McKenzie Shrum (no. 4) blasted her 10th homer of the year, a two-run shot, helping the Owls to a 5-0 win over University of Great Falls. (picture by Kelly Caleb)
Oregon Tech and Corban to Play for CCC Softball Tournament Crown
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Three-seed Corban University got by top-seed Oregon Tech, 4-1, in Saturday’s opener, while University of Great Falls and Southern Oregon were eliminated on day two of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Softball Championships presented by U.S. Bank today the OIT Softball Complex. The two teams play for the CCC tournament crown Sunday.
Corban, undefeated in tournament play, needs just one win with Oregon Tech needing two tomorrow to decide the 2015 CCC softball tournament title. Regardless of the outcome, both Oregon Tech and Corban will advance to the NAIA Opening Round which will be played at 10 separate campus sites. The winner of each site is heading to the NAIA Softball World Series in Sioux City, Iowa.
Game 5 (Corban 4 vs Oregon Tech 1) – Jessica Holsinger allowed just four hits and struck out five to help send Corban to the CCC title game Sunday at 11 a.m.
Tech scored first, their only run of the contest, in the bottom of the first. Tasha Silvius led off with a single with Ariel Fulkerson’s single putting runners on first and second. Karly LeVeque singled with Lynzee Wortman, running for Silvius, holding at third, but Fulkerson traveled to far off second. The throw to get Fulkerson was late trying to get her heading back and Wortman scored on the play.
The Owls would threaten in their last at-bat, loading the bases with two outs, but Danielle Horne, in relief of Holsinger, coaxed a ground out to end the game.
A two-run third for the Warriors proved to be enough run support for Holsinger. Two Owls’ miscues led to the pair of unearned runs for Corban in the inning.
CU would pick up a single run in the fifth after Taylor Eilders, who led off with a single, scored on a Kali Van Cleave double. The Warriors added an insurance run in the sixth with Danielle Ackerman leading off with a triple and scoring on an Eilders RBI single.
Karly LeVeque led Tech with a pair of hits with Silvius and Fulkerson recording a single each in the loss.
Corban recorded seven hits, including three for extra bases. Ackerman, Kyrianna Sorensen and Eiders finished with two hits each. Ackerman added a double and triple with Van Cleave coming up with a double in the win. Holsinger struck out six with Danielle Horne picking up a save.
Game 6 (Great Falls 4 vs Southern Oregon 2) – UGF used a two-run fourth inning to jump ahead and hang on to eliminate Southern Oregon University by a 4-2 score. SOU ends the season with a 33-26 overall mark, while the Argos moved on to today’s final contest versus host Oregon Tech in an elimination game.
Both UGF and SOU scratched a run across in the third inning with the Argos going up for good in the fourth with two runs.
Alex Lowry hit a solo homer for UGF with SOU notching their run on a Kelsey Randall squeeze bunt plating Kayla Douglas.
The Argos manufactured a run on a ground out to shortstop with their second run crossing on Lowry’s RBI single.
UGF moved up 4-1 on a Mindy Larson fielder’s choice, as the three-run lead would hold. SOU plated one run on back-to-back doubles by Alexa Gonzalez and Krystina Pardoski in the seventh, however, UGF starter Shelby Abeyta got the next two Raiders to ground out with the final out on a pop up.
Lowry led the Argos offensive charge with three hits, including a homerun and two RBI. Larson and Chloe Cross drove in one run each, while Abeyta allowed just four hits in the win.
Game 7 (Oregon Tech 5 vs Great Falls 0) – In a pitcher’s duel between Tech’s Riley Carleton and UGF’s Keeley Van Blaricom through the first five innings, Oregon Tech would use a pair of homers in the sixth to help advance them to the CCC title game Sunday.
The Owls and Argos went scoreless before Tech grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth on a Tasha Silvius single to right-center field. McKenzie Shrum led off the inning with a single and later stole second base. With two outs Silvius provided all the run support Carleton would need to gain the win.
Carleton continued where she left off yesterday versus UGF, as the senior allowed just two Argos hits while striking out six to earn the win.
Insurance runs came quick in the sixth with Virtue leading off the inning with a single. Shrum next blasted a two-run homer to left, her 10
th of the season, to give the Owls a 3-0 lead. Tre Sullivan would go deep to right on a solo shot with one out, while Cassidy Hoglund singled in Wortman, pinch running for Silvius, who earlier singled to make it 5-0.
Carleton walked the leadoff runner in the seventh, but would get a pair of ground outs and a pop up to improve to 16-4 on the year.
Shrum and Silvius came away with two hits, with Shrum driving in two on her home run in the sixth. Sullivan, Silvius and Hogland drove in a run each.
UGF got hits from Cross and Lowry with Van Blaricom taking the loss in the circle.