Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PORTLAND – After several hours of delays while the teams searched for a playable field, Northwest defeated Southern Oregon 5-4 and 4-3 in a pair of eight-inning Cascade Collegiate Conference softball contests Saturday afternoon at Portland State's Normandie Park.

The doubleheader, initially scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in Kirkland, Wash., was moved to Clackamas Community College in the Portland area after Northwest's field in Kirkland was deemed unplayable. By the time the teams arrived in Clackamas on Saturday, however, weather conditions forced the games to be delayed more than four hours before the coaches secured Normandie Park for the afternoon.

Southern Oregon falls to 14-19 overall and 10-10 in conference play with its fourth and fifth consecutive defeats, while Northwest improves to 7-23 overall and 4-12 in the CCC. The Raiders drop into a virtual tie with College of Idaho (11-11 in the CCC) for the fourth and final spot in the conference tournament with eight games remaining in the regular season. Southern Oregon hosts No. 11 Oregon Tech in a rivalry doubleheader on Tuesday beginning at 2 p.m. at University Field.

Julia Willison (Reno, Nevada/McQueen) finished the day with three hits and a pair of runs batted in to lead Southern Oregon. Alexa Gonzalez (Menifee, Calif./Heritage) and Ashley Lowe (Sacramento, Calif./Ck. McClatchy) earned a hit in each game and Kara Kelsey (Middleton, N.J./Middletown North) picked up a pair of hits in the opener. Lauren Robinson tallied seven hits in eight at bats for Northwest, while Ricki Tacdol finished the day with four hits. Lynzee Halcott, Ashley Curtis and Vanessa Ahrendt each posted three-hit games.

Karlie Stephens (Eagle Point, Ore./Eagle Point) relieved the starting pitchers early in both games for the Raiders, pitching 6.1 innings in each contest and giving up a combined three earned runs to take both losses. Kellie Peckham earned the eight-inning victory in the opener and Ahrendt went the distance to take the win in the second contest.

An RBI single by Gonzalez in the top of the first gave SOU a 1-0 lead in the opener before Northwest tied it with a run in the bottom of the inning and added two more in the second. A run for each team in the fourth made it 4-2 NU. Willison came through with a clutch two-out single in the fifth to bring home Gonzalez and Stephanie Vandenbusch (Fremont, Calif./American) and tie the game at 4-4. The Raiders loaded the bases in the top of the eighth, but a groundout ended the frame and set the stage for a walk-off single by Tacdol in the bottom of the inning as Robinson came in to score the winning run.

Northwest followed the same early pattern in the second game, scoring once in the bottom of the first and twice in the bottom of the second. Despite 13 hits, the Eagles did not score again until another walk-off in the eighth inning.

Southern Oregon scored all three of its runs in the top of the sixth. Gonzalez tripled to score Lauren Keel (Fullerton, Calif./Rosary) from third, and Vandenbusch followed with an RBI single and came in to score on a single by Lowe. The Eagles won the game in the bottom of the eighth when they loaded the bases with two outs and Halcott was hit by a pitch to force in the winning run.

Southern Oregon swept Northwest 9-2 and 6-3 last month in Ashland, meaning the teams will conclude NU's first season of softball play with a season split.