CCC SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
May 1-3 | Stilwell Stadium | Klamath Falls, Ore.
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
G1 | (5) College of Idaho 5, (4) British Columbia 2
G2 | (3) Southern Oregon 13, (6) Simpson 2 (5 inn.)
G3 | (1) Oregon Tech 1, (5) College of Idaho 0
G4 | (3) Southern Oregon 4, (2) Eastern Oregon 1
SATURDAY'S GAMES
G5 | 9 a.m. – College of Idaho vs. Simpson (loser eliminated)
G6 | 11:30 a.m. – Eastern Oregon vs. British Columbia (loser eliminated)
G7 | 2 p.m. – Oregon Tech vs. Southern Oregon
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)
KLAMATH FALLS – At least by the Southern Oregon softball team's standards, the 2026 regular season got a bit turbulent at times. On the first day of the postseason, things couldn't have gone any smoother.
After learning they'll host an NAIA Championship Opening Round bracket on Friday morning, the Raiders started the Cascade Conference Tournament presented by U.S. Bank with back-to-back victories on one of the most encouraging afternoons of the spring at Stilwell Stadium.
SOU – the No. 3 seed in the six-team, double-elimination event – bullied No. 6 seed Simpson (Calif.) with three home runs en route to a 13-2, five-inning win in the early session. A few hours later, sophomore All-American
Ayla Davies delivered a vintage performance with a complete game in a 4-1 defeat of No. 2 seed Eastern Oregon.
The Raiders (39-13 overall) advanced to play top-seeded Oregon Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday for a spot in Sunday's 1:30 p.m. championship round. The loser will have to play an elimination game at 11 a.m. Sunday to reach the finals.
Seeking its first CCC Tournament title since 2019, SOU came out swinging against Simpson (17-32) with 12 runs through the first two innings. The Raiders had only homered 10 times all year before
Lexi Ramirez cleared the fence in the first inning,
Elysia Duarte slugged a three-run shot, and
Ari Williams contributed another solo job in short order.
Kalea Thomas went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI in the contest, finishing with six hits on the day. Vanesa Lang was 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs and two RBIs. Duarte went 3-for-3 and
Avery Coffin added a pair of hits.
Davies went four innings against the Red Hawks before going the distance against EOU, the highest-scoring team in the circuit, to collect her 20th and 21st wins. She limited the Mountaineers to four hits, shut them out through five frames by retiring 12 in a row at one point, and escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the seventh.
Williams put the Raiders in front by leading off the second inning with a double and later coming home on
Avery Coffin's groundout. The score remained 1-0 until the top of the sixth, where SOU loaded the bases with nobody out to set up
Brooke Nordahl's line-drive, two-run single to right field.
The Raiders and Mountaineers entered the contest tied for No. 6 in the final NAIA Top 25 coaches' poll. SOU has now won three consecutive matchups after dropping the teams' first two. EOU has captured the last two CCC Tournament titles but will need to survive five straight elimination games to win a third.
The Raiders will attempt to exact revenge against OIT on Saturday. The No. 2-ranked Owls swept the regular-season series by a combined scoring margin of 23-4. They defeated College of Idaho, 1-0, in their tourney opener.
