WORLD SERIES BRACKET | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
COLUMBUS, Ga. – One win away from another championship after stealing a sixth consecutive NAIA World Series elimination game, Southern Oregon is testing the limits of how much pressure-cooked heat one team can take during a single trip to the South.
The Raiders (54-9), on the back of their cold-blooded freshman pitcher, showed no signs of budging yet in a 6-0 defeat of Oklahoma City on Wednesday at the South Commons Softball Complex, forcing a winner-take-all rematch at 7 a.m. PT Thursday.
Ayla Davies disarmed the Stars (53-10) with her third shutout in a row and fourth in SOU's last five games at the tournament. She struck out 10 while allowing just four softly-hit singles after the Raiders capitalized on two OCU errors by scoring four unearned runs in the first inning. She also became the first pitcher to blank OCU in a span of 210 games dating back to 2022.
The decision was Davies' third of the day, which started with the last half-inning of a 3-0 victory against Georgia Gwinnett and continued with an 8-0, five-inning knockout of rival Eastern Oregon. It made her 37-5 and the new SOU single-season record-holder for pitcher wins. She remains the only Raider who has appeared in the circle at the World Series, posting a 1.04 ERA and 64 strikeouts over 54 innings and 780 total deliveries.
The Raiders' defeat of EOU – which featured
Sammie Pemberton's two-run home run and four costly Mountaineers errors – made them the first team since 2002 to advance to the final after dropping a tournament opener. One more win against OCU would make them the first team ever to take that path to a title, which would be their fourth in six years.
The Stars had outscored their first three World Series opponents 24-1 combined. They were on their heels from the time
Sarah Kerling reached on a leadoff error and
Kailer Fulton followed her with a bunt single.
Kennedy Kila drove in the first run with a hit down the line; another throwing error made it 2-0; a first-and-third steal play then caught them off guard; and
Vanessa Lang capped the disastrous start with a sacrifice fly, giving Davies a four-run cushion.
SOU tagged OCU star pitcher Emerson Heron for six hits and knocked her out with Kerling's two-run double in the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Davies rendered star hitter Analise Rayburn 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts after she entered the day with a .495 average and 27 home runs.
The Raiders have trailed for only half an inning since losing their tournament opener 3-2 to Marian (Ind.) in 12.
A few more things to note heading into Thursday's finale:
- In seven World Series appearances under coach Jessica Pistole, the Raiders are 18-3 in win-or-go-home contests. Since that run began in 2017, they're 29-4 overall in national tournament elimination games.
- Thursday's game will be a rematch of the 2019 winner-take-all matchup. That year, OCU forced the decisive game before SOU won Game 2, 8-3, for its first title.
- Kerling has possessed SOU's hottest bat during the six-game streak, going 13-for-23 with two doubles and seven RBIs. On Wednesday, she became the fourth player in team history to accumulate 250 career hits.
- Davies is two strikeouts away from breaking the 39-year-old tournament record of 65. With a start on Thursday, she'll also tie the record for total appearances at one World Series (8).
- The Stars haven't lost back-to-back games since March. They had to win three consecutive elimination games in the Opening Round to keep their season alive.
- If the Raiders win, they'd match Simon Fraser (B.C.) for the second-most championships in NAIA history with their fourth. If the Stars win, it'd be their 12th.
- In the Raiders' last championship run (2023), they played a total of 23 innings while outscoring their opponents 35-2 combined at the World Series. By the end of this run, they'll have played a minimum of 59 innings.
