ASHLAND, Ore. – The Corban University softball team played in its final two games of the 2021 regular season on Saturday, stumbling twice on the road to No. 1-ranked Southern Oregon University. The Raiders became the first team in Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) history to complete a conference schedule with just one loss, winning game one by a 9-1 final score (five innings) and downing the Navy and Gold 14-4 (five innings) in the non-conference series finale.

The Warriors jumped out to an early lead in the first game of the day, putting together a two-out rally against Raider ace Gabby Sandoval. Corban's three hitter, Megan Rybar, singled with two down to extend the inning after two quick outs, and Madison Wyllie ripped a double to left-center to bring her home and give Corban an early lead.

Unfortunately for the Navy and Gold, those would be the only two hits the squad would register against Sandoval in the contest.

Southern quickly punched back, plating a trio of runs in the bottom half of the first, with Hannah Shimek, Tayler Walker, and Rylan Austin each driving in runs in the stanza.

The hometown squad padded its lead with four more in the bottom of the third, courtesy of run-scoring extra-base hits from Riley Donovan, Katrina Winterburn, and Avery Morehead-Hutsell. Southern then invoked the eight-run rule in the bottom of the fifth, when Allie Stines capped off a 3-for-3 day at the plate with a two-run double to right-center.

In the second game of the day and the fourth duel of the series, the Raiders hopped out to an early 2-0 advantage with a pair of runs in the first against Warrior starter Kaylee Brown.

Corban responded with three runs in the top of the second to take the lead, with Kaycee Arase slashing a run-scoring knock to the opposite field, and Makiah Johnson driving in two with a single of her own.

The lead wouldn't last long, however, as the persistent Raider offense answered back with five in the bottom half. A clutch, two-out RBI single from Morgan Gleeson helped the Navy and Gold get one of those runs back in the next half inning, but a three-run frame in the third and a four-run rally in the fourth propelled the Raiders to the five-inning triumph and four-game series sweep.

Johnson (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Arase (2-for-2, BB, RBI, R) each turned in multi-hit efforts in the defeat, while Paia'ala Wilcox-Molina (2-for-3) also put together an impressive performance at the dish in the first multi-hit game of her collegiate career.

The top of the lineup was impressive for Raider head coach Jessica Pistole, as the SOU one-through-four hitters combined to go 11-for-14 with 10 RBIs. The leadoff hitter Stines was at the center of the action, going 4-for-4 with four runs and five RBIs.

With the losses, Corban closes the regular season with a 25-21 overall record (17-10 CCC). The squad will return to Ashland next weekend for the CCC Championships, presented by U.S. Bank.

The Warriors will enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed, facing off against fifth-seeded Eastern Oregon University at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 7. The winner of the contest will advance to face top-seeded SOU at 2 p.m.

Stay tuned to CorbanWarriors.com for an in-depth preview of the CCC Championships, which will be released next week.