Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
SOU walks off 2 more to steal series, 1st place from #7 Corban
SOU Sports Information
ASHLAND – Against the No. 7-ranked team in the NAIA, Southern Oregon was without a baserunner going into its last at-bat of the first game and trailed by four runs going its last at-bat of the second on Saturday at University Field. Two wins later, the No. 14 Raiders had put together one of the more memorable afternoons of regular-season action in team history.
SOU stole first place from Corban by winning 1-0 in seven innings and 11-10 in eight, taking three of four overall in the series – each in walk-off fashion – and two of three Cascade Conference contests.
With one out in the seventh inning of a scoreless Game 1,
Hannah Shimek ended Corban ace Sabrina Boyd's perfect-game bid with a hard-hit single to left. After
Harlee Donovan's dribbler up the middle moved Shimek to second,
Karlee Coughlin shot a liner into left field to bring home the winning run and reward
Gabby Sandoval's three-hit, 71-pitch gem of a shutout.
In Game 2, a nonleague counter, SOU trailed 10-6 after Corban opened extra innings with a four-run frame. But the Raiders strung together three hits and three walks and got to celebrate again when
Hannah Wessel's two-out hit down the third-base line with the bases loaded brought home their fourth and fifth runs of the inning.
Winners of 15 of their last 17, the Raiders (29-9 overall, 12-3 CCC) moved into a first-place tie with Oregon Tech (24-7, 12-3) – a half-game ahead of Eastern Oregon (16-10, 11-3) and two wins ahead of Corban (20-8, 10-3).
Two Raider seniors put a cherry on top with personal milestones:
Kelsey Randall went 3-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI in Game 2 to become the first player in team history with 300 career hits; and Donovan, in her second year with the team, hit a solo home run and a three-run double in Game 2 to set a new SOU career RBI record at 103.
Sandoval, a sophomore, pitched the final 4 1/3 innings of the finale and collected all three of SOU's wins in the series to boost her record to 15-3. She struck out three without issuing a walk in Game 1 for her third shutout of the season, retiring the last 15 Warriors she saw in order.
Boyd was 11-1 entering the weekend but took all three Corban losses. Warriors reliever Baylee Day was in the circle to start the eighth but yielded singles against
Olivia Mackey,
Haley Mt. Joy and
Hannah Shimek. Randall and Donovan cut the lead to 10-8 with sacrifice flies.
Boyd came on for Day after a two-out walk of
Rebecca Velasquez put runners on first and second, but Boyd walked the first two batters she faced, Coughlin and
Taelor Mayben. With the bases packed and Corban's lead down to one run, the stage was set for Wessel's dramatics.
Extras were made possible by SOU's two-run sixth inning. Mayben entered as a pinch-hitter and led off with a double, and Mackey chased her home with a double of her own. With two outs, Randall's single through the right side made it 6-6.
Megan Rybar led off Corban's eighth with a homer off Sandoval, her fourth of the season. Later, Kaylee Buhrkuhl hit a two-run double to shallow center that was lost in the sun with two outs, and Mahina Chong followed with an RBI single.
SOU also got its win on Friday in extra innings, 6-5 on Shimek's walk-off double in the ninth.
The Raiders play a four-game set next Friday and Saturday at Northwest Christian.