*Note: Due to rain, Friday's game times have been moved to 1 and 3 p.m.

BIOLA INVITATIONAL – Live Stats/Streams
1 p.m. Friday – SOU vs. #18 Vanguard
3 p.m. Friday – SOU at #20 Biola
10 a.m. Saturday – SOU vs. Hope International
4 p.m. Saturday – SOU vs. San Diego Christian
10 a.m. Sunday – SOU vs. Embry-Riddle (AZ)
12 p.m. Sunday – SOU vs. La Sierra

ASHLAND – The Southern Oregon University softball team will get into the meat of its preseason schedule and find out where it stands among some of the best teams on the West Coast when it plays at the NAIA Southern California Classic this Friday through Sunday.

The Raiders (6-4 overall) will see six different opponents (including five from California) at the Classic, which is hosted by Biola University in West Covina, Calif. They'll start Friday with 18th-ranked Vanguard (8-6) and 20th-ranked Biola (3-4-1); on Saturday they'll face Hope international (4-4) and San Diego Christian (6-2); and on Sunday they'll get Embry-Riddle (0-4) and La Sierra (6-3-1).

Two weeks into the season, the Raiders have already played four times against Simpson, which was 12-0 before SOU ended the streak with a 4-1 win in the final game of last week's Simpson Invitational. The challenging schedule is similar to that of last season, when the Raiders went 19-9 prior to Cascade Conference play. Next week, they'll play doubleheaders at NCAA Div. II opponents Saint Martin's (Wash.) and Concordia (Ore.).

Short Hops:
– The first 10 games have already produced two CCC pitchers of the week for SOU. In the opening weekend, junior transfer Lacie Crawford won the award for throwing a complete-game shutout with six strikeouts against William Jessup. This week, freshman Victoria Mackey was recognized after running her record to 4-0. In 22 2/3 innings pitched, Mackey has allowed just one earned run and 14 hits with 14 strikeouts and three walks. She's also completed all three of her starts.
– Sydney White's earned-run average of 3.31 is second-best on the team. She's given up nine runs in 16 1/3 innings, but three of them were unearned. In total, only 22 of the 36 runs allowed by the SOU staff have been earned.
– Alexa Gonzalez and Kelsey Randall are picking up where they left off last season at the top of SOU's lineup: Both are batting .375 with 12 hits. Gonzalez has driven in a team-best 10 runs and scored four, while Randall has scored five runs with four RBIs and four stolen bases.
– Second-baseman Kayleen Smith is proving to be a valuable addition to the middle of the lineup. She already has four multi-hit games, a .333 average and a team-high eight stolen bases.
– As a team, the Raiders have stolen 20 bases and been caught stealing once.
– SOU owns a team batting average of .286, and opponents are batting .228. However, the Raiders' on-base percentage is just .304 compared to opponents' .346 as they've issued 42 free passes and received just eight.