Cascade Conference Softball Championship Day One Recap
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Top-seed Oregon Tech and three-seed Corban University earned their way to the winners bracket, while Southern Oregon University and University of Great Falls face-off for the second time after all four earned their way to day two of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Softball Championships presented by U.S. Bank.
Oregon Tech earned a 3-2 win over UGF, in their only game of the day, while Corban rallied from a nine run deficit over Concordia, winning 11-9, to head to the winners bracket tomorrow at 11 a.m. SOU bounced back from a 4-3 loss to UGF to eliminate two-seed Concordia University by a 6-5 final. The Raiders fell to UGF 4-3 to open tournament play. SOU and UGF play at 1:30 p.m. in an elimination game Saturday.
Game 1 (UGF 4 vs SOU 3) - UGF scored first with two runs in the third inning. Larson doubled to left center plating Alex Lowry and Chloe Cross. The Argos made it 3-0 with a single run in the fourth inning, a RBI triple off the bat of Morgan Robinson.
SOU rallied for three in the bottom of the fifth to tie the contest 3-3. Kayla Douglas doubled to put runners on second and third. Kelsey Randall singled in the first run, and with runners on first and third, a double steal got Douglas home as the Raiders cut their deficit to 3-2. Alexa Gonzalez would tie it at 3-all with a RBI single to close out SOU’s scoring.
After the Argos took the 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh, UGF starter Keeley Van Blaricom recorded three consecutive ground outs to earn the win. Van Blaricom moved to 19-6 allowing seven hits, three runs and struck out five.
Morgan Robinson, Lowry and Larson added two hits each with Larson driving in three and Robinson one, including a triple, in the win.
Gonzalez and Gina Ayala finished with two hits each for SOU. Brianne Craig (15-8) suffered the loss giving up eight hits and four earned runs while striking out five.
Game 2 (Corban 11 vs Concordia 9) - Taylor Bussey hit a pair of two-run homers and Meghan Luebbert a two-run double to help the Cavaliers to an 8-0 lead after three innings. Concordia added a single run in the fourth on a Kate Santos sacrifice fly to cruise to a 9-0 advantage.
Corban was scoreless until the Warriors plated three runs in the fourth, all off the bat of Jamie Costa. Costa blasted her 10
th homer of the season, a three-run shot to left field, to put Corban on the board.
Corban’s eight run fifth inning came on four hits and was highlighted by a grand slam from Annie Owen while trailing 9-7. Owen’s homerun, her eighth of the year, came with two outs.
Danielle Horne earned her fourth save of the season tossing the final two inning, allowing just one Cavalier base hit.
Bussey recorded three hits for the Cavs, all for extra bases, and four RBI in the loss. Luebbert finished with a pair of hits and three RBI. Santos and Jamie Martin drove in a run each.
Owen and Costa drove in four runs each in the win for the Warriors. Owen, Costa and Taylor Eilders finished with two hits in the game.
Game 3 (Oregon Tech 3 vs UGF 2) - Tech scored in their first at-bat with a run in the top of the first. Tara Moates singled in Katie Virtue who reached on a hit by pitch. Sadie Birch gave Tech a 2-0 lead on her solo homerun to left in the top of the fourth. It was Birch’s 10
th home run of the season.
UGF recorded two of their four hits for the game in their two-run fifth, tying the game at 2-2. The Argos used a Tech miscue to go with a double and RBI single off the bat of Morgan Robinson to tie it up.
Ariel Furkeson reached on an Argos error and advanced to second on a one-out Virtue single. McKenzie Shrum knocked in the go ahead run on her single. Carleton picked up the win for the Owls allowing just four hits and two runs, one earned, while striking out 12 in the win.
Tech recorded eight hits with Virtue and Shrum recording a pair each. Shrum, Moates and Birch added a RBI each.
Regan Rucks had the Argos only multi-hit game with two, including a double. Robinson drove in UGF’s only two runs.
Game 4 (SOU 6 vs Concordia 5) - Southern struck first in the top of the first on a Gina Ayala RBI single. CU tied it when Taylor Bussey scored on an error at by SOU.
CU took a 3-1 lead after notching a pair in the fourth inning. The Cavaliers capitalized on another SOU error when Taylor Copher crossed the plate after opening the inning up with a single. Meghan Luebbert gave the Cavs a two-run cushion with a RBI single plating Karlie Merritt.
SOU grabbed their first lead with three in the fifth and two more in the sixth to go up 6-3. Alexa Gonzalez, , Krystina Pardoski and Ayala drove in runs in the fifth with Davalin Ontiveros scoring on a CU error and Ally Painter’s RBI single giving the Raiders the three-run lead.
CU closed to within a run on a Martin RBI single and Jamie Owirka ground out that plated Megan Settje in the sixth.
Concordia made things interesting in their last at-bat, with Bussey on third and two outs, Copher hit a ball up the middle with SOU’s Kayla Douglas making a diving stop to throw out Copher on a close call at first, moving the Raiders into day two.
Kelsey Randall finished with three hits, including a double, with Gonzalez, Ayala and Cortney Nolan adding two hits each in the win for SOU. Sydnee White earned the win and Brianne Craig the save for the Raiders.
Copher and Jamie Martin contributed two hits with Copher adding a double. Luebbert, Martin and Owirka drove in a run each.