KLAMATH FALLS – In their first matchup since Southern Oregon won the NAIA title at Oregon Tech's expense again last spring, the No. 6-ranked Owls continued their regular-season success against the No. 8 Raiders with 4-2 and 6-5 Cascade Conference victories Friday at Stilwell Stadium.
OIT pitcher Kacie Schmidt allowed one earned run in a complete game and blanked the Raiders over her final three frames in Game 1. In Game 2, SOU took a 5-4 lead with a four-run fourth inning, but Kaila Mick scored the tying run on Jayce Seavert's triple in the fifth and scored the winning run in the seventh after leading off with a triple of her own and coming on a Lexi Klum sacrifice fly.
Both teams stand at 6-2 in the CCC entering Saturday's 11 a.m. doubleheader, the second half of which is non-conference. The Owls improved to 14-6 overall and the Raiders fell to 17-6, their winning streak snapped at eight games.
Klum's two-run home run in the third inning of the opener gave the Owls a 2-1 lead.
Hannah Clavelle matched her with a solo shot that tied the score in the top of the fourth, but Mick's RBI double untied it in the bottom of the inning. She scored later in the inning on a throwing error.
Mick homered early in Game 2, hitting a two-run blast that helped the Owls build a 4-1 lead.
Hailey Seva cut into it with her own two-run home run in the fourth, where the Raiders got to starter Mackenzie Staub for four hits.
Brooke Nordahl's sacrifice fly plated
Gabby Heiken, and
Faith Moultrie's infield single later brought home
Sammie Pemberton to put the Raiders in front.
They didn't put a runner in scoring position the rest of the way. Schmidt earned another win by shutting them out over the final two innings.