KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Big Senior Day efforts from the three Oregon Tech seniors clinched the Lady Owls their third-straight outright Cascade Conference regular-season title with a doubleheader sweep of No. 20-ranked College of Idaho at Stilwell Stadium.
OIT (41-7, 24-3 CCC) ran their win streak to 14 with 9-3 and 9-4 victories over the Yotes, earning the right to host next weekend's CCC Tournament. The Owls secured their 12th all-time regular-season title, while recording their 12th 40-win season and improving to 21-0 at home this season.
"I am so happy for this group of young ladies," said OIT head coach
Greg Stewart. "All of their hard work and dedication has resulted in another great season for Oregon Tech softball. We are grateful to all of our families and fans that have supported us along the way."
The Yotes (31-15, 19-7), who will be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the conference tourney, opening the scoring in Game 1, as Lolo Walker doubled home a first inning run. However, the lead was short lived.
Tech loaded the bases in the bottom of the frame without a hit, getting back-to-back 2-out, 2-run singles from
Jayce Seavert and
Addison Kachnik and adding an unearned run on a C of I error to grab a 5-1 lead.
Senior
Lexi Klum extended the lead in the second with an RBI single and made it 7-1 in the third with a sacrifice fly.
C of I made it interesting in the fifth, as a Lexi Navarrete 2-run single cut into the deficit and the Yotes brought the tying run to the plate, but
Kacie Schmidt struck out Brinley Iverson to end the rally.
OIT would cap the scoring with single runs in the final two innings, as
Nita Cook lifted a sacrifice fly and Seavert tripled home another.
Schmidt worked around four hits and six walks to earn her 21st win of the year, with Seavert going 2-for-4 with three RBI and Kachnik going 2-for-3 with two RBI.
The non-conference nightcap saw the two teams trade runs in back-to-back innings. OIT took a 2-0 lead in the second, keyed by a
Marla Goodspeed RBI single – but C of I responded in third as Walker clubbed her league-leading 16th home run to tie the score.
Tech regained a 4-2 lead in the third on a Klum RBI groundout and a Seavert RBI double, but Hannah Mikel tied the score with one swing, hitting a 2-run homer.
The Owls took the lead for good in the fourth as Cook doubled and scored on a
Zoe Allen single – and added a pair of insurance runs in both the fifth and sixth innings – featuring RBI doubles from Klum in each frame.
Senior
Mckenzie Staub earned her 17th win, allowing three runs in four innings of work, while freshman
Alli Parker got the final nine outs for her team-leading fourth save. Klum was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI, with Seavert and Goodspeed both posting 2-hit games.
The third senior,
Kaila Mick, scored two runs in Game 2 – pushing her career total to 253, surpassing the all-time Cascade Conference runs scored record of 251, set by C of I's Haley Loffer from 2019-23. Mick moved within five hits of Southern Oregon's Kelsey Randall's all-time hits mark of 336.
The 2024 CCC Tournament will feature four games on both Friday and Saturday, with the championship game set for Sunday. OIT will play the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5-seed game on Friday at 2 p.m.
