HELENA, Mont. – The No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon softball team exercised its home-run power by clearing the fence five times in Friday's Cascade Conference sweep of Carroll (Mont.), winning 10-3 and 5-4 at Northwest Park.
Senior catcher
Riley Donovan homered twice, bringing her season total to 10.
Deja Acosta,
Ashton Cathey and
Cayla Williams hit one apiece as the Raiders bumped their record to 29-7 overall and 17-4 in the CCC.
They also got an impressive debut from pitcher
Holly Fletcher, a junior transfer who played previously at University of South Dakota. The right-hander closed out both games in relief, allowing two hits and no runs with five strikeouts over five innings. She earned the Game 2 save by recording the final nine outs and protecting SOU's one-run lead.
Cayla Williams was the Game 1 winner after going five innings to improve to 14-4. She went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored at the plate in the contest, then went deep in support of pitcher
Katie Machado in Game 2. The senior extended her hitting streak to six games, a span in which she has totaled 14 hits and 12 RBIs.
Cathey added two hits and four RBIs in Game 1. After putting the Raiders in front with a two-run double in the first inning, she and Donovan both homered in the sixth.
Acosta and Donovan ripped solo shots in the first inning of Game 2. After the Saints leveled the score in the bottom of the inning, Donovan's sacrifice fly and Williams' two-run home run gave SOU a 5-2 lead in the third.
Machado exited before recording an out in the fifth after surrendering eight hits, but was good enough to up her record to 13-2.
The Saints fell to 14-20 overall and 10-12 in the CCC. Since joining the CCC softball circuit in 2016, they've lost all 19 conference matchups against the Raiders.
The teams play two more starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time on Saturday. They'll move to Centennial Park on Carroll's campus – poor field conditions forced them to play Friday's twin bill at a local high school – which means a live stream will be available.
