Raiders run wild in 9-4, 7-3 sweep of British Columbia
ASHLAND – British Columbia's team earned-run average ranked near the bottom of the Cascade Conference coming into Saturday's games, and 16th-ranked Southern Oregon didn't make it any prettier in 9-4 and 7-3 wins at University Field.
The Raiders (21-9 overall, 7-3 CCC) totaled 24 hits and stole 13 bases without being caught –establishing a new team record for steals in a doubleheader with nearly three times the total of SOU's entire 2014 season (five) – as they completed a weekend sweep to set up Tuesday's key home matchups with first-place Oregon Tech.
Alexa Gonzalez,
Abigail Lund,
Aaliyah Oliver and
Kayleen Smith had two hits apiece in the first game;
Amelia Hensler,
Taylor Martinez,
Kelsey Randall and Oliver had two apiece in the second and
Megan Winton stroked two-run singles in both games.
Sydney White earned the Game 1 decision, registering her fourth complete-game victory in eight days by holding the Thunderbirds to two earned runs, and
Victoria Mackey pitched 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to win Game 2 and up her record to 10-1.
UBC, in its first year as an associate member of the CCC, dropped to 6-13 overall and 4-6 in the CCC.
After being shut out twice Friday at Oregon Tech, the Thunderbirds staked to a 4-2 lead in the second inning of the opener when, with two outs, Lindsay Ogilvie followed an SOU error with a two-run single.
Gonzalez cut the lead in half with an RBI single in the bottom of the second. In the fourth, Smith's infield single – which brought her SOU-record hitting streak to 18 games – plated Oliver to tie it and, after a Martinez walk, Winton's two-out liner to center scored two and made it 6-4.
Smith, who went 2-for-3 with three runs and three RBIs, added a two-run double in the fifth and Martinez followed with an RBI single.
Oliver stole three bases in the game and had five on the day.
White labored through a 133-pitch start, working around seven hits and six walks with two strikeouts. She induced 16 groundouts and improved to 6-4.
In the second inning of Game 2, with the scored tied at 1, the Raiders strung together four consecutive extra-base hits with two outs: Hensler doubled, Martinez doubled, Oliver tripled and Randall doubled to make it 4-1.
UBC cut the lead to 4-3 in the third on Montana Turnovitski's RBI hit and Quinn Dhaliwal's RBI walk, but the Raiders padded their advantage in the fifth on Nicola Cardoza's RBI single and Winton's two-run knock.
Mackey kept the Thunderbirds quiet, allowing just three hits and one walk with one strikeout.
SOU is now 18-1 when leading after four innings and 16-0 when leading after six.
Smith's hitting streak was finally halted in Game 2, but she took her first and second walks of the season in her 88th and 89th plate appearances.
Emma Tuson and Ogilvie took the losses for the Thunderbirds, whose team ERA continues to hover around seven.