Monday's Results
Game 1 – (3) Hope International (Calif.) 1, (2) Morningside (Iowa) 0
Game 2 – (1) Southern Oregon 7, (4) Saint Katherine (Calif.) 0

Tuesday's Games
Game 3 – Southern Oregon vs. Hope International, 11 a.m.
Game 4 – Morningside vs. Saint Katherine (loser eliminated), 1:30 p.m.
Game 5 – G3 Loser vs. G4 Winner, 4 p.m. (loser eliminated)

Wednesday's Games
Game 6 – G3 Winner vs. G5 Winner, 11 a.m. (championship)
Game 7 – If necessary, 1:30 p.m.

MEDFORD – Given a few extra outs to play with, the big inning Southern Oregon has been waiting on since the postseason began finally came Monday afternoon in the first game of the NAIA Softball Opening Round.

The top-ranked Raiders made their Southern Oregon Bracket debut with a 7-0 defeat of Saint Katherine (Calif.) at U.S. Cellular Community Park, taking advantage of three errors to score all of their runs unearned in the fifth inning of Gabby Sandoval's three-hit shutout.

Their national title defense continues at 11 a.m. Tuesday against 11th-ranked Hope International (Calif.), the double-elimination bracket's No. 3 seed. The Royals advanced with a 1-0 victory over 13th-ranked Morningside (Iowa) as freshman pitcher Allie Puente struck out 12 in a one-hitter.

The SOU-HIU winner will move on to Wednesday's final round, while the loser will play again at 4 p.m. against the winner of a 1:30 p.m. elimination game between Morningside and Saint Katherine.

The Raiders (47-5) got the bounce-back performance they needed out of Sandoval, who in their Cascade Conference Tournament run lost back-to-back decisions for the first time since she was a freshman. The senior responded with 10 strikeouts, marking her fourth time in double figures this season, and one walk. Her 117th career win made her 27-3 in 2021.

With some assistance from the Firebirds (13-20), the lineup eventually got going too. Avery-Morehead Hutsell started the fifth by reaching second on a throwing error, and with one out Hannah Shimek lined an RBI single into right field for the first run.

A dropped popup put two more runners in scoring position to set up Riley Donovan's sacrifice fly. Hard-hit, run-scoring singles by Rylan Austin and Allie Stines, a hit-batsman with the bases loaded, and another fielding error promptly plated five more runs.

Stines had two RBIs. Austin and Shimek both went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Olivia Mackey drove in a run and reached base twice.

USK, the California Pacific Conference Tournament champion, got 4 2/3 innings of work from starter Kaitlyn Bailey. She was charged with five runs.

The Raiders also began their 2019 Opening Round against the Cal Pac champion, Marymount (Calif.). They went on to defeat Hope International in back-to-back games to clinch their third straight World Series berth.

They're two wins away from a fourth.