ASHLAND – Third-ranked Southern Oregon's Gabby Sandoval and Eastern Oregon's Ashton Kazmierski stole the show in the circle and pitched their teams to a Cascade Conference-opening split with complete games on Friday afternoon at University Field.

All three runs against Sandoval were unearned in the opener, a 6-3 Raiders win in which she struck out seven and scattered three hits. Kazmierski was just as sharp in Game 2, a 5-1 Mountaineers win, with a six-hitter in her first victory of the season that ended a six-game EOU (2-10) skid.

Sandoval went to 7-1 with her seventh complete game for SOU (12-3 overall). Pitching with a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth, a Raider error extended EOU's inning and Hannah Rothwell cashed in with a two-run double before Madison Barr tied it with an RBI single.

SOU's Hannah Shimek broke the tie in the bottom of the inning with a well-placed popup that fell in and scored Olivia Mackey. A pair of Mountaineer errors helped the Raiders tack on two more in a sixth inning rally that was capped by Paige Leeper's RBI single.

Leeper, Mackey (2 runs) and Lauren Quirke (2 RBI, 1 run) had two hits apiece for SOU, while Barr accounted for two of EOU's four hits.

The Mountaineers scored five runs against three Raider pitchers in the first four innings of Game 2. They benefitted from eight free passes, as Rothwell drew a bases-loaded walk in the first and Ashley Kelley hit an RBI single in the third and later took a bases-loaded walk in EOU's three-run fourth.

Shevan Defreitas, Haley Ebner and Rayne Spencer each had two hits. Ebner doubled and reached base four times with a pair of walks.

Olivia Mackey drove in SOU's only run with a single in the fourth. The Raiders left seven runners on base, though the Mountaineers stranded 12.

Kazmierski worked around four walks and struck out one. She induced 12 groundouts.

The teams will finish the four-game set with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Saturday.