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 (SEU eliminated)
Game 5 – Southern Oregon 10, Vanguard 4 (VU eliminated)
Wednesday's Results:
Game 6 – Southern Oregon 8, Reinhardt 4
Game 7 – Southern Oregon 11, Reinhardt 0 (5 inn.) (RU eliminated)

UPDATE: SOU will be the No. 4 seed at the NAIA World Series and open at 1 p.m. Pacific Time on May 25 against No. 5 seed Georgia Gwinnett. Find the complete bracket here. 

ASHLAND – With its season on the brink, Southern Oregon never flinched while staging an Ashland Bracket takeover in the NAIA Softball Championships Opening Round. It's been a running theme throughout recent years.

The No. 4-ranked and top-seeded Raiders won their third and fourth consecutive elimination games Wednesday afternoon at University Field, topping No. 3 seed Reinhardt (Ga.) 8-4 in seven innings and 11-0 in five to advance to the NAIA World Series for the fifth time in six postseasons. They fired on all cylinders as Cayla Williams and Katie Machado combined to allow just one earned run and the lineup peppered Eagles pitching for 27 hits, batting .474 over 12 frames.

Since 2017, the year of their first World Series appearance, the Raiders (46-12 overall) have gone 22-3 in national tournament elimination games. After dropping their tourney opener Monday to No. 4 seed Vanguard (Calif.), they outscored their next four opponents by a combined margin of 31-8.

They'll seek their third national title at the 10-team final site – the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus, Georgia – from May 25-31 among a field of heavy hitters. The only top seeds that didn't get out of the Opening Round were College of Idaho, which fell at No. 7 Baker (Kan.) after being conspicuously denied a host bid, and defending champion Oklahoma City.

Reinhardt (37-12) entered the day with a team ERA of 1.96 that blew up in a hurry. The Raiders strung together five singles in the first inning of Game 1 and went up 3-0 as Sammie Pemberton drove in two runs and Ashton Cathey another. They were ahead 8-1 entering the seventh after getting two hits from each of the first six hitters on their lineup card – Deja Acosta (2 runs), Kailey Fulton (2 runs), Riley Donovan (2 RBIs, 1 run), Williams (2 RBIs, 1 run), Cathey (2 RBIs, 1 run) and Pemberton (2 RBIs).

Williams had no such issues in the circle, striking out seven over 6 2/3 innings to notch her 20th victory. Machado collected a one-out save by leaving the potential tying run in the on-deck circle.

The Eagles saved their ace, Appalachian Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year Whitney Shepherd, for Game 2, but she was charged with six runs and exited in the fourth inning following Acosta's two-run home run that shot down the left-field line.

Machado needed only 60 pitches to complete one of her finest starts – a one-hitter in which only three Eagles reached base. She went to 19-4 on the season and got a lead to work with in the third, where Donovan and Williams gapped consecutive two-run hits. The Raiders brought the mercy rule into play in the fifth after two-RBI singles from Lauren Weinberg and Sarah Kerling.

Kerling scored three runs in the contest as she, Acosta, Fulton, Weinberg and Stripling logged two hits apiece.

Three Raiders batted .500 or better over the four-game elimination run: Williams (7-for-12), Acosta (7-for-13), Donovan (6-for-12) and Kerling (5-for-10). Williams earned three of the decisions, posting a 191 ERA over 18 1/3 innings, and Machado surrendered just two hits over 7 2/3 innings to pick up two saves and a win.