Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

PORTLAND – There was reason for the Southern Oregon University softball team to celebrate Saturday despite the fact that it endured two losses at 25th-ranked Concordia on the final day of the regular season.

While the Cavaliers were taking care of the Raiders, 5-1 and 9-5 at Sandy High School, Corban was doing SOU's dirty work in Salem, rallying from a 4-0 deficit for a 6-4 win over Northwest Christian in the first game of their doubleheader. The loss eliminated NCU from playoff contention and gave SOU the No. 4 seed in next week's double-elimination Cascade Conference Tournament.

The Raiders (15-21 overall, 14-14 CCC) will open the tourney against league champ and host Oregon Tech (32-10, 23-5) on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. That game will be preceded by a 9 a.m. matchup between No. 2 Concordia (30-16, 22-6) and No. 3 College of Idaho (27-13, 19-9). A complete schedule is listed below.

OIT won all four regular season contests against SOU. The teams last clashed in the postseason in 2006, and the Raiders last appeared in the conference tournament in 2010, falling 2-1 at Corban.

As for Saturday, Megan Scherer (Oakland, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd)'s three-run homer gave the Raiders a highlight at the end of an afternoon that didn't yield many. Karlie Stephens (Eagle Point, Ore./Eagle Point)' 4 1/3-inning relief stint in which she held the Cavs to one run in Game 1 was another, but it came after that Raiders had already lost control.

Concordia grabbed a 4-1 lead in the second inning as Kate Santos hit a two-run bomb and Katie Aden added a two-run single. Cavs pitcher McKenzie Marshall made it stand, scattering six hits with three strikeouts in her second complete-game win against SOU in as many weeks.

In the nightcap, Taylor Bussey gave the Cavs a first-inning edge with a two-run double. Brianne Craig (Rialto, Calif./Etiwanda H.S.) cut into it with an RBI single in the top of the fourth, but the Cavs scored four more in the bottom of the inning capped by Meghan Luebbert's two-run homer.

Julia Willison (Reno, Nevada/McQueen) went 1-for-3 and scored twice against Danielle Orvella, who allowed two earned runs in her complete game. Scherer's home run, which cleared the wall in centerfield, was her second of the season and came with the Raiders trailing 9-2.

Concordia, which finished one game behind OIT, swept the season series with SOU.

CASCADE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Thursday:

Game 1 @ 9 a.m. – #2 Concordia vs. #3 College of Idaho

Game 2 @ 11:30 a.m. – #1 Oregon Tech vs. #4 Southern Oregon

Game 3 @ 2 p.m. – Winner of game 1 vs. Winner of game 2

Game 4 @ 4:30 p.m. – Loser of game 1 vs. Loser of game 2 (loser eliminated)

Friday:

Game 5 @ 11 a.m. – Loser of game 3 vs. Winner of game 4 (loser eliminated)

Game 6 @ 1:30 p.m. – Winner of game 3 vs. Winner of game 5

Game 7 @ 4 p.m. – If necessary

Note: The higher seed will be the designated home team. Winner of the tournament earns the CCC automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.