LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. – The third-ranked Southern Oregon University softball team split its first two games at the NAIA SoCal Classic on Friday, dropping a 10-4 decision against No. 14 Vanguard (Calif.) and rebounding with a 17-5 win over Ottawa (Ariz.) at Rosetta Park.

The Raiders (3-1) slugged 21 hits in their win as Avery Morehead-Hutsell, Lauren Quirke and Hannah Shimek accounted for four apiece. Shimek hit her first career home run, a two-run shot in SOU's three-run fifth inning, and finished with four RBI and three runs scored. Quirke had a triple, three RBI and three runs, and Morehead-Hutsell went 4-for-4 with a double and four runs scored.

Allie Stines added three hits, including a two-run single that put the Raiders in front in the second inning. She also knocked in the first run in their six-run sixth.

In the opener, Vanguard catcher Samantha Shaffer hit a pair of home runs – a two-run shot that broke a 4-4 tie in the fifth inning, and a three-run blast that broke it open in the sixth.

Prior to the tiebreaking shot,  Quirke hit a three-run home run, her first as a Raider, to knot the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth. She and Stines both went 3-for-4 in the contest.

The Raiders put themselves in first-inning hole with three errors that led to four unearned runs. Gabby Sandoval (1-1) took the loss, allowing six hits and three earned in 4 1/3 innings.

SOU's originally scheduled games on Saturday were rained out. They added a 10 p.m. game against Aquinas (Mich.).