Corban works extras to complete season sweep of SOU - Cascade Collegiate Conference Skip To Main Content

Cascade Collegiate Conference

Corban works extras to complete season sweep of SOU
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.

Corban works extras to complete season sweep of SOU

Bookmark and Share

ASHLAND – The 18th-ranked Southern Oregon University softball team got a bit of good news Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't the product of anything that happened in its doubleheader against Corban at University Field.

The Warriors completed a sweep of the season series over the Raiders, as Jessica Holsinger tossed a three-hitter in the 1-0 opener and Raimee Sluder hit an opposite-field, tiebreaking two-run homer in the 11th inning of Game 2 for a 9-7 win in SOU's longest game since 2012.

The Raiders (30-14 overall, 16-8 CCC, 11-5 CCC West), however, remained in control of their own destiny in the CCC West Division. They started the day one game up on 24th-ranked Oregon Tech, but Northwest Christian managed a split at OIT to keep the Owls and Raiders in a first-place tie. SOU owns the tiebreaker over OIT by virtue of winning the season series and both teams finish the regular season next weekend with twin bills at British Columbia and Northwest (Wash.), the two teams at the bottom of the West standings.

The winner of the division will host the six-team CCC tournament May 6-8.

Corban (31-16, 15-9, 13-7) – which is still two games back of SOU in the loss column but has completed its West division slate – scored the only run it needed in Game 1 during the second inning. Sluder hit a leadoff double off SOU pitcher Sydney White, who was otherwise dominant during the ninth straight start in which she's allowed two earned runs or less. After consecutive strikeouts, McKenzie Giancola's sharply hit grounder got a piece of White's glove and her shin before rolling into shallow right field, allowing Sluder to score without a play.

White worked around eight hits and a walk with seven strikeouts in the loss.

Holsinger struck out five and walked one. The only time she allowed a Raider to reach to lead off an inning was in the seventh, when pinch-hitter Amelia Hensler served an 0-2 delivery into right for a hit. Hensler's pinch-runner, Kaelynn Miller, was bunted over to second but got caught trying to steal third to end the game.

Holsinger (15-7) and White (11-8) were dominant again in Game 2, this time in relief, but White was again the tough-luck loser.

White went 6 2/3 innings, entering after McCayla Hoffman sent a fifth-inning three-run homer over the fence in centerfield to put the Warriors up 7-3.

The Raiders chipped away at the deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fifth as Kelsey Randall, Alexa Gonzalez and Kayleen Smith all singled with no outs. Smith's hit drove in the first run, a wild pitch scored the second and a fielder's choice plated the third. In the sixth, Aaliyah Oliver led off with a triple and Randall followed with a sacrifice fly that tied the game.

Holsinger and White traded scoreless frames until the 11th, when Iris Rodriguez led off with a walk and Sluder victimized White's 192nd offering of the day.

Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, Sluder was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, and Grace Utto-Galarneau went 3-for-6 with an RBI. Holsinger – who relieved Allie Mendez after she yielded 11 hits in four innings – went seven innings, allowing four hits and one run. She struck out seven.

For the Raiders, Gonzalez went 3-for-5 and scored three times, Oliver went 2-for-5 and scored twice, Tyler Burke went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Randall went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a run.

 

Sponsors