ASHLAND, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Softball Tournament began on Friday morning at 9 a.m., when the Corban University softball team faced off against the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers at the home field of No. 1-ranked Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Ore. The Navy and Gold came out victorious in a one-run victory over EOU before falling in a valiant effort at the hands of the regular-season champion Raiders, 4-1.

The Warriors started off the day down 1-0 to the Mounties, after Alaina Wright singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. This allowed Haley Ebner to come up and hit an infield single back toward the circle. Wright advanced to third and then crossed the plate on a throwing error, giving Eastern the early advantage after the first inning.

Both starters in the circle had impressive showings, as EOU's Amanda Smith was able to hold Corban off the scoreboard until the fourth inning, when Madison Wyllie started the frame off with a double to center. Tatiana Liu was then hit by a pitch, sending Kaycee Arase to the plate with two outs. She roped an RBI single up the middle to score Wyllie and knot the score at 1-1.

The game would stay quiet for the next couple of stanzas, as the next run—which would be the deciding tally of the battle—was not scored until the top of the seventh inning. Arase rapped her second single of the day to center field with one out in the frame, which ushered Sophia Barbosa to the plate. She promptly slapped a two-bagger down the right-field line to score Arase and gave the Navy and Gold the lead in the late going.

Not much of a fight was put up in the bottom of the seventh by the Mountaineer hitters, as a two-out single was allowed to Taylor Dow, but nothing else was surrendered. The Mounties' hurler, Smith, grounded to second to end the game.
Ally Crakes was in her bag of tricks during the entire outing, allowing just one unearned run to cross the plate in the opening stanza. She finished with a complete-game victory, allowing just five hits and the single unearned tally.

Smith had a strong day as well, as she allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits on her way to the hard-fought loss.

Arase was the lone player in the game with more than one hit, as she had an RBI single and also scored the eventual game-winning run after hitting her second base hit of the day in the seventh inning.

The Warriors' second matchup of the day was against the No. 1-ranked, regular-season champion, Southern Oregon Raiders. The two-time defending national champions (2018, 2019) had an outstanding 45-3 win-loss record going into the battle, as they have lost just a single CCC battle all year. 

Southern struck first in the opening frame, as they received a leadoff infield single from Allie Stines, who then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Hannah Shimek. The unselfish plate appearance led to an RBI double from Lauren Quirke, who was directly following Shimek. The Raiders led 1-0 after one full.

Both Corban starter Lauren Besse and Gabby Sandoval were brilliant for the majority of the game, as the next run was not picked up until the top of the fifth inning, when the Warriors strung together a couple of two-out hits to tie the game. Liu led the charge with a single and was pinch run for by Tabby Humphrey. Immediately following the substitution, Ivey Uppinghouse smacked a two-base hit into the left-field corner. Humphrey was able to come all the way around to score from first, which tied the score at one. The Warriors were unable to add to the impressive rally, though, as Morgan Gleeson and Samantha Martinez drew walks to load the bases for Makiah Johnson. She just missed a home run, as she flew out to center to end the threat.

It was just a matter of time before the impressive offense of the Raiders finally broke through, as the bottom of the sixth inning proved to be the difference in the tight-fought battle. Katrina Winterburn led off the frame with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Olivia Mackey sacrificed herself to move Winterburn to third on a bunt, which put a runner at third base with just one out. Avery Morehead-Hutsell clubbed a triple to right field to score the second run of the game for SOU. Stines then bunted with Morehead-Hutsell on third base and was able to tally another run. With two outs, the Raiders added another one on a walk and a steal of second by Shimek, which allowed Quirke to hit her second RBI two-bagger of the game. 

That was the end of the damage, but with Sandoval in the circle the Navy and Gold were unable to get a rally going in the seventh inning, as the game ended 4-1 in favor of Southern Oregon.

In the biggest start of Besse's collegiate career, she was outstanding against the premier program in the country at the NAIA level. Prior to the start of the sixth inning, she had allowed just five hits and one run. She ended up allowing four runs in 5.2 innings and allowed eight hits.

Sandoval earned her 26th win of the year in the circle, as she has been nearly unhittable this season. She surrendered just two hits—in the complete-game win—to the Corban offense, and she set down eight Warrior hitters on strikes in the effort.

Uppinghouse's RBI double was about all that the Corban offense got going for them in the battle, as just the two hits in the fifth were given up by Sandoval.

Quirke was responsible for two of the Raiders' runs on two run-scoring two-base hits, which led the SOU offense, but Morehead-Hutsell was on base all three times that she stepped to the dish out of the nine hole in the order. She walked twice and was responsible for what was the game-winning RBI triple in the sixth. 

Corban (26-22, 16-11 CCC) will continue their season on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. against the Warner Pacific Knights, who lost their first game of the tournament on Friday against No. 3-seeded Oregon Tech. The matchup will be a win-or-go-home scenario for Corban, as their season rides on a victory over the sixth-seeded Knights.

Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter  l Instagram l Snapchat l  YouTube l  Email

Download our App: iOS (iPhone/iPad) l Android