EUGENE, Ore. – The 23rd-ranked Corban University softball team took the season series against Northwest Christian University thanks to a twin bill spilt with the Beacons on Saturday, winning game one, 6-4, while dropping game two, 6-5. The victory gives Corban three wins against the Beacons during the 2016 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) campaign, while NCU registered one win over the Warriors.
"The girls swung the bats well again today and our pitchers did a nice job," said Corban head coach Nathan Ohta. "As a team, we need to do a little better job being ready to go in game two and tighten up our defense as we make a push towards the postseason."
In the opener, sophomore Raina Reece (Salem, Ore.) launched a home run to left center in the fourth frame, giving Corban the 1-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, Corban tacked on three more, and it was junior center fielder Taylor Eilders (Cameron Park, Calif.) who got things going, lacing an RBI double to left center, scoring Warrior junior catcher Danielle Ackerman (Dallas, Ore.) on the play. Junior left fielder Ashleigh Lynch (Ronan, Mont.) then ripped an RBI single up the middle to score Eilders, and junior shortstop Iris Rodriguez (Warden, Wash.) hit an RBI single to center field, scoring Lynch to make it 4-0.
Northwest Christian stormed back in the fifth and sixth, however, taking advantage of some Warrior miscues en route to tying the game at 4-4.
Luckily for the Warriors, Eilders came up clutch for Corban in the seventh, ripping the go-ahead RBI double to center field, scoring Warrior junior second baseman Paige Martin (Portland, Ore.) on the play. Later in the inning, Eilders came in to score and make it a 6-4 advantage for the Warriors thanks to an RBI single from Reece.
In the seventh inning, senior lefty Jessica Holsinger (Eagle, Idaho) shut the door and sat the Beacons down 1-2-3, finishing out the complete game and securing the win for Corban. Holsinger allowed just three hits while striking out eight in her 11th win of the campaign, allowing only two earned runs in the contest.
Eilders finished 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored, while Reece also tallied a pair of hits and two RBI in the victory.
In game two, Corban took the early 1-0 lead only to see it disappear in the second frame when the Beacons scored two runs.
The Warriors bounced back immediately with a pair of RBI doubles in the third inning from Rodriguez and junior pitcher Allie Mendez (Stockton, Calif.) to retake a 3-2 advantage.
A Warrior defensive error in the bottom of the third, however, proved costly, as the Beacons ended up scoring three unearned runs in the inning after the error to take a 5-3 lead.
Corban cut it to 5-4 in the fourth via an RBI single from Eilders, but the Beacons added another in the sixth to give themselves some cushion heading into the seventh. That run would prove vital, as Corban did pull one run back in the top of the seventh, but that was all it would get in the tough 6-5 defeat against NCU (11-23, 5-9 CCC).
Eilders went 3-for-4 at the dish in the defeat with one RBI and one run scored, while both Mendez and Rodriguez recorded two hits each.
Corban (24-13, 8-6 CCC) returns to the diamond on Tuesday when it hosts Oregon Tech at home at Warrior Field for the first time in 2016. First pitch in the pivotal doubleheader is set for a 2 p.m. start. Live video will be available on Warrior TV.
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