ASHLAND –
Cayla Williams came to the rescue with both her arm and bat for the sixth-ranked Southern Oregon University softball team following a downer of a series opener against Eastern Oregon on Sunday at University Field.
The Raiders dropped Game 1 in extra innings, 1-0 on Grace Gaither's sacrifice fly in the eighth, before Williams stepped up in an 8-0, five-inning Game 2 win. The junior from San Jose, Calif., pitched a three-hit shutout and hit a two-run home run to deal the Mountaineers their first Cascade Conference loss.
With the split, the Raiders went to 20-6 overall and 6-2 in the CCC entering Monday's 11 a.m. doubleheader. The Mountaineers took their record to 17-6 and 7-1.
EOU's series-opening triumph stopped a 10-game losing streak against SOU. Amanda Smith pitched all eight innings for a seven-hit shutout, improving to 8-1, and got out of trouble in the bottom of the seventh after
Piper Love smashed a one-out triple to the wall.
Madison Stateler led off the top of the eighth with a single and Hannah Tyree followed with a walk. After Taylor Dow's sacrifice bunt was fumbled in the infield, Gaither came up with the bases loaded and no outs.
SOU's
Katie Machado (8-3) took the loss despite allowing just five hits over eight frames.
In Game 2, Williams scattered three singles in the circle and went 3-for-3 with a double and an opposite-field blast at the plate.
Riley Donovan added her CCC-leading seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot in the second that made her the eighth player in team history to reach 100 career RBIs. She also doubled.
The Raiders struck for two runs in the first inning, getting run-scoring singles from
Ashton Cathey and
Rylan Austin.
Deja Acosta, who went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, added another RBI single before Donovan struck in the second.
The Raiders haven't allowed a run before the eighth inning in six games. Williams has now tossed 10 consecutive scoreless innings, and Machado's streak was at 21 innings before the Mountaineers scratched across their game-winning run.
