No. 8 RAIDER SOFTBALL (13-4, 3-0 CCC)
1 p.m./3 p.m. Friday – vs. Carroll (Mont.)
11 a.m./1 p.m. Saturday – vs. Carroll (Mont.)
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ASHLAND – The defending national champions are home for the first time this weekend as Southern Oregon hosts Carroll (Mont.) in Cascade Conference doubleheaders starting at 1 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday at University Field.

The Raiders assembled their 13-4 start exclusively on the road, mixing in an eight-game winning streak and taking each of their first three CCC counters last week at Warner Pacific. Despite replacing seven position players who last year helped the team lead the country in almost every major statistical category, they are once again among the NAIA's top-four in runs per game (7.6) and rank 13th in slugging percentage (.509). The Saints enter the series at 3-8-1 overall and went 0-2 while being shut out in their conference openers last week at College of Idaho in a series that bad weather stopped short of completion.

NAIA TOP 25: The Raiders fell six spots to No. 8 in Wednesday's first coaches' poll of the regular season. Hope International (Calif.) – the team most responsible for SOU's drop on account of its head-to-head doubleheader sweep last month – made the biggest jump in the poll, climbing 12 spots to No. 7. HIU also swept Oregon Tech, which went 1-2 last week at Eastern Oregon and dipped from the top spot down to No. 6. The Raiders have still been among the top-10 in every ranking since mid-2018. The next one will be released March 20.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW: The Raiders outscored Warner Pacific 46-4 over their four-game sweep Saturday and Sunday in Happy Valley, notching 21 extra base hits and triggering the run rule after five innings in each contest. Kennedy Kila and Sammie Pemberton both homered twice – Kila has done so four times in 16 at-bats this season, and Pemberton's homers were the first of her career – while Hailey Seva went 7-for-10 with four doubles and 10 RBIs, and Jordan Henderson was 6-for-8 with a home run and three doubles. The pitching was equally dominant: SOU's staff had 31 strikeouts across 20 defensive innings, and Katie Machado accounted for 18 of those in eight frames.

TOMATO, MACHADO: In her first season as SOU's clear-cut No. 1 pitcher, Katie Machado has given the Raiders nothing short of ace output. Since debuting with a four-inning start in which she allowed six runs, the senior has gone 7-1 with two saves and surrendered just six earned runs over 52 2/3 frames – equating to a microscopic 0.80 ERA. She has already been voted the CCC Pitcher of the Week twice and struck out 7.7 batters per seven innings, well above the clip of 6.2 she'd posted over her first two seasons at SOU. On the NAIA leaderboard, she ranks 10th in ERA (1.36) among those who have thrown at least 50 innings and 16th in strikeouts (62).

THE MONTH OF LOVE: A part-time player as a sophomore last season, catcher Piper Love has slipped seamlessly into the No. 3 spot on SOU's lineup card. She's the only player in the CCC and one of nine in the NAIA with at least 25 hits and a .500 batting average, standing at 28-for-56 with 10 extra-base hits, 16 RBIs, 15 runs scored and six three-hit outings entering the weekend. She had multi-hit games in eight of 10 starts and one point and has already surpassed her 2023 hit total, upping her career batting average to .399. The Raiders have also gotten strong production from their new everyday first baseman and cleanup hitter, senior Jordan Henderson, who is 19-for-41 (.463) with eight extra-base hits. Henderson had accumulated 21 hits, mostly off the bench, in her first three seasons with SOU.

ABOUT CARROLL: The Saints were a playoff team with a 13-17 CCC record last year and were picked to finish sixth again in this year's preseason poll. Their lineup has struggled out of the gate – generating a .272 average and 4.2 runs per game – but they have returning All-CCC selections in first baseman Kaitlynn Ayers and catcher Alyssa Lybbert, who batted .394 and .377 respectively in 2023. Their top pitcher, Kennedy Venner, is 2-4 despite her 2.39 ERA with 43 strikeouts in 38 innings. SOU is 23-3 overall against the Saints and swept each of the last two series.