EOU Earns First Spot in CCC Championship Game; Day Two Recap
ASHLAND, Ore. – Second-seeded Eastern Oregon continued to shine in the 2016 Cascade Collegiate Conference Softball Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, earning a spot in the championship game and an automatic bid to the NAIA Opening Round.
The Mountaineers, with a 3-0 record through the first two days of the tournament, claimed the first championship spot with a 3-0 win over Great Falls.
Southern Oregon survived two eliminations games, defeating Oregon Tech in the opening game of the day before closing out today’s action with a 16-5 win over Corban.
Great Falls and the Raiders will begin the final day of the tournament at 11 a.m. when they battle for a championship berth. Eastern will play the winner at 1:30 p.m. to close out the tournament.
Live stats can be followed throughout the tournament here:
http://www.sidearmstats.com/sou/softball/xlive.htm
Game Five: Southern Oregon 4, Oregon Tech 2 (9/F)
When Southern Oregon couldn’t help itself, Oregon Tech finally gave the Raiders a hand Saturday morning in the ninth inning of their 4-2 Cascade Conference Tournament elimination-game victory at University Field.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, the score tied at 1 and Jazmin Ruvalcaba at bat, runners Kayleen Smith and Aaliyah Oliver – who both reached via walks – moved to second and third on Ann-Marie Guischer’s wild pitch. Ruvalcaba then grounded to shortstop, but the ball was bobbled by Alyssa Davis and her throw was wide, allowing Oliver to score the go-ahead run. Amelia Hensler and Megan Winton followed with lined RBI singles to make it 4-1.
SOU whiffed on several chances to take the lead earlier, stranding runners in scoring position in four different innings. It had runners on second and third with no outs in the seventh before a pop-up to the pitcher and a 5-3-2 double play ended the threat.
Senior pitcher Sydney White (14-8) gave the Raiders chance after chance by going all nine innings and holding the Owls to five hits and one earned run with six strikeouts – less than 24 hours after allowing eight runs in 3 2/3 innings against EOU. Smith also saved the game and possibly the season on an outstanding defensive play in the bottom of the eighth: With two outs and the potential winning run at third, she leapt and extended to snag Tre Sullivan’s liner that was bound for right field.
Guischer (11-8) was sharp for OIT, too. She lasted 8 2/3, allowing four runs but only one earned on 10 hits.
Pinch-hitter Sadie Birch initially gave the Owls a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a two-out single to left that scored pinch-runner Karly LeVeque, but Megan Winton tied it in the sixth with a roper to right that brought home Burke.
Game Six: Corban 10, Carroll 3
Corban threw a seven on the scoreboard in the first inning Saturday afternoon and coasted to a 10-3 elimination-game defeat of Carroll on the second day of the Cascade Conference Tournament at University Field.
Maddy Melton had three of Corban’s eight hits and was one of five consecutive Warriors who reached to start the game. Allie Mendez, who went 1-for-3 with two runs scored, had an RBI groundout in the inning, Chaleigh Kirkwood had an RBI single, Taylor Eilders hit a sacrifice fly and Corban was aided by three Carroll errors. McKenzie Giancola (triple, two runs) and Paige Martin (double, one run) registered Corban’s only extra-base hits.
Corban starter Jessica Holsinger (17-9) went six strong innings, yielding six hits and three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts.
Carroll’s Tess Eaton went all seven innings and took the loss, but four of the 10 runs on her line were unearned.
Game Seven: Eastern Oregon 3, Great Falls 0
In a battle between the last two unbeaten teams left at the Cascade Conference Softball Tournament, Eastern Oregon reserved a spot in Sunday's championship round and earned an automatic berth in the national tournament with a 3-0 win against Great Falls.
Hailey Kline's third win of the tournament in the circle was also her fifth complete-game shutout of the season -- a three-hitter in which she struck out five, walked two and tallied 104 pitches for the Mountaineers (28-21 overall).
EOU scored the go-ahead run in the top of the fourth when, with one out and pinch-runner Taylor Gerlach at third after Lauren Burchak's leadoff single, Alex Shuster's pop-up to shallow center field was lost in the sun and dropped. A runner was forced out at second on the play, but Gerlach came home to to make it 1-0.
Marisa Gonzalez muscled a two-out RBI single off the handle of her bat in the fifth and the Mountaineers added one more in the sixth on Jorden Gerlach's triple that scored Shuster.
Keeley Van Blaricom (12-6) allowed four hits and one run in four innings but took the loss for the Argos (24-17).
Game Eight: Southern Oregon 16, Corban 5
The grind of a second Cascade Conference Tournament elimination game in one day appeared to get to Corban during an ugly fifth inning that proved to be its undoing in a 16-5 loss to Southern Oregon on Saturday afternoon at University Field.
The Warriors committed seven errors that led to 11 unearned runs, including five errors in a nine-run fifth inning that enabled SOU to pad its 7-5 lead. The game ended by way of the mercy rule after Sydney White tossed a perfect inning in relief of starter Victoria Mackey, who improved to 16-3 on the season.
The Raiders (36-15 overall) had lost all four regular-season meetings against Corban. With their first win -- and a 4-2 extra-inning defeat of Oregon Tech earlier in the day -- they advanced to play an 11 a.m. game Sunday against Great Falls for a spot in the championship round and an automatic bid to the national tournament.
Corban finished its season with a record of 35-19.
SOU totaled 12 hits to the Warriors' 10. Megan Winton went 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI, while Kelsey Randall (3 runs, 2 RBI, 1 walk), Kayleen Smith (2 runs, 3 RBI), and Abigail Lund (2 runs, 2 RBI) all went 2-for-3.
The Raiders were up 4-0 through two innings, but the Warriors trimmed their lead down to two runs after four. Corban's Maddy Melton, Iris Rodriguez and Raimee Sluder had two hits apiece.
2016 CCC Softball Tournament Schedule
Sunday, May 8
Game 9 @ 11 a.m. – Great Falls vs. Southern Oregon
Game 10 @ 1:30 p.m. – Eastern Oregon vs. Winner of Game 9 (championship)