ASHLAND –
Cayla Williams twirled another shutout and
Ashton Cathey left the yard twice as Southern Oregon completed a four-game sweep of Warner Pacific, winning 12-0 and 12-3 on Saturday afternoon at University Field.
The ninth-ranked Raiders ended every game on the weekend in five innings, boosting their record to 34-10 overall and 15-6 in the Cascade Conference with three series left to play.
Williams, a day after opening the set with a one-hitter, limited the Knights (5-27, 3-18) to two hits in Game 1. She struck out five and walked one, improving to 10-2.
Katie Machado followed Williams' performance by going to 11-3 with a complete game in the non-conference finale.
The Raiders ripped 29 hits on the day and Cathey accounted for five of them, hitting her seventh home run of the season in Game 1 and her eighth in Game 2. She added a double and totaled six RBIs and five runs scored.
SOU outscored the Knights 55-10 in the series, out-hit them 62-19, and committed just one error compared the WPU's 12.
Riley Donovan and
Phelicity Fa'aita added four hits apiece on the day and Fa'aita had a pair of doubles.
Deja Acosta scored four runs, including three in Game 1, and finished 8-for-13 with 11 runs scored and six stolen bases in the series.
The Raiders recorded six extra-base hits in the first game, where they batted around in each of the first three innings. They added three more in the second, where they pieced together a seven-run rally in the fourth inning by tallying six consecutive hits at one point.
SOU padded its lead atop the NAIA runs leaderboard, bringing its season total to 344. Only one other team, Oregon Tech (302), has scored more than 300.
The Raiders remain in fourth place – a game back of third-place Eastern Oregon and two behind second-place College of Idaho – entering their series against Carroll (Mont.) next Thursday and Friday in Ashland.