CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
FRIDAY'S GAMES
Game 1 | 9 a.m. – (4) Southern Oregon 7, (5) British Columbia 1
Game 2 | 11:30 a.m. – (6) Carroll 3, (3) College of Idaho 1
Game 3 | 2 p.m. – (4) Southern Oregon 5, (1) Oregon Tech 3
Game 4 | 4:30 p.m. – (2) Eastern Oregon 2, (6) Carroll 1
SATURDAY'S GAMES
Game 5 | 9 a.m. – Oregon Tech vs. College of Idaho (loser eliminated)
Game 6 | 11:30 a.m. – British Columbia vs. Carroll (loser eliminated)
Game 7 | 2 p.m. – Southern Oregon vs. Eastern Oregon
Game 8 | 4:30 p.m. – Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner (loser eliminated)
SUNDAY'S GAMES
Game 9 | 11 a.m. – Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 winner (loser eliminated)
Game 10 | 1:30 p.m. – Game 7 winner vs. Game 9 winner (championship round)
Game 11 | If necessary, 30 minutes after conclusion of Game 10

KLAMATH FALLS – The month of May has in recent years been kind to the Southern Oregon softball team, particularly with regard to contentious postseason relations between the Raiders and Oregon Tech.

With the calendar freshly flipped, a familiar scene played out Friday as No. 17-ranked SOU dealt the No. 5 Owls a 5-3 upset blow at Stilwell Stadium in the second round of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank. The Raiders, seeded No. 4 in the double-elimination tournament, ended top-seeded OIT's home winning streak at 21 games and did so against ace Kacie Schmidt, who had been victorious in 18 consecutive decisions.

Freshman second baseman Brooke Nordahl went 2-for-4 with her first home run since February, a double and two runs scored, and four more Raiders stroked two hits apiece while they built a 5-0 lead through four innings. Katie Machado pitched to soft contact all afternoon and shrugged off a pair of infield hits that brought the potential winning run to the plate for OIT in the seventh, banking her 21st victory of the season and second of the day with a complete game.

SOU (36-15 overall) is potentially two wins away from its first CCC Tournament title since 2019 and plays next, weather pending, at 2 p.m. Saturday against No. 2 seed and No. 10-ranked Eastern Oregon. The Owls (41-8) now need five straight victories to claim the trophy. They'll play their first elimination game at 9 a.m. Saturday against No. 3 seed College of Idaho.

The Raiders hadn't defeated OIT since last spring's NAIA World Series final. They've dropped eight consecutive regular-season matchups by a combined score of 41-15 over the last two years, but have outscored them 26-3 over the teams' last three postseason meetings.

Nordahl, the No. 8 hitter in SOU's lineup, took Schmidt deep to left-center for the game's first run in the second inning. In the third, Hannah Clavelle's walk and Hailey Seva's single set the table for a Sammie Pemberton line-drive double that made it 2-0.

The Raiders struck for three runs in the fifth with the help of some shaky OIT defense. Nordahl led it off with a ground-rule double. Sarah Kerling sacrificed her over, and with one out Faith Moultrie reached second base with a misplayed squeeze bunt on which Nordahl stayed put. Kailer Fulton came up next with a bunt single that brought home Nordahl, and a throwing error on the play enabled Moultrie to score, too. Another wild throw, this one after a routine fly ball, allowed Fulton to trot home and make the score 5-0.

Machado, meanwhile, was breezing through the Owls lineup. She needed only 34 pitched to get through the first four innings unscathed. She gave up her first run on a jam-shot blooper with two outs in the fifth, then retired OIT in order in the sixth. The Owls had life in the seventh after Mckenzie Staub's one-out RBI triple and back-to-back singles that dribbled past the circle, but Machado induced a Zoe Allen pop-up to end the game, leaving CCC Player of the Year Kaila Mick in the on-deck circle.

Machado had also thrown the first four innings a few hours earlier of SOU's 7-1 first-round win against British Columbia.