Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo. SOU edges Northwestern, meets St. Francis in Wednesday's final 5/15/2018 8:29:00 PM SOU Sports Information Monday's Results Game 1 – (3) Northwestern (Iowa) 4, (2) St. Francis (Ill.) 2 Game 2 – (1) Southern Oregon 9, (4) Simpson (Calif.) 1 Tuesday's Tesults Game 3 – Southern Oregon 3, Northwestern 2 Game 4 – St. Francis 3, Simpson 2 (Simpson eliminated) Game 5 – St. Francis 5, Northwestern 2 (F/11) (Northwestern eliminated) Wednesday's Games Game 6, 11 a.m. – Southern Oregon vs. St. Francis Game 7, 1:30 p.m. – If necessary MEDFORD – The No. 8-ranked Southern Oregon University softball team is one win away from returning to the NAIA World Series after maneuvering in and out of trouble for a 3-2 win against No. 3-seeded Northwestern College (Iowa) on Tuesday morning at U.S. Cellular Community Park. Morgan Jones saved sophomore pitcher Gabby Sandoval's 24th win of the season, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and retiring the side in order in the seventh, as the top-seeded Raiders (46-12) stayed perfect in their double-elimination Southern Oregon Bracket and matched a school record for wins that was established last year. They'll meet 15th-ranked St. Francis (Ill.) (40-8) in the final at 11 a.m. Wednesday, and in the event of a St. Francis victory, the teams will play one more at 1:30 p.m. A day after knocking 17 hits against Simpson, SOU's lineup was relatively quiet in a six-hit game but gave Sandoval some cushion early. Kelsey Randall went 1-for-1 with three walks, including one in the first inning that preceded two stolen bases and Rebecca Velasquez's RBI single. The Raiders made it 3-0 in a fifth inning that Randall started with a triple to right field – her 11th of the season, breaking another school record that she set last year, and the 30th of her career. The next batter, Hannah Shimek, cashed in with a run-scoring looper to left and later came home on Tayler Walker's squeeze bunt. Run prevention, however, was the story. Sandoval survived 5 1/3 innings but was in a fourth-inning pickle with runners on second and third and no outs. Randall, a senior shortstop, protected the lead with a diving stab at Jensen Boger's ground ball up the middle that she gunned to the plate from her knees to catch Kayla Tindall trying to score. The next batter, Cheyenne Wilke, put down a squeeze bunt that Sandoval scooped to Donovan at the plate to tag out Emily Bosch. And with two outs, Sandoval induced an Emma Schnell flyout to deep center field. Northwestern scored two in the sixth – both were unearned due to a catcher's interference call – on Wilke's bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and Katie Elliott's bases-loaded walk. That's when Jones came on, getting leadoff hitter Madison Beaver to tap out to the mound and end the threat. In the seventh, Jones struck out two Red Raiders for her third save of the season. It put Sandoval (24-6), who yielded six hits with four strikeouts, in the No. 3 spot on SOU's single-season wins list. In Tuesday's final game, Northwestern was eliminated by St. Francis, 5-2 in 11 innings, after defeating the Fighting Saints on Monday. St. Francis also topped Simpson on Tuesday, 3-2. All-American pitcher Morghan Dieringer has tossed all 25 innings for the team in Southern Oregon Bracket play, totaling 412 pitches. Dieringer (24-3) is a lock to meet SOU on Wednesday. Whichever team survives the day will advance to the 10-team NAIA World Series, May 25-31 in Clermont, Florida. GAME 4 – ST. FRANCIS 3, SIMPSON 2 In an elimination game between Monday's losers, No. 2-seeded St. Francis (Ill.) plated the tying run in the fifth inning and the go-ahead runs in the sixth on Katelyn Rolniak's two-run double with two outs for a 3-2 win against No. 4-seeded Simpson (Calif.). The Fighting Saints were being three-hit into the fifth by Simpson starter Hailee Nichols, and they trailed 1-0 when Rolniak led off with a walk. She moved over on Paige Egan's bunt single, and, following a sacrifice, Brooke Karraker tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Another leadoff walk, to Kayla Garcia, set the stage in the bottom of the sixth. Jensen Tchorzynski's ensuing single put two on for Rolniak, who delivered with a double to the gap. Morghan Dieringer threw a seven-hit complete game for the win, striking out seven with no walks. She settled in after surrendering an RBI double to Mia Olvera in the first inning. She had to diffuse one more threat in the seventh: After Mazzie Davies hit a one-out sacrifice fly to cut the lead in half, Simpson had two runners in scoring position for No. 2-hitter Madison Wright, but Dieringer caught her looking at a full-count strike to extend the Fighting Saints' season. GAME 5 – ST. FRANCIS 5, NORTHWESTERN 2 (F/11) In an 11-inning marathon that saw aces Morghan Dieringer and Kayla Tindall both go the distance, Dieringer was the survivor after tallying 176 pitches in St. Francis' 5-2 knockout of Northwestern. The Fighting Saints had just six hits when the 11th started but 10 by the time it was done. Ally Balandis led off the frame by lining a double to the left-center gap, and Kayla Garcia's walk put two on with no out. Jensen Tchorzynski was next, and her sacrifice fly to deep center field was mishandled. Balandis scored on the play, the error in which also led to Ashley Galason's two-run single to left that finally broke the game open. Dieringer (24-3) yielded nine hits and four walks with eight strikeouts. Tindall was charged with 10 hits and three earned runs, also striking out eight. Northwestern (36-13) went ahead on Jessica Sandbulte's solo home run in the first, but St. Francis tied it on Garcia's 15th blast of the season in the second. The Fighting Saints briefly took a 2-1 lead in the fifth thanks to pinch-hitter Lina Medo's RBI single, but the Red Raiders tied it again in the sixth when Jensen Boger followed Emily Bosch's two-out double with an RBI single.