CCC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
May 1-3 | Stilwell Stadium | Klamath Falls, Ore.
Live Streams | Tournament Central

FRIDAY'S GAMES
G1 | 9 a.m. – (4) British Columbia (27-19) vs. (5) College of Idaho (30-18)
G2 | 11:30 a.m. – (3) Southern Oregon (37-13) vs. (6) Simpson (17-30)
G3 | 2 p.m. – (1) Oregon Tech (40-6) vs. G1 Winner
G4 | 4:30 p.m. – (2) Eastern Oregon (37-9) vs. G2 Winner

SATURDAY'S GAMES
G5 | 9 a.m. – G2 Loser vs. G3 Loser (loser eliminated)
G6 | 11:30 a.m. – G1 Loser vs. G4 Loser (loser eliminated)
G7 | 2 p.m. – G3 Winner vs. G4 Winner
G8 | 4:30 p.m. – G5 Winner vs. G6 Winner (loser eliminated)

SUNDAY'S GAMES
G9 | 11 a.m. – G7 Loser vs. G8 Winner (loser eliminated)
G10 |1:30 p.m. – G7 Winner vs. G9 Winner (championship round)
G11 | 30 minutes after G10 – If necessary (championship round)

ASHLAND – Among a multitude of eyebrow-raising facts generated by the Southern Oregon University softball team's dynastic run, this one may be the most shocking: The Raiders have won four NAIA national championships since the last time they won a Cascade Conference Tournament championship.

It was early May of 2019, a few weeks before they celebrated their first World Series title, that the Raiders last captured the CCC Championship presented by U.S. Bank trophy. Since then, in a testament to both the strength of the CCC and their refusal to go home for good, they've gone 7-10 in conference tournament games and 41-8 in national tournament games.

Following a regular season in which they posted records of 37-13 overall and 16-8 in the circuit, they're back in Klamath Falls trying to reverse their CCC Championship fortunes this weekend as the No. 3 seed. Their opener against No. 6 seed Simpson (Calif.) (17-30, 11-13) is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday at Stilwell Stadium.

IN THE RANKINGS: Wednesday's final NAIA Top 25 poll had the Raiders' position unchanged at No. 6, meaning they'll enter the postseason with a top-eight ranking for the seventh time in eight years. They're tied in that spot with Eastern Oregon, while Oregon Tech fell from No. 1 to No. 2 despite receiving twice as many first-place votes as the new No. 1, Madonna (Mich.). Two more CCC teams received votes: College of Idaho at No. 32 overall and British Columbia at No. 36. In this week's RPI computer rankings – which do not consider the Raiders' 5-1 record against NCAA Division II teams – SOU was No. 12.

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Oregon Tech, by virtue of winning the CCC regular-season championship, is hosting the CCC Tournament for the sixth consecutive season. (The Owls clinched the outright title in the final game of the conference slate by defeating second-place Eastern Oregon, only after dropping the first two games of the series.) The CCC only has one automatic NAIA playoff bid, which will go to the tournament champion, though SOU, OIT and EOU are already locks to qualify based on their rankings.

The 10 hosts of the NAIA Championship Opening Round will be revealed on Friday morning, and SOU hopes to be one of them for the seventh time in eight postseasons. The 48-team NAIA Championship field will be released next Wednesday at 3 p.m., and the Opening Round takes place May 11-14 with two four-team and eight five-team, double-elimination brackets.

FIRST UP: Simpson is in its first season as part of the CCC softball circuit and fresh off its best series win yet at College of Idaho. The Raiders completed a four-game sweep of the Red Hawks two weeks ago in Ashland, outscoring them 20-6 combined despite all three conference counters being competitive. Simpson has two quality arms in Jacquelyn Lujan (7-9, 2.93 ERA) and Grace Chojnacki (8-5, 3.19 ERA); the former tossed two complete games against SOU and allowed only one earned run in the first of those. The Red Hawks' lineup has struggled to the tune of a .256 team batting average, but they have one of the CCC's premier talents in shortstop Brianna Lopez-Cortez. The senior bats .400, has more than twice as many extra-base hits (10 HR, 15 2B) and RBIs (43) as anyone else on the roster, and enjoyed a two-homer game against the Raiders on April 17.

IF THEY WIN: The SOU-Simpson loser would need to win five consecutive elimination games two claim the title, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, while the winner will move on to play No. 2 seed Eastern Oregon (37-9, 18-6) at 4:30 p.m. Friday. The Mountaineers spent two weeks in March with the NAIA's No. 1 ranking, boosted by a 2-2 set at SOU in which they plated 27 runs and claimed the conference portion of the series. They own the NAIA's 10th-best on-base percentage (.427), their staff has compiled a 2.80 ERA, and the heart of their lineup is as strong as anyone's with Hope Burke (.413, 19 XBH, 44 RBI), Lexi Grumbois (.430, 12 XBH, 48 RBI) and Raygun Klippert (.361, 19 XBH, 43 SB). They've won back-to-back tournament championships.

SHORT HOPS:

• The Raiders won all three of their CCC Tournament titles from 2017-19, and Oregon Tech joined them as the only teams to three-peat from 2021-23. The Raiders last advanced to the championship round in 2024, when they fell to EOU.
• Junior shortstop Brooke Nordahl is the reigning CCC Player of the Week, coming off a four-game series at Warner Pacific in which she went 9-for-15 with four extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. The set raised her batting average from .293 to .324, and she completed the regular season with a team-high 44 RBIs – the fifth-most in the conference. She batted .378 (14-for-37) in the 2025 postseason and made the NAIA World Series All-Tournament team.
• Senior second baseman Vanessa Lang ranks fifth in the conference with 46 runs scored and eighth with a .398 batting average, leading SOU in both categories. She brings a nine-game hitting streak (15-for-33) into the weekend and had a 15-game streak earlier this season. With runners in scoring position, she's batting .410 (25-for-61).
• Leadoff hitter Kalea Thomas, a redshirt-freshman right fielder, has five multi-hit games in her last eight outings and paces the Raiders with a .447 on-base percentage. Her average is at .373 and her stolen-base total of 25 is the third-highest in the circuit.
• Ari Williams (.361, 39 RBIs), a senior center fielder, ranks second among CCC players with 15 doubles.
• Since a rough outing on April 14 at Oregon Tech, Ayla Davies has surrendered just three runs and 11 hits in 30 innings pitched, totaling 42 strikeouts and six walks during the stretch. She enters the postseason with a 19-7 record, leading the CCC in wins and ranking fifth with a 2.10 ERA. In 14 postseason appearances as a freshman last year, she went 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA, 13 complete games and five shutouts over 97 2/3 innings on her way to World Series MVP honors. The Raiders leaned heavily on her during that run but have a bona fide No. 2 this time around in Lexi Ramirez, who is 12-5 with a 2.75 ERA. Though Davies' ERA is up from last year's 1.20 mark, her opponents' batting average (.198) and strikeout rate (6.8/7 IP) are nearly identical.
• As always, the Raiders can depend on their defense. They're committing fewer errors per game (0.76) than any CCC team with 38 total compared to opponents' 94. They've scored 77 unearned runs and surrendered just 19.
• SOU is getting by without its usual batting pop, having hit fewer home runs (10) this season than in any since 2014 – the year before four-time NAIA Coach of the Year Jessica Pistole's arrival. In the CCC, only Bushnell and Corban – the teams at the bottom of the standings – have hit fewer. The Raiders do, however, rank first in triples (17) and third in doubles (74).