ASHLAND, Ore. – The Corban University softball team saw its 2021 campaign end today on day two of the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships, presented by U.S. Bank. Warner Pacific University edged the Navy and Gold by a 4-2 final score, eliminating the Warriors from the tournament.

Pitching was the story in the low-scoring affair, as both teams sought to extend their seasons in the win-or-go-home matchup.

It felt like a game of missed opportunities for the Navy and Gold, which stranded nine baserunners in the defeat, including five in scoring position.

Kaylee Brown got the start in the circle for Corban, lasting an inning and a third before handing the ball off to Ally Crakes. After Brown breezed through the first inning, she walked the bases loaded to begin the second, resulting in a pair of early runs for the Knights. With nobody out and the sacks full, WPU nine-hitter Rebekah Roe opened the scoring with a base hit to right, then Macy Besuyen brought home a run when she reached via a fielder's choice later in the inning. Warrior ace Ally Crakes—who had been brought in to face Besuyen earlier in the stanza—did well to limit the damage.

Corban immediately got one of those runs back in its half of the inning, as Ivey Uppinghouse sparked a rally with a one-out double, and would eventually come home on a perfectly-placed swinging bunt single from Makiah Johnson.

That would be all the Warrior offense would muster until the seventh, however, as WPU's Melia Croydon settled in to deliver scoreless frames in each of the next four innings.

Warner Pacific got some valuable insurance in the top of the sixth, when Katie Gleasman came off the bench to blast a pinch-hit homer to make it a two-run game. A pair of Corban miscues helped the Knights to another run in the seventh, which extended the deficit to three.

Looking to extend their season with a comeback, the Warriors mounted a rally in the seventh, which was started on a circus play involving a leadoff bunt from Samantha Martinez, who came all the way around to score on the same play after defensive blunders from the Knights.

After Kaylee Buhrkuhl reached via a bunt single, the Navy and Gold brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Megan Rybar. Rybar sliced a double down the right-field line, but Buhrkuhl was thrown out trying to score, giving the Knights a pivotal second out in the inning. Croydon would end up escaping the jam to finish the complete-game performance, earning the victory in the circle after scattering eight hits, striking out six, and allowing just one earned run.

Warner Pacific only had four hits on the day, but they made each of them count. The Warriors doubled their opponents' hit tally, notching eight total in the defeat, but the squad was unable to find the key knocks it needed in the heartbreaking loss.

Both Burhkuhl and Kaycee Arase ended the game with a 2-for-4 performance at the dish, accounting for half of the Navy and Gold's knocks as a tandem.

Discounting the 2020 season—which did not have a national tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic—this will be the first time in three seasons that the Warriors will not compete in the NAIA Tournament.

Corban finishes the 2021 regimen with a 26-23 overall record, having gone 16-11 in CCC competition. Dating back to 2011, Corban has now registered at least 25 wins in 10-consecutive seasons (excluding the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign).