BELLEVUE, Wash. – Fourth-ranked Southern Oregon's school-record Cascade Conference winning streak hit 18 games Friday with a doubleheader sweep of Northwest (Wash.), 6-1 and 8-3 at Bellevue College.
Yet another gem from pitcher
Gabby Sandoval and production from up and down the lineup – including a four-hit twin bill for No. 9 hitter
Avery Morehead-Hutsell – made for a low-stress afternoon for the Raiders (35-4 overall, 19-1 CCC), who maintained a two-game lead in first place ahead of Oregon Tech.
Sandoval blew through the opener by not allowing an earned run in a complete game for the 13th time this season. In a four-hitter, she tied a career high with 11 strikeouts and walked three, going to 23-2 overall and 17-0 in conference play.
Lauren Quirke went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Morehead-Hutsell went 3-for-4 with a triple. After
Allie Stines opened the game with a single, she scored when the Eagles threw away a bunt and Quirke followed up with a run-scoring single.
Hannah Wessel's RBI single in the third made it 3-0, and
Hannah Shimek and Quirke sliced back-to-back RBI doubles in the fourth.
Stines was on base three times with a pair of walks and she and Shimek scored two runs each.
Tiana Brown added two hits, an RBI and a run, and Wessel went 2-for-3.
In Game 2, the Raiders went up in the second inning with
Paige Leeper's solo home run, her second of the season. They tacked on three runs in the third and four in the fourth in support of Quirke (5-1), who struck out four and gave up three runs in six innings.
Morgan Jones pitched a scoreless seventh.
Shimek totaled three RBI, hitting a run-scoring groundout in the third and a two-run single in the fourth.
Olivia Mackey went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI and Morehead-Hutsell scored twice.
The Eagles dropped to 10-24 and 5-15 in the CCC.
The teams will play two more Saturday starting at noon.