NAIA Championship Opening Round | Ashland Bracket
MONDAY'S RESULTS
G1 | (4) Dordt (Iowa) 2 vs. (5) Ottawa (Ariz.) 0
G2 | (2) Texas A&M-Texarkana 5, (3) Saint Francis (Ind.) 4
G3 | (1) Southern Oregon 3, vs. Dordt 1
TUESDAY'S GAMES
G4 | 11 a.m. – Ottawa vs. Saint Francis (loser eliminated)
G5 | 1:30 p.m. – Texas A&M-Texarkana at Southern Oregon
G6 | 4 p.m. – Dordt vs. G4 Winner (loser eliminated)
WEDNESDAY'S GAMES
G7 | 11 a.m. – G5 Loser vs. G6 Winner (loser eliminated)
G8 | 1:30 p.m. – G5 Winner vs. G7 Winner (final round)
THURSDAY'S GAME
G9 | 11 a.m. – G8 Rematch (if necessary)
ASHLAND – Timely hitting and more unwavering
Ayla Davies postseason pitching was a successful recipe for Southern Oregon on the first day of the NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round.
At a jam-packed Laurel Park, the top-seeded Raiders started play in the Ashland Bracket by defeating No. 4 seed Dordt (Iowa), 3-1, to move within two wins of their eighth World Series appearance in nine years.
Davies earned her 24th victory of the season with a complete game, surrendering the Defenders' only run a few batters into the afternoon.
Ari Williams and
Avery Coffin provided all of the offense in the third inning – the former with an RBI single to the left-field wall, and the latter with a two-out, two-run double to the right-field wall.
The Raiders have won 13 in a row entering Tuesday's 1:30 p.m. matchup with No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Texarkana, which topped Saint Francis (Ind.), 5-4, in its tournament opener. The winner will move into Wednesday's final round, while the loser will need to survive three straight elimination games to take the title.
Davies has been victorious in nine consecutive decisions. The sophomore right-hander struck out six and gave up only four hits, including Chloe Kreuz's triple to lead off the game. Kreuz came home on a passed ball, but the Defenders (40-13) got nothing more.
They did, however, put the potential tying runs on base with two outs in the seventh for Kreuz, the Great Plains Athletic Conference's Player of the Year. Davies got Kreuz to pop up to shallow left-center field, where shortstop
Brooke Nordahl backtracked and settled before the ball popped up out of her glove. Williams, SOU's center fielder, was there to back up and snag the ball before it hit the ground, saving the Raiders' error-free stat line and the win.
Going back to the Cascade Conference Tournament, the Raiders have gone their last four games without committing an error. They've only allowed more than two runs once in their last 11.
Dordt pitcher Rylee Yager – who two-hit Ottawa (Ariz.) hours earlier – limited their offense but showed enough cracks in the third to take the loss.
Vanessa Lang, Nordahl and Williams stroked three singles in a row to tie the game. Two batters later, Coffin went to the opposite field to continue her hot postseason hitting and plate two.
Lang went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Kalea Thomas had her fifth consecutive multi-hit outing with a pair of singles.
