SALEM – The right arm that has taken over the Cascade Conference came through again for third-ranked Southern Oregon on Saturday afternoon at 10
th-ranked Corban.
After taking both league counters from the Warriors on Friday, the Raiders got the third and final one behind
Gabby Sandoval's eighth shutout of the season, a three-hitter that made them 1-0 winners. In the series finale – a nonleague counter – Corban salvaged a 6-5 victory by scoring the tying and go-ahead runs on back-to-back errors in the bottom of the seventh to end the Raiders' winning streak at 11 games.
SOU was on the right side of the drama in Game 1. Sandoval and Warriors starter Rachel White were both working on no-hitters until the bottom of the fifth, when Sandoval had to wiggle out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam by inducing a groundout.
In the top of the seventh,
Tayler Walker started the game-winning rally with a one-out double to right. Her pinch-runner,
Mackenzie Evangelisti, came in two batters later when
Paige Leeper sent an RBI single through the right side.
Sandoval struck out three and walked one in her 16
th complete game. Though both runs she allowed in Game 2 were unearned, she took the loss with 1 1/3 innings of relief and went to 19-2 with a 13-0 record in conference games.
SOU went to 28-5 overall and 14-1 in the CCC, opening up a two-game lead on College of Idaho and Oregon Tech and a three-game lead on Corban (22-8, 11-4).
The win was the Raiders' sixth in their last at-bat during CCC play. They broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh inning of Game 2, as
Tiana Brown hit a run-scoring double after Walker and Leeper set the table with consecutive singles.
In the bottom of the inning, Sandoval issued leadoff walks to Makiah Johnson and Kaylee Buhrkuhl. Madison Wyllie's attempt to bunt them over turned into a single, and SOU's attempt to get an out on the played turned into an error that scored the tying run. The next batter, Alyssa Doty, hit a grounder that was also misplayed and gave the Warriors the win.
Allie Stines went 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBI in the game for SOU.
Olivia Mackey,
Erika Marquez and
Hannah Shimek had two hits each and
Avery Morehead-Hutsell went 1-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
SOU will host British Columbia for a four-game set next Friday and Saturday.