Wednesday, 1/3 p.m. – Hope International at SOU – Live Stats
Friday-Saturday – SOU at Simpson Tournament
Sunday, noon/2 p.m. – SOU at Chico State – Live Stats

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University softball team this week will play 10 games in the span of four days, starting with its University Field debut Wednesday against Hope International (Calif.).

The Raiders (4-0 overall) host a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. against the Royals with Game 2 beginning at approximately 3 p.m. On Thursday and Friday, SOU will travel to Redding, Calif., for the Simpson University Tournament and three games both days, and on Sunday the Raiders will stop in Chico for a doubleheader against NCAA Division II foe Chico State.

SOU's only two home twins bills before Cascade Conference play are separated by four weeks. The Raiders got going last week on the road, defeating William Jessup three times and Menlo once. The 4-0 start is their first since 2003, and the 39 runs are as many as it took to score in the first 13 games of the 2014 season.

Northwest is the only other CCC team that's been in action thus far, as unfavorable weather has wiped out a sizable chunk of the early schedule.

Short hops:
- Freshman Kelsey Randall (Concord, Calif./Concord) started the season by going 11-for-16 with five doubles, one homer, 10 runs scored and four stolen bases in as many attempts atop the lineup. No Raider has scored more than 28 runs in the previous five seasons.
- Seven Raiders already have multi-hit games to their credit: Randall, Gina Ayala (Norwalk, Calif./Santa Fe), Tyler Burke (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood), Kayla Douglas (Santa Rosa, Calif./Cardinal Newman), Davalin Ontiveros (Bakersfield, Calif./Centennial), Krystina Pardoski (Gaberville, Calif./South Fork) and Megan Winton (Davis, Calif./Davis Senior).
- Home runs from Randall and Winton were especially encouraging, considering SOU has averaged 10 home runs the last two seasons after hitting 45 in 2012. Seven of SOU's 2014 homers were blasted in just two games.
- True to her word, first-year coach Jessica Pistole has already awarded starts to 15 different position players, including multiple starts to 13 of them.
- Cheyenne Bricker (Bieber, Calif./Big Valley) earned her first two pitching wins at SOU last week – one in relief and one as a starter. She tossed 10 1/3 innings, allowing 11 hits and five runs.
-Brianna Craig already owns one win and two saves. She has a team-best batting average against of .238 through 10 2/3 innings.

About Hope International: This will be the Fullerton, Calif., school's first visit to Ashland, though the teams met in tournament play in 2010 (Hope won, 9-4). The Royals are 4-0, having swept Antelope Valley (Calif.) and Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) last week by a combined score of 36-18. They went 17-33 last season, including 5-15 in the Golden State Athletic Conference, and were picked to finish seventh this year in the Cal Pac/Golden State group. Chelsie Keller is 7-for-14 and owns three of the team's six extra-base hits, including one homer and eight RBIs.