LA GRANDE – Afternoon snowfall was not reflected in the No. 1-ranked Southern Oregon University softball team's offensive production as it polished off a four-game series sweep of Eastern Oregon on Saturday, winning 18-1 in five innings and 10-3 at Peggy Anderson Field.
The Raiders took their record to 34-2 overall and 17-1 in the Cascade Conference ahead of a showdown next week in Ashland with College of Idaho, which will enter the matchup with an 18-0 circuit record. The Mountaineers sunk to 10-23 overall and 6-12 in the CCC.
Raider ace
Gabby Sandoval collected two more wins by not allowing an earned run over her 12 innings of work in the series, and the bottom half of the lineup carried the offensive load.
Avery Morehead-Hutsell drove in nine runs on six hits,
Olivia Mackey went 7-for-13 with four runs and five RBIs, and
Rylan Austin batted 6-for-8 with five RBIs. In the middle of the lineup,
Riley Donovan and
Tayler Walker both recorded five hits and two for extra base on the weekend.
SOU has won 16 of its last 18 overall against EOU.
Series statistics were not provided until late Saturday night. A brief game-by-game recap follows.
FRIDAY GAME 1 – SOU 7, EOU 0: Sandoval threw a four-hit shutout with six strikeouts and two walks, and had ample breathing as the Raiders scored six runs through the first three innings of the series opener. Morehead-Hutsell's two-run single made it 3-0 in the second, and Austin went 3-for-4 with RBI hits in the third and seventh.
SOU had 11 hits and took advantage of two costly Mountaineers errors. Of the seven runs EOU starter Amanda Smith surrendered in her complete game, only two were earned.
FRIDAY GAME 2 – SOU 6, EOU 4: A two-run homer from right fielder Taylor Dow with two outs in the seventh gave EOU late life, but Raider pitcher
Lauren Quirke zapped it out of the Mountaineer bats for most of the evening. Quirke went to 11-2 with another complete game, giving up only four hits and four unearned runs due to three SOU errors. She struck out seven and walked one.
Mackey and Morehead-Hutsell contributed two hits and two RBIs apiece. Mackey delivered hers in the second to put the Raiders up 2-1 and the fourth to make it 3-1, and Morehead-Hutsell hit hers in the fourth and seventh. Quirke and
Lauren Weinberg accounted for SOU's other run-scoring hits.
SATURDAY GAME 1 – SOU 18, EOU 1 (5 inn.): A seven-run fifth inning capped the most lopsided affair of the series, which saw SOU out-hit EOU 16-1 while the Mountaineers defense committed five errors.
Morehead-Hutsell went 2-for-2 with a triple and four RBIs, Austin went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored, and
Allie Stines and Donovan both uncorked doubles while combining for five runs scored. Eleven different Raiders drove in runs, including pinch-hitter
Cailyn Leone, who had a two-run single in the fifth.
Sandoval's 17th complete game and eighth shutout of the season was a one-hitter. She struck out six, didn't issue a walk, and faced two batters over the minimum.
SATURDAY GAME 2 – SOU 10, EOU 3: The final game of the series, a non-conference counter, was effectively decided when the Raiders scored five runs in the third to extend their lead to 9-3. Walker and Stines stroked RBI doubles in the frame, and Mackey and
Hannah Shimek hit RBI singles.
Austin earned her first win as a Raider pitcher by throwing 5 1/3 innings of two-hit, scoreless relief. She struck out three.
Shimek also doubled in the second, finishing 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Walker doubled twice, Stines was 2-for-4 with a walk and three runs scored, and Mackey added two hits and two runs.
