Fighting for a spot in the Cascade Conference Postseason Tournament, the Southern Oregon softball team scored a key sweep of Northwest Christian today in Eugene.

 

The Raiders scored a 14-4 victory in the opener and a 10-0 victory in the nightcap.

 

Southern Oregon improved to 18-17 overall and 14-8 in Cascade Conference play and will travel to Corban for a huge doubleheader tomorrow afternoon. The Warriors were swept by 17th-ranked Oregon Tech today and fell to 12-8 in conference play.

 

Southern Oregon (14-8), College of Idaho (12-8), Corban (12-8) and Concordia (11-7) are all in a virtual tie for the final two of three playoff spots. Concordia and College of Idaho play tomorrow in Caldwell, Idaho.

 

While Southern Oregon's starting pitching was silencing the Northwest Christian offense, the Southern Oregon bats continued to pound away.

 

In the opener, it was a pair of long balls that sparked the SOU offense.

 

Trailing 3-0 in the top of the third, sophomore Rayna Okimoto (Honolulu, Hawaii/Aiea) tied the game for the Raiders with a three-run shot over the wall in left.

 

The Beacons took the lead again in the bottom of the frame 4-3, but that would it for the Beacons for the rest of the day.

 

The Raiders tied the game in the fourth with a run off a hit and two errors.

 

In the fifth inning, the Raiders broke it wide open.

 

Irene Barrantes (Dos Palos, Calif./Dos Palos) gave the Raiders the lead for good at 5-4 with her seventh home run of the year.

 

In the sixth inning, Southern Oregon scored eight runs on seven hits and ended the game thanks to the mercy rule.

 

Okimoto and Katie Moy (Oceanside, Calif./Vista) each had three hits in the opener for the Raiders. Okimoto now has 10 home runs on the season, which ranks second all-time and is just one home run from equaling Tanisha Burch's 2006 school record of 11.

 

Jordyn Kurtz (Tacoma, Wash./Stadium) picked up the victory for the Raiders to improve to 9-6 on the year.

 

In the second game, Jessica Flores (Corning, Calif./Corning) pitched a complete game one-hitter and the SOU offense scored seven runs in the first three innings and pounded out 14 hits in the game.

 

In the first inning, the Raiders took advantage of some Northwest Christian miscues  to take a 4-0 lead despite just one hit, but with a pair of Northwest Christian errors.

 

The Raiders added two more runs in the second inning and one in the third for an early 7-0 advantage.

 

In the seventh inning, Moy doubled to left-center to break the school's career doubles record with 34 and drive in two of SOU's three runs in the frame.

 

Moy had three hits to lead the Raiders, while Melissa Corn (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista), Flores and Brooke Springer (Omak, Wash./Omak) all had two hits.

 

Flores is now 3-2 on the season and struck out six.