NAIA CHAMPIONSHIPS OPENING ROUND – ASHLAND BRACKET
Monday's Results:
Game 1 – (3) Reinhardt (Ga.) 6, (2) Southeastern (Fla.) 4
Game 2 – (4) Vanguard (Calif.) 8, (1) Southern Oregon 4
Tuesday's Results:
Game 3 – Reinhardt 1, Vanguard 0 (8 inn.)
Game 4 – Southern Oregon 2, Southeastern 0 (Southeastern eliminated)
Game 5 – Southern Oregon 10, Vanguard 4 (Vanguard eliminated)
Wednesday's Games:
Game 6 – Southern Oregon vs. Reinhardt, 11 a.m. (championship)
Game 7 – If necessary, 1:30 p.m.
ASHLAND – If Southern Oregon is going down, the Raiders will go down swinging – a fact coach
Jessica Pistole made clear by riding pitcher
Cayla Williams' hot hand in back-to-back NAIA Championships Opening Round elimination games Tuesday at University Field.
Williams, a senior all-star from San Jose, Calif., rewarded the aggressive approach by getting the No. 4-ranked Raiders through 12 2/3 innings as they won 2-0 against the No. 20 Southeastern (Fla.) Fire and 10-4 against the Vanguard (Calif.) Lions to keep their season alive.
SOU (44-12 overall), the Ashland Bracket's top seed, advanced to play No. 3 seed Reinhardt (Ga.) in Wednesday's championship round of the double-elimination tournament starting at 11 a.m. for a spot in the 10-team NAIA World Series. The Raiders will need to win two in a row against the Eagles (37-11), who remained unbeaten on the week by opening Tuesday's slate with a 1-0, extra-inning victory over Vanguard.
After suffering an upset loss to the No. 4-seeded Lions (27-30) in their tourney opener Monday, Williams got the Raiders back on track against the No. 2-seeded Fire (33-17) with her sixth shutout of the season. She struck out three and allowed six hits without a walk in the 85-pitch gem. The only palpable moments of stress she faced came while protecting a two-run lead in the sixth inning, where, with one out and the potential tying runs in scoring position, she induced two quiet outs in the middle of SEU's lineup – getting Leah Gonzalez to ground out and Haleigh Harrell to hit an inning-ending popup.
Williams also started the rally that put SOU in front by leading off the second inning with a double.
Ashton Cathey chased her home with another double, and Cathey's pinch-runner,
Piper Love, later scored on a wild pitch.
Williams also got a lift from her defense, which played error-free for the duration of the afternoon. The left side of the infield was particularly sharp: third baseman
Lauren Weinberg and shortstop
Sammie Pemberton took care of all 24 of their combined chances.
Meanwhile, Vanguard's defense faltered in Game 2, committing four errors that led to six unearned runs. By the time Williams ran out of gas in the fifth inning – where she surrendered all four of the runs charged against her – the Raiders had already built a 6-0 lead.
Riley Donovan went 3-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored against the Lions. She cashed in on two early Lions miscues with a two-run double in the first inning, and Williams followed with an RBI single that made it 3-0 before Vanguard had even recorded an out.
SOU added on in the fourth with
Lauren Weinberg's RBI hit and
Deja Acosta's two-run single. After the Lions shrunk their deficit in the fifth, Acosta, Donovan and Williams closed their window with more run-scoring knocks in the sixth.
Acosta (3 RBIs, 2 runs), Williams (2 RBIs, 1 run) and Weinberg (1 RBI, 1 run) had two hits apiece. The Raiders had 12 as a team in their highest-scoring national tournament effort since 2017.
Katie Machado earned the save by working 2 1/3 scoreless innings. She struck out three and gave up one hit.
SOU's lineup will face a taller task Wednesday against Reinhardt junior Whitney Shepherd, the Appalachian Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year. Shepherd threw an eight-inning shutout Tuesday against Vanguard, upping her record to 19-4 and dropping her ERA to 1.40.
