PORTLAND, Ore. – The Corban University softball team treated Warrior fans to a couple of hard-fought, ground out victories on Saturday evening in Portland against the Knights of Warner Pacific University. The Navy and Gold would come away victorious in the first of the two games by a final tally of 4-3, and snuck past the Knights in game two by a score of 10-7 in nine innings.  

In what turned out to be a difficult game for the Warriors offensively, game one was evidence that the Navy and Gold can find ways other than the long ball to win close matchups.

Corban found themselves in a 2-0 deficit heading into the top of the fourth, as the Navy and Gold picked up a two-out base hit to right field by freshman Mariah Hyre that scored the first run of the game for the Warriors.

In the fifth, Corban would pick up the lead for the first time by receiving a bunt single by Kaylee Buhrkuhl that knocked in Makiah Johnson. The bunt forced a throw to first base that was errant and sailed into right field, where the right fielder Makenzie Kimura had to track the ball down, allowing the second Warrior runner, Tatum Prechtel, to cross the plate.

Corban carried the lead into the bottom of the fifth where the Knights stole a run on a first and third steal play that ended in the runner being thrown out at second, but former Warrior standout Grace Utto scored from third on the play.

The Navy and Gold would plate the game-winning run in the top of the seventh inning on an RBI groundout by Johnson which drove in Ivey Uppinghouse from third base.

Kaylee Brown was the starter in the circle for the Warriors, as she pitched six innings of three-run work before handing the pitching duties to Sarah Probasco in the seventh inning. Probasco was able to induce a one, two, three bottom half of the seventh to give Corban the victory in game one.

Game two of the night was where the fun really began, as it was a back-and-forth battle for the entirety of the contest, lasting a total of nine innings.

Corban would notch two in the top of the first on RBI hits by Kayla Bailey and Hyre, propelling them to an early 2-0 lead.

Unfortunately, as was the common sight in this one, the Knights responded in the bottom of the second with two runs of their own.

Then it was Corban's turn to once again tack on two runs. RBI knocks by Megan Rybar and Johnson put the Warriors up 4-2 heading to the bottom of the fourth.

As quickly as the Navy and Gold had taken the lead, they allowed a two-run single by Rebekah Roe to tie the game at four heading into the fifth inning. Warner would then score twice again in the bottom half of the fifth inning to jump in front 6-4.

The Corban offense found a bit of a rhythm in the sixth inning, as they wreaked havoc on the basepaths as Rybar stole third which forced a bad throw to third allowing her to score, making it a one-run deficit. Following Rybar's run, the Warriors added RBI singles from both Buhrkuhl and Bailey to give the Navy and Gold the lead.

Grace Utto had plans to keep her team in the game by hitting a game-tying homer in the bottom of the sixth to knot things up at seven apiece heading into the top of the seventh.

Things would stay put into extra frames, as the Navy and Gold searched for a breakthrough, which they got in the top of the ninth when Taylor Lawson scored on an error by the pitcher McKenzie Pierce, and then Uppinghouse drilled a two-run round-tripper off of Pierce to finish off the WPU chances for good.

Ally Crakes and Sarah Probasco split time in game two from the circle, pitching 4.1 and 4.2 innings, respectively. It was a strong day for Probasco in particular, as she earned both of the Warrior wins on Saturday night. She allowed just one run on three hits in her strong game-two performance.

The Warriors (11-5, 7-1 CCC) are enjoying a nine-game winning streak and will be looking to stretch it to 11 games after their Sunday doubleheader at Delta Park in Portland against the same Knights of WPU.