Bracket |Listen Live | Tourney Central | Live Streams
SPRINGFIELD, MO. – Ali Graham crushed a two run home run to left field in the bottom of the first giving No. 10 Oregon Tech (44-16) a 2-1 lead as the Owls cruised to a 7-1 elimination game victory ending the season for No. 6 seeded Valley City State Friday night in the 39
th Annual NAIA College Softball World Series at the Killian Softball Stadium.
The Owls advance to play another loser-out game Saturday at 5 p.m (Pacific) against No. 8 seed the Grizzlies of Georgia Gwinnett College.
The Owls and Grizzlies faced each other three times last year in the NAIA Opening Round in Lawrenceville, GA. with the Grizzlies taking the first game 4-1, OIT won the second game 4-0 to force the if necessary game in the Championship, a game GGC won 5-2 ending the Owls season and sending them into the World Series.
"We worked through a rough first inning start to play really well the rest of the night," said Head Coach
Greg Stewart. "Kiahna Brown set the tone in her first at bat and Ali got the momentum back for us with her homer. We got some key two out hits and Sarah got stronger as the game went on."
Oregon Tech 7 Valley City State 1 Final
VCS struck first with a single run in the top of the first inning. Joelle Aiello and Voni Culp opened the game with back-to-back singles. Aiello then stole third base and later came in to score on a throw to second base. Valley City State's rally ended quickly as starter Sarah Abramson settled down to get a groundout and strikeout to end the threat.
The Hooter did not waste anytime answering back as Graham slammed a two-run home run to left field, her 12
th of the year, putting the Owls ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the inning.
The Owls took a 4-1 lead in the second inning on a two-run single by Kiahna Brown.
Tech added two more runs taking advantage of a pair of wild pitches to go up 6-1 in the 5
th.
A Shelby Hotchkiss pinch hit RBI ground out made it 7-1 in the 6
th as the Owls held on for the win.
Oregon Tech pitcher Sarah Abramson went the distance for a complete game, giving up just five hits and the one run. She walked one and struck out five. Kiahna Brown and Olivia Lethlean each had a pair of hits for OIT.
,
FOLLOW OREGON TECH ATHLETICS
Facebook |
Twitter |
Instagram |
YouTube