Raiders, Owls make each other pay in series-opening split

4/13/2018 7:19:00 PM

SOU Sports Information

ASHLAND – The No. 9 Southern Oregon and No. 22 Oregon Tech softball teams capitalized on each other's mistakes Friday at University Field, splitting a key Cascade Conference doubleheader that saw the fate of four strong starting-pitcher performances decided by 10 combined errors.

The Owls (26-10 overall, 14-6 CCC) won Game 1, 4-3, as Loryn Williams kept SOU's potential tying run stranded in scoring position with a strikeout to finish off her complete game. The Raiders (33-10, 16-4) stole Game 2, 5-2, with five unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth, in which Hannah Shimek came through with a blooped two-out, two-run single that gave them a 3-2 lead and Harlee Donovan followed with her seventh home run of the year.

SOU remained two games up in the win column on Corban (14-4 CCC), which missed its chance to take over first place in a split at College of Idaho. The Raiders and Owls will play two more on Saturday, the second being a nonleague counter, starting at 11 a.m.

Owls second baseman Kiahna Brown hammered her ninth homer of the season in the opener, a towering shot to left off Gabby Sandoval that made it 1-0 in the second inning. Sandoval (16-4) had won nine straight decisions coming into the game, but she fell behind 3-0 in a sloppy fourth inning set up by three SOU errors on the infield. With two on and one out, Brown and Rachael Delamare hit back-to-back RBI singles.

The Raiders got one back in the fifth against Loryn Williams as Tiana Brown, Kelsey Randall and Hannah Shimek strung together three softly-hit but well-placed singles. But in the top of the sixth, Irene McGuire sent a run-scoring single to left that brought Williams' cushion back to three runs.

Williams improved to 6-1, but not before facing pressure in a seventh inning that Hannah Wessel and Olivia Mackey started with back-to-back hits. With two outs, Donovan's double to right-center cut the deficit to 4-3, but Williams took care of the next batter, Rebecca Velasquez, on three pitches to defuse the threat.

OIT also provided Game 2 starter Sarah Abramson with a 2-0 lead – scoring in the third on Sahalie Doe's single to right, and in the fifth on Tara Moates' liner to left – before giving it back.

SOU's sixth started innocently, with pinch-hitter Avery Morehead-Hutsell's bunt single and an error on Hannah Wessel's attempted sacrifice. With two outs, the Owls threw away a fielder's choice that allowed the first run to score. And with a pair of runners in scoring position, Shimek's flare dropped just outside the infield. Donovan's ensuing home run, her second of the week, was a no-doubter off reliever Kelly Scott, sent on a line over the fence in center field.

Abramson (9-4) allowed five seven hits and walked two over 5 2/3 but wasn't charged with an earned run. SOU starter Allie Hancock improved to 7-1 by surviving six innings of seven-hit ball with four strikeouts, surrendering one earned run. Sandoval worked the seventh for her third save.

Mackey and Shimek led the Raiders with three hits apiece on the day.