Cavs Sweep Southern on Senior Day

4/26/2014 9:16:00 PM

SANDY, Ore.—Hours after taking part in their graduation ceremonies on campus, Concordia's McKenzie Marshall (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City H.S.) and Danielle Orvella (Seattle, Wash./Kentridge H.S.) posted back-to-back complete games to guide the Cavaliers to a 5-1, 9-5 sweep over Southern Oregon in a Cascade Collegiate Conference doubleheader played at Sandy High School on Saturday.

With the results, Concordia improved to 30-16 on the season and finished the year with a 22-6 record in the CCC. Concordia, ranked No. 25 in the latest NAIA Coaches' Poll, will enter the CCC Tournament as the No. 2 seed following top-seeded Oregon Tech (32-10, 23-5 CCC).

Southern Oregon fell to 15-21 overall and 14-14 in league games, but secured the No. 4 seed in the postseason tourney after Northwest Christian fell out of contention with a loss at Corban earlier in the day.

Game 1 : Concordia 5, Southern Oregon 1

Concordia scored four runs in the second inning, including two off the bat of Kate Santos (Gladstone, Ore./Gladstone H.S.) with her fifth home run of the season en route to a 5-1 win in the opener against the Raiders.

The Raiders struck first in the top of the second as with the aid of a lead-off walk by Megan Sherer. Another walk, this time to Sierra Anderson, and a single through the middle by Brianne Craig loaded the bases for the Raiders.

After an out at second on a successful pickoff throw by CU catcher Kate Santos (Gladstone, Ore./Gladstone H.S.), Regina Ayala reached safely and collected an RBI with an error at shortstop. Concordia starter McKenzie Marshall (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City H.S.) (16-5) prevented further damage with a strikeout and another grounder to the shortstop.

The Cavaliers' bats backed up Marshall in the home half of the inning as all nine batters got a chance to bat. Cassidy Horner (Cottonwood, Calif./West Valley H.S.) led off the attack with a single to right but was immediately replaced by Taylor Bussey (Vancouver, Wash./Prairie H.S.) on a fielder's choice before Santos' shot over the left-field fence gave the Cavs a 2-1 lead.

Concordia managed two more runs in the frame with a Katie Aden (Tigard, Ore./Tigard H.S.) single to center field that scored Katie Shiflet and Rielly Byrd (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce H.S.) after the 8-0 batters both reach in two-out at bats.

Armed with the 4-1 lead, Marshall did not allow a runner past first base over the next three innings before the Raiders gave the senior trouble with back-to-back two-out singles in the sixth. With the tying run at the plate, Marshall fielded a comebacker to the pitcher's circle and calmly tossed to first to quell the theat.

The Cavs added an insurance run in the sixth with an RBI groundout by Meghan Luebbert (Sandy, Ore./Sandy H.S.) that scored Shiflet. Marshall gave up a two-out walk in the seventh before striking out her third batter to end the game for her 16th complete game of the season.

Concordia outhit SOU 10 to 6 with Aden, Horner and Shiflet all recording multi-hit games.

Game 2 : Concordia, Southern Oregon

Concordia scored two runs in the first and added four in the fourth and three more in the fifth for a 9-5 win to complete the Saturday sweep over Southern Oregon.

Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, the Raiders halved the deficit on a single to right by Brianne Craig that allowed teammate Julia Willison to jog home from third after reaching on a double to left.

Responding in the bottom of the fourth, four of the first five CU batters registered a hit with three of the four going for extra bases. Kate Santos (Gladstone, Ore./Gladstone H.S.) started the stanza with a single to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mariah Jimenez (Camas, Wash./Camas H.S.).

The sacrifice proved to be unnecessary as Karissa Shiflet (Kennewick, Wash./Kennewick H.S.) belted a double down the left-field line for an RBI. Rielly Byrd (Puyallup, Wash./Franklin Pierce H.S.) followed with a double to right to put runners at the corners for Meghan Luebbert (Sandy, Ore./Sandy H.S.) who promptly placed a ball deep over the right-field fence for her seventh homer of the year and a 6-1 lead.

Loading the bases without recording an out, the Raiders settled for just a single run in the fifth as Ashley Lowe scored on a fielder's choice by Willison.

Now up 6-2, the Cavs added to their advantage with three more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cassidy Horner (Cottonwood, Calif./West Valley H.S.) and Taylor Bussey (Vancouver, Wash./Prairie H.S.) started the inning with consecutive doubles for the first run while Santos clubbed a single to center and Shiflet a sac fly to score the final two runs. The Cavs nearly ended the contest in the fifth as Luebbert, batting with runners at first and third, lined out to second base for a quick inning-ending double play.

After two quick outs, Augustine singled to keep the Raiders alive. Willison reached on an error to setup a Scherer's first homer run of the season, a 3-run shot to center to provide the final 9-5 score.

Senior pitcher Danielle Orvella (Seattle, Wash./Kentridge H.S.) evened her season record to 4-4 with her seventh complete game of the season. Orvella struck out four while walking two and giving up five runs, just two of which were earned.
Concordia tallied 12 hits in the nightcap with Bussey, Santos and Byrd each registering two-hit games. Luebbert went 1 for 3 as the leadoff but scored two and drove in two.

SOU's seven hits came from seven different players with Willison's double in the fourth and Scherer's homer in the seventh the lone extra-base hits.