Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo. Raiders hammer St. Francis in Game 2, punch tickets to NAIA World Series 5/16/2018 10:03:00 PM SOU Sports Information 2018 NAIA WORLD SERIES BRACKET MEDFORD – A celebration that was unprecedented a year ago looked a little more refined for the Southern Oregon University softball team Wednesday evening at U.S. Cellular Community Park. The No. 8-ranked Raiders (47-13) are Florida-bound for the NAIA World Series again after conquering the Opening Round Southern Oregon Bracket on an overcast day that ranged from drizzly to soaking, eliminating No. 15 St. Francis (Ill.) for the title. The Fighting Saints forced a winner-take-all tilt by walking off a 6-5 win in the first matchup, their third straight elimination-game victory after dropping the tournament opener. But, following a rain delay that pushed the second game back three hours, SOU struck for six runs in the first two innings en route to an 8-3 clincher. Taking down the most effective lineup SOU has ever produced twice was too much to ask, even of St. Francis All-American Morghan Dieringer (25-4). She completed Game 1, as only two of the five runs on her line were earned, but she was knocked out in Game 2 after the Raiders stroked six hits – including three for extra bases with two outs – in the first two frames. SOU, which went to its first World Series last year as the No. 8 seed, will return as the No. 6 seed in the 10-team, double-elimination affair. The Raiders will open against No. 3-seeded Marian (Ind.) (50-5) on May 25 at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. The winner will be off until May 28, while the loser will turn around to play a noon elimination game on May 26. The Raiders have still yet to lose consecutive games this season and now own a new school record for wins. Their five-game postseason win streak was snapped, however, when Fighting Saints shortstop Ashley Galason singled up the middle with two outs and the bases loaded to plate the winning run in the opener. In the top of the seventh, the Raiders had extended the game by erasing a 5-3 deficit: Tayler Walker and Karlee Coughlin led it off with hard-hit singles and their pinch-runners, Mackenzie Evangelisti and Davalin Ontiveros, moved to second and third on a passed ball. Hannah Wessel delivered a sacrifice fly to score Evangelisti, and Ontiveros bolted for home on Olivia Mackey's groundout a batter later – sliding expertly around the tag at the plate for the tie. In the bottom half, an error, a hit and a walk set up Galason's heroics. There was no such drama in Game 2, at least late. A walk and a hit-batsman in SOU's half of the first brought Walker to the plate with two outs, and she doubled to drive in the first run. The second and third scored an at-bat later, when Karlee Coughlin lined another double into the right-center field gap. The Raiders did their damage with two outs in the second, too. Avery Morehead-Hutsell's bunt single brought Hannah Shimek to the plate, and her triple (aided by a slick outfield) chased Morehead-Hutsell home. Harlee Donovan followed with an RBI single up the middle, and SOU's third hit in a row came off Rebecca Velasquez's bat to center. Coupled with an error, it brought Donovan home to put SOU up 6-0. Velasquez finished 3-for-3, and Morehead-Hutsell had two hits and a walk. Coughlin added a third RBI on a squeeze bunt in the fifth, the same inning in which the Raiders scored their final run on an error to make it 8-1. Shimek – who is now 14-for-24 in seven postseason games – scored a pair of runs and finished the tournament 8-for-14 with two triples and a double. Kelsey Randall tallied two triples and a double in the Opening Round, and, of equal importance, saved a handful of hits with her work at shortstop. Freshman Allie Hancock worked four innings for the win, improving to 10-1 on the season. She blanked the Fighting Saints through the first three innings, and Gabby Sandoval and Morgan Jones took the last three. In eight innings of relief over the Opening Round's three days, Jones surrendered just five hits and no earned runs.