MILWAUKIE – Another Southern Oregon home run record is in
Riley Donovan's possession after the senior catcher went deep three times in one game Saturday against Warner Pacific.
Two more lopsided affairs went SOU's way, 11-0 and 11-0 in five innings each at Rex Putnam High School, as the No. 4 Raiders completed their fifth four-game sweep of the regular season heading into the final week. SOU (35-7 overall, 21-4 Cascade Conference) outscored the Knights (4-31, 4-23) by a combined margin of 40-2 over the series, taking each of the last three games by the same score.
No Raider had ever homered more than twice in a game before Donovan's outburst in the finale, where she lifted a trio two-run blasts. She also hit a home run in Game 1, and her season total stands at 16 – four away from the SOU single-season record she established last year.
Deja Acosta,
Ashton Cathey and
Kelly Ann McKeown also homered on the day, while
Holly Fletcher and
Mayze Menefee took advantage of rare starts in the circle by dealing their first shutouts of the season.
Fletcher's Game 1 start was her first as a Raider, and she struck out 11 without a walk in a one-hitter. Donovan went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the contest, capping the scoring with a solo shot in the fifth that followed Cathey's three-run home run in the fourth. SOU broke the game open with five runs in the third, where Donovan, Cathey and
Sammie Pemberton each hit RBI singles.
Menefee threw a four-hitter in her Game 2 shutout, while the Raider lineup generated all 11 of its runs with the long ball. In addition to Donovan's shots, Acosta drove a three-run home run in the fourth and McKeown a two-run homer in the fifth.
Cathey is up to five home runs and Acosta has four on the season. McKeown's was the first in her three seasons.
SOU has won 15 of its last 16 games, including seven by way of shutouts and nine shortened by the mercy rule.
The Raiders complete the regular season next week with a seven-game homestand, playing two against top-ranked Oregon Tech on Tuesday, doubleheaders against Northwest (Wash.) on Friday and Saturday, and a single game against British Columbia on Sunday.
