ASHLAND/MEDFORD – After making one successful comeback against British Columbia, No. 10-ranked Southern Oregon was denied a second as the teams split the first half of their Cascade Conference series amid spotty conditions on Friday.
The doubleheader started at University Field, where
Hailey Seva's two-run single with one out in the seventh inning capped a three-run rally that gave the Raiders a 6-5 victory. A downpour started after the first inning of Game 2 and forced the teams to relocate to Lithia & Driveway Fields, where UBC's Shea Sever atoned for her blown save in the opener with a three-hit shutout that made the Thunderbirds 1-0 winners.
Due to more rain in the forecast, Saturday's doubleheader will also be played on Field 7 at Lithia & Driveway. First pitch has been moved up to 10 a.m.
SOU ended the day in fourth place, going to 29-10 overall and 16-4 in the CCC.
The Thunderbirds (18-17, 10-9) moved up to fifth. They threw the first punch in the opener against Raiders ace
Katie Machado, getting RBI doubles from Sever and Keona Nordquist in the first two innings to take a 3-0 lead. SOU tied the game in the fifth when
Faith Moultrie hit an inside-the-park home run and Seva roped an RBI single, but two errors in the sixth enabled UBC to go up again, 5-3.
Four of the five Raiders who saw Sever in the seventh lined hits. Moultrie,
Jordan Henderson and
Piper Love singled consecutively as the deficit shrunk to one. Love then stole second base to put two runners in scoring position for Seva, who cashed in with her third hit of the contest. It gave the Raiders their first walk-off win of the season.
They threatened again while trailing 1-0 in the seventh inning of Game 2. Henderson led off with a dribbler through the left side before Sever retired the next three Raiders without allowing them to get the ball out of the infield.
Sever struck out four and didn't issue a walk in her 91-pitch gem, inducing 10 groundouts. She got the only run she needed in the fifth, where Gabrielle Dorval's ground-rule plated Brielle Donoghue with two outs.
Mayze Menefee was the tough-luck loser after another impressive start. She struck out three in a complete game and has allowed just five earned runs over her last five starts combined.
UBC has now defeated first-place Eastern Oregon, second-place Oregon Tech and SOU, which entered the series tied for second.
