MISSOULA, Mont. – Oregon Tech moved one win away from clinching a second-straight Cascade Conference title with an 11-2 victory over the University of Providence at Grizzly Stadium.
The host Argos (6-26, 3-20 CCC) rebounded in the non-league game, pounding out 15 hits to end the Lady Owls school-record 25-game win streak with a 9-5 victory.
OIT (37-6, 25-1) can clinch the league title and host site for the CCC Championships with a win in one of their final four CCC games – or a loss by rival Southern Oregon.
Playing in a cold rain throughout, the Lady Owls jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning and broke the game open with a 6-run sixth.
Two errors by the Argos in the third inning rally allowed runs to score, with
Maggie Buckholz capping the frame with an RBI single. UP answered in the bottom of the inning, as Azia-Rain Umphrey homered and a second run scored on a 2-out OIT error. However, Tech added a pair in the fifth and batted around in the sixth – as
Nita Cook delivered a 2-run single,
Kaila Mick tripled home a run and Buckholz lined an RBI single.
Kacie Schmidt recorded her 19th win, limiting UP to two hits. Buckholz, Cook,
Puakea Milbourne and
Addison Kachnik all had multi-hit games for the Lady Owls.
OIT took a quick 1-0 lead in Game 2, as
Zoe Allen walked, stole second and scored on a wild sequence where a return throw to the pitching circle went wild.
The lead did not last, as Taylor Mathews led off the bottom of the inning with a homer and Umphrey golfed a 3-run shot to give the hosts a lead they would not surrender.
Tech trailed 6-2 after two innings, but cut the deficit to 6-5 in the sixth following a
Jayce Seavert RBI single – however, the Owls stranded the tying runner in scoring position. The Argos tacked on three insurance runs in the bottom of the inning to close out the win.
Mckenzie Staub had OIT's lone multi-hit game, going 2-for-4, with Mathews, Ryen Palmer and Karlie David all recording three hits for the victors. UP starter Deven Creech allowed just six hits and worked around eight walks – stranding 11 Lady Owls on the base paths.
OIT will have the weekend off, preparing for the final week of the regular-season – traveling next Tuesday to No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon, before hosting British Columbia on April 28-29.
