Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
Raiders take series openers from Northwest
SOU Sports Information
ASHLAND – Nineteen more hits and strong outings from pitchers
Gabby Sandoval and
Allie Hancock brought Southern Oregon's winning streak to seven Friday in a sweep of Northwest (Wash.), 10-2 in five innings and 5-1 at University Field.
The 14th-ranked Raiders (21-7 overall, 6-2 Cascade Conference) clinched the three-game CCC portion of the series, which concludes Saturday with another doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Sandoval went to 10-3 with her seventh complete game of the season, and Hancock stayed perfect at 4-0 by working around eight hits with seven strikeouts in surviving all seven innings in Game 2.
The Eagles dipped to 7-16 and 1-7 in the CCC.
SOU had five doubles among its 12 hits in Game 1, and
Olivia Mackey went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles.
Rebecca Velasquez was 2-for-2 with a double and three runs scored. After she drove in the Raiders' first run in the first,
Hannah Wessel followed with a two-run single up the middle.
The Raiders tacked on three in the third, which was highlighted by
Karlee Coughlin's roped two-run double down the line. They triggered the mercy rule in the fifth, when
Kelsey Randall's double scored
Hannah Shimek, who had earlier doubled, and
Harlee Donovan's single brought home Randall.
Donovan's consecutive on-base streak ended at 20 plate appearances, but she went 2-for-4 with a double in Game 1 and extended her hitting streak to nine games in Game 2.
Katrina Winterburn and Wessel brought their own hitting streaks to eight games.
Sandoval allowed five hits and two walks, striking out four to win her third straight decision. Alicia Loiler drove in the only runs against her with a single in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Northwest took a 1-0 lead in Game 2 after Darian Godfrey doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the first, and starter Hannah Yelas shut out the Raiders through the first four innings. SOU did all of its damage on five hits and an error in the fifth.
Mackey initiated the rally with a one-out double and
Hannah Shimek reached on an error trying to bunt Mackey over, putting runners on the corners. Randall's looper to center tied it, and Wessel's bunt single made it 2-1. A groundout to second by Donovan then drove in Randall, and with two outs Velasquez poked an RBI single and Winterburn an RBI double to the left-centerfield gap.
Randall went 2-for-3 in the game, reached base five times on the day and stole three bases.
Hancock only allowed one baserunner into scoring position over the final four innings.