ROCKLIN, Calif. – Top-ranked Southern Oregon batted .352 as a team with nine extra-base hits while clubbing Jessup (Calif.) 5-1 in seven innings and 11-3 in five on Friday afternoon at Foskett Park.
Redshirt-freshman utility player
Elysia Duarte, fresh off Monday's two-homer outing at Biola (Calif.), went 3-for-3 with three doubles and four RBIs in Game 1 before CiCi Kim and
Brooke Nordahl cleared the fence in Game 2.
The Raiders upped their record to 8-2. Over the last three seasons, they've gone 13-1 against NCAA Division II opponents.
They were meeting the Warriors (3-6) for the first time since the teams matched up at the World Series in 2024, which was Jessup's final season in the NAIA. Sophomore pitcher
Ayla Davies greeted them with a three-hit complete game in the opener, recording a season-high 13 strikeouts to improve to 4-0.
Brooke Nordahl's sacrifice fly put SOU on top in the first inning and Duarte went on to smack run-scoring doubles in the second, fourth and sixth innings.
Kierstin Grotewiel (double, 2 runs) and
Kalea Thomas (1 run) supplied two hits apiece in the contest.
Tatiana Blas (2-0) took the ball in Game 2 and blanked the Warriors through the first four innings. A pair of
Ari Williams RBI singles got the Raider lineup going before Kim hit a three-run home run, her first as a Raider, to make the score 5-0 in the third.
Nordahl tacked on a solo shot in the fifth, where the Raiders scored five times and got a two-run, pinch-hit double from freshman
Carlee Strand that went as her first career hit. Williams finished 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored, Kim was 2-for-3 and
Aubree Muxen supplied a two-run single in a pinch.
Blas got through 4 2/3 innings, allowing only three unearned runs in the fifth. Davies took care of the final out, dropping her ERA to 1.47.
Thomas went 3-for-7 with three stolen bases on the day and bumped her team-best batting average to .405. The redshirt-freshman outfielder has hit safely in nine of 10 games.
SOU travels next week to Oklahoma, where it will play four games in the NAIA SB Invitational and doubleheaders at No. 2-ranked Oklahoma City and No. 9 Science & Arts.
