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COLUMBUS, Ga. – Southern Oregon is two wins away from a fourth championship after its NAIA World Series momentum continued to snowball in an 8-0, five-inning triumph against rival Eastern Oregon on Wednesday at the South Commons Softball Complex.

The No. 3-seeded Raiders (53-9), winners of five consecutive elimination games, are the first team since 2002 to drop their tournament opener and advance to the final round anyway. To become the first team ever to take that path and capture the title, they'll need to win two more games against No. 4 seed Oklahoma City. The first of those is scheduled for noon PT on Wednesday, and the second, if necessary, would be on Thursday at a time yet to be announced.

Freshman pitcher Ayla Davies struck out seven and allowed five hits in her third complete-game shutout since Saturday and matched SOU's single-season wins record by improving to 36-5.

Senior shortstop Sammie Pemberton delivered the big blow, a two-run home run in the third inning that ultimately ended star EOU pitcher Kylie Parsons' day early. The Mountaineer defense helped with four errors that led to three unearned runs over the first four frames.

Sarah Kerling went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBIs. Vanessa Lang (2 runs) and Brooke Nordahl (1 run) tacked on two hits apiece.

The Raiders -- who started the day by recording the final three outs of a 3-0 win over Georgia Gwinnett that was suspended on Tuesday -- had lost three of their first five matchups with EOU (38-11) this season, all since April 25. None of those games had been decided by more than two runs.

The SOU-OCU tilt will be a rematch of the championship round in 2019, when the Raiders collected their first red banner.

More later.