanie Vandenbusch blasted a home run well over the left-field wall. Vandenbusch’s home run leveled the game at 2-2 and came as one of three home runs for the SOU shortstop on Monday.

Concordia went back up 3-2 with a run in the bottom of the fourth, but SOU answered right back with a solo home run from Sierra Anderson in the top of the fifth. Anderson’s home run evened the score again at 3-3, setting the stage for Lugar in the bottom of the sixth.

Overall, Concordia outhit SOU 9-2 in the first game, as SOU got its lone two hits on the two home runs.

Individually, Genskay (3-for-4) and Lutton (2-for-3) each finished with multiple hits in the game for the Cavs, while Concordia got impressive overall production from its bottom five hitters, who went a combined 5-for-14 in the game.

On the mound, CU starter Ashley Suter pitched the whole game, giving up three runs (one earned) off two hits and three walks. Suter also fanned seven SOU batters in the game.

On the flip side, SOU starter Jordyn Kurtz also pitched a complete game, giving up four runs (two earned) off nine hits and a walk.

The Cavs started well again in the second game, maintaining a lead through five innings, but a five-run SOU rally that featured four home runs over the final two innings swung the game in the Raiders’ favor.

Concordia led 5-3 before the start of the sixth inning, but a leadoff home run from Katie Moy quickly cut the Cavs lead to 5-4. Designated Player Jordyn Kurtz then reached on an error during the next at bat before Stephanie Vandenbusch launched her second home run of the day to give the Raiders their first lead Monday at 6-5.

SOU didn’t stop there either, adding two more runs in the top of the seventh off back-to-back solo home runs from Kurtz and Vandenbusch.

Concordia responded well in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with two outs in the inning, but SOU got the Cavs’ final batter to fly out, sealing the win for the Raiders.

Concordia had started the game well, too, bringing two runners home in the bottom of the first for a quick 2-0 lead. Kyndell Andrews started the first-inning rally, hitting a two-out solo home run over the wall in right-center field. Laura Luther and Tobey Varney then continued the rally with a walk and a single, respectively, that gave the Cavs runners on first and second with two outs. That’s when Kate Santos hit a rocket to center that missed clearing the fence by only a couple of feet. The hit still went as a double for Santos and brought Luther home for the Cavs’ second run in the inning.

SOU responded with a run in the third and two in the fourth, but Concordia matched the runs each time to maintain its two-run lead going into the fifth.

Once in the fifth, both teams escaped jams that could have produced runs for the other team. SOU led off the fifth with back-to-back singles before a fly ball to left gave the Cavs their first out in the inning. After that, CU third baseman Varney turned a double play to end the SOU threat. Then in the bottom half, Concordia loaded the bases with only one out, but SOU got a force out at home and then a strikeout to get out of the jam.

Concordia had issues bringing runners around all game, though, as the Cavs stranded 14 base runners in after outhitting the Raiders 17-11.

Individually, Vandenbusch capped her day with a dominant 3-for-4 performance for SOU in the second game that included two home runs, a double, three runs scored and three runs batted in. Overall, Vandenbusch went 4-for-7 Monday with three home runs, four runs scored and four runs batted in. In addition, her 14 total bases in seven at bats gave her a 2.000 slugging percentage between the two games.

Besides her, SOU’s Moy went 2-for-4 in the game with a home run, while Sierra Anderson went 3-for-3 with a home run, her second of the day.

On the flip side, every Concordia batter recorded a hit in the game, while six of the nine CU batters had multiple hits in the game. Varney and Andrews led the way offensively for the Cavs, as each recorded three hits. Andrews also added two runs scored and two runs batted in.

On the mound, Chelsea Talbert picked up the win in relief for SOU after she pitched 2.2 innings of shutout ball for the Raiders. Talbert got in some trouble in the seventh though, giving way to Kurtz, who picked up a save.

Meanwhile, the Cavs’ Ashley Suter started the second-straight game for her team, pitching well until running into trouble in the sixth and seventh. Consequently, Suter picked up the loss after throwing 6.2 innings in the second game Monday for 13.2 total innings of on the day.