SPRINGFIELD –
Gabby Sandoval broke the Cascade Conference's career record for pitching wins and top-ranked Southern Oregon dodged Northwest Christian's upset bid to sweep its CCC-opening doubleheader, 8-0 in seven innings and 4-1 in nine Friday at Les Schwab Sports Park.
Sandoval, a senior from Anaheim, Calif., spun a seven-hit shutout in an opener that Raiders (13-3, 2-0 CCC) broke open with a five-run sixth inning. Game 2 starter
Lauren Quirke brought a no-hitter into the seventh but needed Sandoval to retire the last two batters of the frame after surrendering the tying run, and Sandoval handled all of extras to improve to 8-0 thanks to
Allie Stines' go-head double.
Sandoval brought her career record to 85-17, which includes a 44-4 mark since the start of last season. College of Idaho's Nickayla Skinner previously held the record, winning 83 games from 2011-14.
While Sandoval struck out nine in the opener, Quirke aided her with two RBI triples and two runs scored.
Mackenzie Evangelisti went 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs, and she and Quirke both had run-scoring hits as SOU turned a 1-0 lead into 6-0 in the sixth.
Hannah Shimek added a pair of runs,
Avery Morehead-Hutsell had two RBIs and
Olivia Mackey went 2-for-2.
Katrina Winterburn's sacrifice fly accounted for the only run of Game 2 until the bottom of the seventh. There, NCU's Avery Daniels led off with a single and Savannah Graham followed by reaching on an error. With no outs, Alexa Berry's RBI single tied the game but Graham was gunned down by Mackey trying to reach third on the play.
That's when Sandoval came on and got the next two batters swinging to end the threat and send the game to extras.
The Beacons' defense unraveled in the ninth, allowing
Taelor Mayben and Mackey to reach on errors with no outs. Stines drove them both in with a double to the gap and Shimek made it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly.
NCU dipped to 3-11 on the season.
The Game 1 shutout was Sandoval's first of the season and the 22nd of her career. Her ERA dipped to 1.77.
The Raiders and Beacons will play two more Saturday, a CCC contest at 11 a.m. followed by a nonleague counter.
