Junior center fielder Katie Aden went 4-for-6 with four runs scored, three runs batted in and a home run to lead the Cavs to a pivotal sweep of Southern Oregon on Friday.
Aden's Big Day Leads Cavs to Pivotal Sweep of SOU
BOX SCORE - GAME 1 - GAME 2
PORTLAND—Behind a monster day from junior center fielder Katie Aden, the Concordia softball team swept Southern Oregon in a pivotal conference doubleheader at Delta Park on Friday.
Aden went a combined 4-for-6 with four runs scored, three runs batted in and a home run to lead the Cavs to the sweep, which put the team three games up on Southern Oregon for third in the CCC.
Concordia won the first game 8-2, while Aden scored three runs and homered to lead the Cavs to a 5-4 win in the nightcap.
With the results, Concordia moved to 27-14 overall and 12-4 in the CCC this season, while Southern Oregon dropped to 14-17 overall and 10-8 in the CCC.
The Cavs will play another pivotal conference series tomorrow, April 13, when they host No. 11 Oregon Tech for a doubleheader that will give one team the upper hand for second in the conference standings. Southern Oregon, meanwhile, will play at Northwest, which was supposed to host Oregon Tech on Friday, but the doubleheader was suspended before they could finish the first game. Northwest and Oregon Tech will resume play on Sunday.
Game 1—Concordia 8, Southern Oregon 2
CU starting pitcher Ashley Suter carried a no-hitter into the fourth inning, and the Cavalier offense scored six runs in the bottom of the second to run past the Raiders 8-2 in the first game Friday.
The Cavs’ big inning came after the Raiders took a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the top of the first, and put the Cavs in total control of the game.
Mary Lugar plated the Cavs’ first three runs in the inning, as she hit a bases-clearing double to center field. Lugar’s three-run double came with no outs in the inning, and the Cavs added three more runs before even getting two outs against them. Katie Aden plated Lugar for the next run in the inning, laying down a squeeze-play bunt that the Raiders couldn’t make a play on. Taylor Copher then followed with an RBI single two batters later, while Laura Luther, batting for the second time in the inning, plated Aden for the final run of the inning on a single to right.
The Cavs’ rally put the team up 6-1 as Suter found her stroke from the circle. Suter went perfect in the top of the second, third and fifth inning, and only put one runner on in the fourth.
The Raiders added a second run in the sixth, but the Cavs had already added a run in the third, and matched the Raiders’ run with one of their own in the bottom of the sixth.
Tobey Varney hit a solo home run for the Cavs’ lone run in the third, while Copher plated Kate Santos from first on a double to left-center in the sixth.
Copher finished the game 2-for-4 from the plate with two runs batted in, while Aden went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a run batted in.
The Raiders, meanwhile, only got three hits off of Suter in the game, and only got seven runners on overall.
Suter threw all seven innings for the Cavs to claim her 14th win of the season. SOU starter Sydney White, meanwhile, picked up the loss after giving up six runs through 1.1 innings.
Game 2—Concordia 5, Southern Oregon 4
Following a 2-for-3 performance in the first game, junior center fielder Katie Aden accounted for four of the Cavs’ five runs in their 5-4 win over Southern Oregon in the second game Friday.
Aden scored three of the Cavs’ five runs in the game, and highlighted the day with a two-out, two-run home run to right in the bottom of the fourth that put the Cavs’ up 5-1.
Aden’s home run came on the heels of a Raiders’ rally, as the Raiders cut into the Cavs’ lead with a run in the top of the inning. The Raiders could have scored more, as they loaded the bases with two outs in the inning, but Aden ran down a ball in left-center field to close the Raiders out in the inning. Aden’s defense then led to her offense, as her home run answered the Raiders’ run in the inning and added one more.
The Raiders came back in the sixth, however, scoring three runs in the inning to draw within a single run at 5-4. The Raiders had runners on first and second after drawing within one, too, but Danielle Orvella came on in relief of CU starter McKenzie Marshall and got SOU’s Stephanie Vandenbusch, the CCC Co-Newcomer of the Year last season, to strike out to end the inning.
Orvella then got the Raiders out 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to close out the sweep for the Cavs.
Orvella earned her third save of the season with her performance in the second game Friday, while Marshall picked up just her fourth win of the season. Marshall was making her first start in five days short of two months in the game, and held the Raiders relatively at bay through 5.2 innings.
SOU’s Karlie Stephens, meanwhile, pitched well in relief for the Raiders, as she shut the Cavs out over the final two innings after giving up the two-run home run to Aden.
Aden finished the second game 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two runs batted in. Besides her, Tobey Varney went 2-for-4 with a run scored for the Cavs, while SOU’s Ashley Lowe matched Varney’s line for the Raiders.