SALEM – Southern Oregon's work against the bottom half of the Cascade Conference is done. By getting through it untouched, the No. 10-ranked Raiders have put themselves in the championship mix.
SOU was untested again Saturday by last-place Corban, completing a four-game sweep by winning 9-0 in the third and final CCC counter of the set and 11-1 in a non-conference affair.
Katie Machado pitched her second six-inning, two-hit shutout in as many days in Game 1, while
Mayze Menefee and
Katie Fodge combined to keep the Warriors quiet in the finale.
The Raiders stand at 28-9 overall and 15-3 in conference play, tied with Oregon Tech for third place. They finished 15-0 against the bottom five in the standings in CCC counters, outscoring them 139-21 combined. They have three regular-season series remaining: against fifth-place British Columbia, at first-place Eastern Oregon, and against second-place College of Idaho.
Junior shortstop
Sammie Pemberton went 5-for-6 with two walks, five RBIs and three runs scored during the final twin bill against the Warriors (1-35, 0-18). She got the Raiders going in Game 1 with an RBI double to kick off a five-run second inning, which later saw a two-run double from
Jordan Henderson and a two-run single from
Piper Love.
Henderson and
Hailey Seva both homered for the second time in the series. Seva hit her fourth of the year, a solo shot, in the sixth inning of Game 1, and Henderson blasted her fifth, a three-run drive, during SOU's six-run seventh in Game 2.
Love finished the day 4-for-7 with a double. Seva, Henderson and
Kailer Fulton tallied three hits apiece, and Fulton went 4-for-4 on stolen-base attempts.
Machado notched her league-leading 15th victory with little trouble, giving up just a pair of singles while striking out six without a walk. Over her last four starts, the senior has surrendered one earned run across 24 innings.
Machado allowed five hits and one run in six innings to win her sixth consecutive decision, improving to 10-3. Fodge retired the Warriors in order in the seventh.
SOU's doubleheaders next week against UBC are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday.
