HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. – The Southern Oregon University softball team needed 18 days this season to beat its 2014 win total, improving to 16-4 and leaving the Northwest Cup unscathed with two more wins Saturday.

The Raiders defeated 10th-ranked Simpson (Calif.) 4-1 during the morning session as Cheyenne Bricker (Bieber, Calif./Big Valley) went to 7-1 with a four-hitter and Sulie Augustine (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic) became the seventh Raider to homer this season. In the afternoon game, SOU won 5-4 in nine innings on a walk-off error by Lewis & Clark.

The Raiders went 4-0 in the tournament. They defeated Great Falls (Mont.) and British Columbia on Friday.

Augustine put the Raiders up with an RBI single in the first inning against the Redhawks, the drove a two-run homer over the fence in right-center field in the third. Gonzalez scored twice in the game.

Bricker went all seven for the win, working around 10 baserunners while striking out three. She lowered her earned-run average to 2.39.

Brianne Craig (Rialto, Calif./Etiwanda) tossed five innings of two-hit, one-run relief to get the decision against the Pioneers and improve to 6-0. SOU took a 4-3 lead with a three-run fourth, starting with Gonzalez's third homer of the season, a solo shot to right field, and ending with Ayala's two-run single.

The Pioneers didn't tie it until the sixth on singles by Lindsay Yearn and Paige Salavea.

In the ninth, with an international tiebreaker in play, Megan Winton (Davis, Calif./Davis Senior) sacrificed Cortney Nolan (Twin Falls, Idaho/Twin Falls) to third base for the first out. The next batter, Tyler Burke (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood), hit a shot to left field that was misplayed, allowing Nolan to come in for the winning run.

Gonzalez went 2-for-2 with a stolen base, Augustine was 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Krystina Pardoski (Gaberville, Calif./South Fork) came off the bench for a hit and two stolen bases.

SOU is in Redding, Calif., next Friday and Saturday to play Simpson and William Jessup both days.