Teammates greet Stephanie Vandenbusch after her homer in the first game. Vandenbusch drove in four runs and scored the game-winner in the first game
SOU Sweeps Concordia with Back-to-Back 5-4 Extra-Inning Wins
BOX SCORE - Game One
BOX SCORE - Game Two
ASHLAND – Southern Oregon overcame 4-0 deficits in both games to claim a pair of Cascade Collegiate Conference softball victories over Concordia, winning both contests in extra innings by identical scores of 5-4 on Saturday at University Field.
Southern Oregon improves to 11-10 overall and 7-1 in conference play, while Concordia falls to 18-9 overall and 4-4 in the CCC. Both teams return to action next weekend, with the Raiders visiting Northwest Christian and Corban and the Cavaliers hosting College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon in CCC action.
Stephanie Vandenbusch tallied four hits to lead SOU on the day, including a two-run home run and four total runs batted in during the opener, while Sierra Anderson poked the game-winning hit to end each contest. Robin Gawlista and Taylor Copher each finished with three hits for the Cavaliers.
Sydney White pitched a complete-game for SOU in the opener to earn the victory, giving up four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts. Ashley Suter pitched into the sixth inthing for CU before Danielle Orvella took over and threw the final 2.2 innings to take the loss.
Mary Lugar put Concordia on the board in the top of the third with a homer to right, and Kate Santos singled and scored in the fourth to make it 2-0 CU. The Cavaliers added two more in the top of the fifth when Gawlista opened with a single and came in to score on a Katie Aden homer to left.
The Raiders started working their way back into the game in the bottom of the fifth. Julia Willison was hit by a pitch to open the inning and Vandenbusch powered a homer to center to make it 4-2 and give SOU its first hit of the game. Southern Oregon tied it up with two more the next inning, taking advantage of a CU error to score a pair on a two-out Vandenbusch single to right.
Both teams left two runners on in the seventh inning before the game went into an extra frame. The Raiders broke through for the walk-off win in the bottom of the eighth, when Vandenbusch again came through with a big hit. The shortstop dropped a two-out triple into right field and scored the winning run on a single by Anderson.
Saturday’s second game featured a similar storyline, as Concordia scored a run in the first and three more in the third before the Raiders tied it up and took an extra-inning win. Orvella pitched the first two innings for Concordia, giving up four runs on seven hits before Suter took over and limited SOU to one unearned run on four hits over the final 6.1 innings. Karlie Stephens went the distance to earn the win.
With two outs in the first Santos walked and scored on Taylor Copher’s double to center. Two innings later, the Cavs combined four hits to score three more runs and take an early 4-0 lead. Unlike the first game, however, the Raiders did not wait long to respond.
Four singles, a fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly helped Southern Oregon score four runs in the third to tie it up. That would prove to be the only scoring for either team until six innings later. The Raiders left five runners on base between the sixth and seventh innings, and Concordia was unable to capitalize on a two-on, one-out opportunity in the eighth when Barrantes fielded a hard grounder next to third base, tagged the bag and threw to first for an inning-ending double play.
Concordia’s eighth error of the day cost the Cavaliers in the bottom of the ninth. Ashley Lowe hit a one-out single and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice throwing error by the Cavs. After a walk to Vandenbusch loaded the bases, Anderson repeated her walk-off heroics of a few hours earlier with a line drive single to right field.