ASHLAND – The 17th-ranked Concordia Cavaliers whacked their way through University Field and the Southern Oregon softball team with 28 hits in their eighth- and ninth-straight victories Friday afternoon in Cascade Conference play.
Concordia catcher Kate Santos went 4-for-4 with a home run, five RBIs and two runs scored for a 10-2 win in an opener that was shortened by the mercy rule to five innings. In Game 2, the Cavaliers overcame four errors by rallying for three runs in the sixth inning and an 8-7 victory.
Lucy Baldovino threw a complete game in Game 1 and pitched the final 2 1/3 innings in Game 2 to up her record to 16-2 for the Cavs, who improved to 30-10 overall and 11-3 in the CCC.
The Raiders slid to 24-18 and 5-9 in the CCC. They'll host last-place Northwest (Wash.) on Saturday with first pitch slated for 11 a.m.
Santos set the tone in the opener with a two-run single in the first inning, then made it 5-0 with a three-run homer that was shot down the line to the opposite (right) field. Taylor Bussey was 2-for-2 with three runs and two RBIs, including a solo homer in the fifth.
Baldovino scattered seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts. She blanked the Raiders until the fifth, when Ally Painter (La Palma, Calif./St. Joseph) doubled, Krystina Pardoski (Gaberville, Calif./South Fork) tripled and Davalin Ontiveros (Bakersfield, Calif./Centennial) hit an RBI single. Pardoski went 2-for-3 in the loss.
Destinee Chang hit a solo homer and an RBI single to help put the Cavs up 4-0 in the third inning of Game 2. SOU singled four times and was helped by three Concordia errors to score five times in the bottom of the inning, getting RBIs from Pardoski and Megan Scherer (Oakland, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd).
Tied up in the fifth, Pardoski led off with a walk and was eventually singled home by Kayla Douglas (Santa Rosa, Calif./Cardinal Newman) for a 6-5 Raider lead.
Concordia's Sam Owirka started the sixth by reaching on a three-base error. Meghan Leubbert tied it with an RBI single and, after Bussey doubled, a Santos liner brought home the go-ahead run and Taylor Copher added the final score with a groundout.
SOU had its chances in the bottom of the inning. Kelsey Randall (Concord, Calif./Concord) led off with a walk and Ally Painter (La Palma, Calif./St. Joseph) brought her home with a triple, but Baldovino retired the next three Raiders in order to strand the potential tying run at third.
Santos and Chang finished Game 2 with three hits and two RBIs apiece.
Painter went 2-for-3 and Cortney Nolan (Twin Falls, Idaho/Twin Falls) was 2-for-4, while Randall and Pardoski registered a hit and two runs apiece.
The defensive play of the game belonged to Leubbert, who fielded Tyler Burke (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood)'s singled in center field and gunned down Kayla Douglas (Santa Rosa, Calif./Cardinal Newman) at home to keep SOU's lead at one run in the fifth.
