COLUMBUS, Ga. – Oregon Tech right fielder Maggie Buckholz did not want her career to end on Memorial Day, as the senior went 3-for-4 with two homers and four RBI, lifting the Lady Owls to a 6-0 victory over Midland University on Day 4 of the NAIA Softball World Series at South Commons Softball Complex.
 
The win moves OIT (52-9) into Tuesday play and an elimination game vs. Marian (Ind.) at 1 p.m. (PDT) – live on ESPN3 and carried live in the Klamath Basin on 104.3-FM/960-AM – with the Lady Owls-Marian winner meeting University of the Cumberlands at 4 p.m. (PDT) with a spot in the title game on the line.
 
Buckholz tied Tara Moates school record for multi-home run games with four – launching a 2-run bomb deep over the right field wall in the fourth inning to give the Lady Owls a 3-0 lead, adding a line drive 2-run shot just inside the right field foul pole in the sixth to break the game open.
 
"Maggie's been clutch for us all year long, hitting in the 3-hole, being a senior, being a leader," said OIT head coach Greg Stewart. "We've need her to come through when it matters so many times this season."
 
Facing a Warriors (41-15) team playing their third elimination game of the tournament, Tech used stellar defense to keep the Nebraska team off the scoreboard. OIT turned MU away in the first as Jayce Seavert gunned out Rony Foote as second on a strikeout-throw out double play, while in the third, Nita Cook stunned the crowd with a 2-out diving stop behind second, flipping the ball with her glove to Kaila Mick at second for the final out.
 
"She is one of a kind a with her range and her glove work when she gets to a ball – I haven't seen too many freshmen that make plays like she does," Stewart said of Cook. "The play she made was in such a key situation, a momentum play. We are blessed to have her and she's just a freshman."
 
The Warriors squandered chances in the fourth and fifth – putting a runner at third in the fourth and runners at second and third in the fifth – but did not score. Kacie Schmidt coaxed a line out and a strikeout to end the fourth inning threat, adding a pair of pop ups, including a running catch in foul territory by first baseman Puakea Milbourne to end the fifth.
 
MU ace Aliyah Rincon retired the first seven batters of the game, before OIT struck in the third, as Addison Kachnik hit a deep fly ball to center, just over the wall – eluding the glove of Emily Prai – for her fifth home run of the season and a 1-0 lead. Two innings later, Mick blooped her 21st double of the season down the left field line, with Buckholz driving a 1-0 pitch deep over the wall in right for the 3-0 lead.
 
"I am so excited that I get to play another day," Buckholz said. "As a senior, I want this ride to go as long as it can with my girls. I am so excited for them. We are playing for each other and have each others' back."
 
The Mick-Buckholz tandem struck again in the fifth, as the Tech shortstop lined a 1-out single, with Buckholz lining a 1-0 inside fastball out to right – becoming just the tenth player to hit 2-home runs in an NAIA Softball World Series game.
 
OIT capped the scoring in the seventh, as Cook reached on a bunt single, stole second and scored on a Mick RBI single.
 
Schmidt did the rest, limiting the Warriors to four hits for her 28th victory of the season and her eighth shutout. The sophomore walked two and fanned five in her second World Series win.
 
NOTES:

• Mick broke out of a 0-for-11 slump with her 3-for-4 game, with her two runs scored pushing her season total to 67 – one off the all-time OIT record.
• The win for Schmidt was her school-record 27th consecutive victory, dating back to early February, with her 28 wins one off the single-season school record
• Buckholz joins Cassidy Olson as the only OIT players with three multi-home run games in a season – having hit two home runs in wins this season over Carroll and Northwest
• Midland fell to 5-9 this season when allowing 5-or-more runs, while OIT improved to 38-0 in 2023 when scoring 6-or-more runs
• OIT improved to 2-0 all-time against MU, both shutout wins – blanking the Warriors, 3-0 in 2011 (a Jackie Imhof perfect game) en route to the national title
• The Owls get a rematch with Marian tomorrow, the squad that eliminated OIT from the 2017 NAIA Opening Round bracket in Costa Mesa, Calif.