No. 12 Oregon Tech and No. 5 Saint Xavier Move into Opening Round Championship
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – No. 12 Oregon Tech and No. 5 Saint Xavier remain, while Avila University was eliminated in game four and No. 22 Corban University in game five of the Oregon Tech Bracket today at the OIT Softball Complex on the campus of Oregon Institute of Technology.
Second-seed Oregon Tech (43-14) needs one win over top-seed Saint Xavier (45-6-2), while the Cougars need to defeat the Owls twice tomorrow, with Wednesday’s winner advancing to the 2015 NAIA Softball World Series presented by Security National Bank and Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa from May 22-28.
Oregon Tech Bracket - Day 2 Recap
Game 2 – No. 1 seed Saint Xavier (3) vs No. 4 seed Avila University (0)
Due to heavy rain that fell prior to the start of the contest between Saint Xavier and Avila on Monday, game two was pushed to the opening game on Tuesday.
Nicole Nonnemacher matched an Opening Round record with 17 strikeouts, leading the fifth-ranked Cougars to a 3-0 win over Avila University. Saint Xavier (44-5-2) would face two-seed Oregon Tech in game three of the Opening Round. Avila (32-12) would play Corban University in game four in an elimination game.
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Shannon Lauret’s RBI single in the bottom of the first inning was all the run support Nonnemacher needed in her one-hit shutout victory, improving to 26-3 on the season. AU’s Tori Aziere allowed just three hits and struck out three, but suffered the loss for the Eagles.
Saint Xavier pushed across a couple insurance runs in the fifth for the final 3-0 score. Jessica Arebalo singled in a run with a Savannah Kinsella sacrifice fly capping the Cougars scoring.
Araceli Juarez led off the third inning with a single, as she was the lone base runner for the Eagles in the loss.
Game 3 – No. 2 seed Oregon Tech (2) vs No. 1 seed Saint Xavier (1)
Oregon Tech’s two-run sixth inning held, as the Owls held off Saint Xavier by a 2-1 score.
In a pitcher’s duel between Tech’s Riley Carleton and Nonnemacher of Saint Xavier, the Owls got on the board first when the Cascade Collegiate Conference Player of the Year, Tara Moates, ripped her 14
th home run of the season to left-center to put the Owls up 1-0 in the fifth inning. Ariel Fulkerson’s sacrifice fly gave Tech a 2-0 edge.
The Cougars made things interesting in their last at-bat with Kasey Kanaga knocking in Sarah Saunders on a RBI single. With two outs Saint Xavier would eventually get the tying run to third and the go-ahead run to second base, before Rebeka Ferguson laced a ball to right field where Tre Sullivan was strategically placed to record the final out of the game, as the Owls held on for the 2-1 win.
Carleton ran her record to 19-4, allowing four hits and striking out eight in the win. Katie Virtue and Sullivan finished with a pair of hits with Sullivan adding a double. Moates homered and Sadie Birch singled in the contest.
Katie Sears, Saunders, Amanda Hainlen and Kanaga each singled with Kanaga driving in the lone run for the Cougars.
Oregon Tech heads into Wednesday’s Opening Round championship game with Saint Xavier waiting the winner of game four.
Game 4 – No. 3 seed Corban (6) vs No. 4 seed Avila (1)
Corban raced out to a 4-0 lead, eventually posting a 6-1 win in the first elimination-game of the Oregon Tech Bracket. Avila ends their season at 32-13, while Corban (39-17) meets Saint Xavier in game five.
Corban’s four-run third was enough to get by the Eagles, as Warriors starter Sabrina Boyd surrendered just one run to improve to 8-4 on the year. Boyd scattered eight hits and struck out four in her complete-game effort.
Corban’s four run inning was highlighted by a two-run triple off the bat of Taylor Eilders. Jamie Costa and Raimee Sluder would add RBI singles in the inning. Corban scored a pair in the fifth using an Aubrene Blas RBI single with CU’s second run coming off an Avila error.
Back-to-back-to-back singles in the sixth inning gave Avila some hope, but base running miscues cost the Eagles the potential of a big-inning. Madison Mueth’s sacrifice fly would push across the only run for Avila in tournament play, falling by the same 6-1 final.
Danielle Ackerman and Eilders tallied two hits each. Ackerman recorded a double with Eilders a pair of triples in the win. Eilders drove in a pair for the Warriors with Costa, Sluder and Blas adding a RBI each.
Monica Hudson came away with two hits for the Eagles with Samantha Dexter recording the only extra base hit for Avila, a double, in the loss.
Game 5 – No. 1 seed Saint Xavier (8) vs No. 3 seed Corban (3)
Top-seed Saint Xavier tallied four runs in the fifth inning and held off three-seed Corban University, as the Cougars eliminated the Warriors, 8-3, moving on to face Oregon Tech on Wednesday beginning at 11 a.m. Corban University, the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament champions, ends their season 39-18.
Saint Xavier scratched across single runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. Kinsella singled in Sears in the top of the first with Rebeka Ferguson’s ground out plating Megan James to give the Cougars the two-run lead.
Corban tied it with two runs in the bottom of the second. Eilders led off the inning with a single, followed by a two-run homer to left filed from Raimee Sluder, tying it at 2-all. It was Sluder’s third home run of the season.
The Cougars regained the lead with two runs in the third, while a four-run fifth put the game out of reach with Saint Xavier taking the elimination game, 8-3. Jessica Arebalo doubled in a run in the third, while Saunders, Kanaga and Ferguson drove in runs for the Cougars in the fifth.
Corban’s lone run in the bottom of the fourth came off a pinch-hit home run from McCayla Hoffman. It was Hoffman’s fifth homer of the year.
Kinsella led the Cougars 15-hit attack with three hits, while Ferguson drove in two in the win. Sears, Lauret, Saunders, Hainlen and Kanaga came away with two hits apiece. Jessica Arebalo and Saunders recorded doubles in the win. Saint Xavier used three pitchers with starter Callie Brown earning the win in her 3 2/3 innings. Brown moved to 18-2 on the season. Nonnemacher allowed one hit in three innings of work with Caroline Kuzel tossing 1/3 of an inning.
For Corban Kyrianna Sorensen, Sluder and Blas recorded two hits each with Sluder doubling and driving in two on her home run. Hoffman homered, while Eilders picked up another hit in the loss.