CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 2022 Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament, presented by U.S. Bank is set to begin Friday in Klamath Falls, Ore.
Tournament Central
No. 4-ranked Oregon Tech grabbed hosting duties after winning the regular-season conference championship to earn the top seed. No. 8-ranked Southern Oregon University picked up the second seed after grabbing a tie-breaker over 15
th-ranked Eastern Oregon University, which enters the tournament as the No. 3 seed. UBC and Corban University round out the six-team field as the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively.
Action begins Friday morning with the Coyotes taking on the Thunderbirds at 9 a.m. and the Mounties and Warriors follow at 11:30 a.m. After getting a first-round bye, the Raiders and Owls take on the winners of the early games in the afternoon.
OIT enters the postseason with a 43-10 overall record and won the regular-season championship with a 25-5 mark. Since 2002, the Owls have claimed four CCC Tournament titles and looks to defend its 2021 CCC Tournament Championship. As a team, the Owls lead the CCC in ERA (2.09), pitching strikeouts (331), fielding percentage (.978) and walks drawn (174). OIT also sits fourth in the NAIA in runs scored (386).
SOU earned the second seed after holding the head-to-head tie-breaker over EOU and come into the postseason boasting a 46-10 overall record. The two-time defending NAIA National Champions are coasting a 17-game winning streak, the second-longest in program history. As a team, the Raiders lead the CCC (and NAIA) in almost every offensive category, including batting average (.392), slugging percentage (.618), on-base percentage (.459), runs scored (470), RBIs (430), and home runs (58).
Third-seeded EOU comes into the tournament with a 39-13 overall record with some big wins under its belt – including three wins over the Owls – and look to keep building momentum. The Mounties have won 18 of their last 21 games and boast the CCC’s second-best team ERA (2.45).
C of I boasts a 37-13 record heading into the tournament, coming off a pair of wins at the University of Providence. As a team, the Coyotes rank in multiple categories in the NAIA including 318 runs (23
rd), 276 RBIs (25
th), and 2.46 ERA (64
th).
UBC, which last year had to sit out the season due to the pandemic, makes its return as the fifth seed with a 20-18 record in tow. Before the pandemic, the Thunderbirds made three-straight appearances to the CCC tournament and looks to pull off some upsets.
Corban rounds out the six teams, entering the postseason with a 19-33 record. The Warriors are under first-year head coach, also hoping to pick up some upsets in their seventh-straight trip to the CCC tournament.
All games will be streamed live
here for $10 per game or $30 for the whole tournament and fans can follow live stats
here. Oregon Tech has already secured a spot in the NAIA Softball National Championship by winning the CCC regular-season title. The winner of the conference tournament will secure the other automatic qualifier from the conference. If the Owls win the tournament, the tournament runner-up will earn the second bid.