SALEM, Ore. – The Carroll College softball team split with 15th-ranked Corban University to earn a 2-1 series win over the regular-season Cascade champion Warriors Saturday in Salem, Oregon. Carroll came from behind to win game one 4-1 but came up short in game two, 3-1.
The series win gives the Saints the opportunity to clinch the sixth and final spot in the Cascade Conference Championship by winning two out of three against the University of British Columbia Sunday when the two teams meet for a three-game series at Sunset High School in Beaverton, Oregon.
The Saints trailed early in game one, Jessie Isham hit a solo home run to left field in the fourth inning to give the Warriors the advantage.
Carroll finally got on the board in the sixth inning when
Allison Williams reached base on a fielding error, and
Ashley Davis scored from second base. The run tied the game, but the Saints weren't finished.
Kendall Mooney reached on a fielder's choice in the next at-bat, and
Tianna Sell scored from third base, giving the Saints a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the seventh, the Saints would add some insurance. With two outs recorded,
Allison Bayer singled to center setting the table for Davis. She homered to left field to give the Saints a 4-1 lead.
Williams retired the side to close out a stellar pitching performance. She gave up just three hits and struck out three en route to the one-run win.
Offensively, the Saints racked up six hits, Bayer and Sell notched two each. Mooney and Davis each tallied RBIs in game one.
Game two was a pitcher's duel for the bulk of the event.
Isham again got the score going with a solo home run, this time in the third inning. In the sixth, the Warriors added two more runs on a single from Danielle Ackerman which scored Isham and Allison Bost.
The Saints got on the board in the seventh with a solo homer from
Megan McCormick, but they couldn't muster enough runs to close out the series sweep.
Despite the game two loss, head coach
Aaron Jackson is excited to see his team compete against the very best the Cascade Conference has to offer.
"Today was a big day for Carroll Softball," Jackson said. "To get the series win over the number one team in our conference and 15th ranked team in the the country is awesome. This is the team that I have been talking about all year. The team I knew was with inside them. They competed in every game and never let adversity affect them."
The Saints now sit 10-14 in Cascade play, a game back of British Columbia at 11-13. The two teams play three games tomorrow, simply put, the winner of the Series advances to the conference championship, the loser's season is over.
"We still have work to do tomorrow and will look to win another series to push us into the postseason," Jackson said. "The goal for a few weeks has been to get to May and get back to 0-0. Once we do that, do telling how far this team can go."
The Saints take the field at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. local time.
