COMING UP: vs. Carroll College (DH), Thursday, 2 p.m.; vs. Carroll College (DH), Friday, 12 p.m.

COMPLETE WEEKLY MEDIA NOTEBOOK
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION: The series with Carroll College will be carried live on the Owls Sports Network with Mike Garrard on the call, with Live Stats through OIT's SIDEARM Stats Portal. Friday marks Senior Day for the four senior student-athletes on the team (Kacie Schmidt, Zoe Allen, Jayce Seavert, Marla Goodspeed) – with the athletes set to be honored following Game 4 of the series on Friday afternoon.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – CARROLL COLLEGE: The Lady Owls close out their regular-season home schedule this week, hosting Carroll College on Thursday and Friday (moved up a day to accommodate the visitors travel during Easter Weekend). The Fighting Saints (15-17, 10-9 CCC) sit in fifth-place in the league standings – coming off an impressive conference series win at Eastern Oregon, with the team also claiming a home series win over College of Idaho. Carroll features a veteran lineup that has a .274 team batting average and averages five runs a game, as four returners hit above the .300 mark – second baseman Kenna Thomas (.388 4 HR 21), shortstop Morgan Sunchild (.357 1 HR 20 RBI), first baseman Sammie Labrum (.323 1 HR 14 RBI) and outfielder Kati Slater (.322 0 HR 12 RBI). All-CCC pick Kennedy Venner (10-7 4.79 ERA) and Abbie Amend (2-8 6.38 ERA) anchor a pitching staff that has a 5.48 team ERA. OIT holds an 8-game win streak in the series, with the Owls recording a 30-6 all-time series lead.
 
6-0 WEEK: OIT ended a streak of three consecutive weeks with midweek and weekend games, going 6-0 in games against Simpson and Warner Pacific, extending a win streak to nine. Against SU, the Lady Owls held the Redhawks to six total hits in the doubleheader, claiming 7-0 and 11-2 victories. In Portland, Tech held the Knights to six total runs in four games – sweeping the series.
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE: With two weeks remaining in the regular-season, the Owls have secured a postseason berth for the 14th-straight season and the 29th playoff berth in program history (including 13 NAIA Tournament bids and eight NAIA World Series appearances). OIT has a 17-4 league mark – two games back of first-place Southern Oregon (with Tech holding the head-to-head tiebreaker) and one game back of second-place Eastern Oregon (with EOU holding the tiebreaker on the Owls), while the club is three games ahead of fourth-place College of Idaho. Each of the top teams have tough series remaining – SOU to host C of I this weekend, while next week, SOU travels to Eastern and OIT hosts C of I. The regular-season champ will host the 6-team CCC Championships, May 2-5.
 
30-WIN SEASONS: Tech heads into the weekend with a 34-6 record, clinching their 13th-straight 30-win season with a Game 2 win last week vs. Simpson. The Lady Owls have recorded 24 seasons with at least 30 wins, recorded 12 seasons with at least 40 wins, while logging 50-or-more wins in both 2022 and 2023.
 
PERFECT DAY FOR ALLEN EARNS CCC HONOR: Zoe Allen keyed the Lady Owls Sunday wins at WPU, going a combined 7-for-7 in the doubleheader – part of a week in which the left fielder finished 12-for-21 with 10 runs scored, adding two doubles, a triple, six RBI and eight stolen bases. The efforts by the senior netted Allen Cascade Conference Player of the Week honors – a week started with a record-tying four stolen bases vs. Simpson (third OIT player to achieve the mark) – while surpassing the 200-hit mark for her career.
 
POWER SURGE: Puakea Milbourne found her home run stroke in Portland, hitting first inning home runs in back-to-back games – doubling her season total to four – tops on the team. The junior was 8-for-18 on the week with 10 RBI – taking over first place in the CCC RBI chase with 38. Last year, Milbourne led the CCC and ranked No. 3 in the NAIA with 67 RBI.
 
SEAVERT TIES RECORD: Catcher Jayce Seavert holds the OIT all-time record for sacrifice flies – recording 19 over the course of her career. In Tuesday's Game 2 win over Simpson, the senior further etched her name in sacrifice fly lore – recording two in the contest – joining Maggie Buckholz (2022) and Holly Byerly (2005) as the only Lady Owls with two sacrifice flies in a game.
 
COOK HAS STREAK SNAPPED: Nita Cook continued her prowess on the base paths, stealing five bases over the course of the week, pushing her season total to 34 – eight stolen bases off the single-season OIT record. Cook, however, saw a string of successful stolen base attempts snapped on Sunday at Warner Pacific – ending the mark of 72 consecutive successful steals.
 
MORE AT THE PLATE: Both Addison Kachnik and Marla Goodspeed keyed the Owls offensive success on the perfect week. Kachnik was 9-for-21 with three doubles and seven RBI – moving into the Top-25 all-time in doubles, while Goodspeed continued her strong senior season, going 8-for-20 with two doubles, a homer and two RBI.
 
CAREER HIGH FOR SCHMIDT: The banner season for Kacie Schmidt continued, as the senior was a perfect 4-0 in four appearances on the week, including a 2-hit shutout against Simpson and a 3-hit complete game effort at Warner Pacific. The righty struck out a career-high 14 batters in the Saturday win over WPU – the 15th time Schmidt has posted 10-or-more strikeouts in a game. She currently ranks No. 14 in the NAIA with 18 wins on the season, while sitting 24 strikeouts away from the 600-strikeout mark for her career.
 
LADY OWLS RANKED NO. 2: A 34-6 start to the season, including wins against five different Top-25 teams, helped the Lady Owls remain at No. 2 in the third NAIA Top-25 poll of the regular-season. Rival Southern Oregon holds the No. 1 spot, with Science & Arts, Cumberlands and Oklahoma City rounding out the Top-5. Two other CCC teams – No. 13 Eastern Oregon and No. 20 College of Idaho are in the Top-25.   
 
AGAINST THE TOP-25: Tech will play 16 games during the regular-season opponents in the poll, opening the year with a 7-5 record against ranked foes – including wins over the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked teams in the NAIA.
 
SUCCESS AT HOME: Stilwell Stadium has been a house of horrors for opponents, since the top venue in the Cascade Conference was opened in 2019. The Lady Owls are a combined 119-19 all-time on the artificial turf field, including wins in 99 of their last 110 home games. OIT has a 11-3 mark on their own diamond this season.
 
AROUND THE CONFERENCE: Three teams – OIT, Southern and College of Idaho swept their weekend series – while Bushnell won 3-of-4 against Corban, with EOU and Carroll splitting their series. This weekend, C of I travels to SOU, UBC heads to Providence, Warner Pacific is at Corban, Eastern plays at Bushnell, with Carroll traveling to OIT.
 
LEAGUE LEADERS: Batting Average – Sarah Kerling (SOU) .488, Kailer Fulton (SOU) .448, Raygun Klippert (EOU) .433; Home Runs – Violet Richardson (BU) 8, Kili Makanani (WP) 5, Emily Barry (EOU) 5; RBI – Puakea Milbourne (OIT) 38, Ari Williams (SOU) 34, Emily Barry (EOU) 33; Stolen Bases – Noe Barawis (WP) 42, Nita Cook (OIT) 34, Kailer Fulton (SOU) 34; ERA – Ayla Davies (SOU) 0.80, Kacie Schmidt (OIT) 1.31, Kylie Parsons (EOU) 1.65; Pitching Wins – Ayla Davies (SOU) 22, Kacie Schmidt (OIT) 18, Abbey Brooks (CI) 11; Pitching Strikeouts – Ayla Davies (SOU) 166, Kacie Schmidt (OIT) 153, Kennedy Venner (CAR) 100.
 
RECORD BOOK: Seven Lady Owls rank among the Top-25 in the OIT career record book. Jayce Seavert holds the all-time record for hit-by-pitches (64) and sacrifice flies (19), is No. 2 in games started (238) and defensive chances (1,191), No. 3 in games played (240), No. 4 in doubles (52), No. 5 in defensive put outs (1,004), No. 7 in RBI (169), No. 9 in sacrifice hits (18), No. 10 in at bats (667), No. 11 in triples (8), No. 15 in hits (215), runs scored (137) and walks (54), No. 21 in home runs (18), ranking No. 25 in stolen bases (22); Zoe Allen is No. 4 in stolen bases (62), No. 5 in sacrifice hits (22), No. 7 in walks (69), No. 8 in runs scored (164), No. 13 in games played (209), No. 16 in hits (210), No. 17 in at bats (564), No. 18 in games started (188) and No. 19 in triples (6); Nita Cook is No. 3 in stolen bases (73), No. 7 in defensive assists (311), No. 8 in sacrifice hits (19), No. 11 in triples (8), No. 12 in runs scored (142), No. 15 in hit-by-pitches (12), ranking just outside the Top-25 in hits (171) and doubles (27); Puakea Milbourne is No. 4 in defensive put outs (1,033) and defensive chances (1,072), No. 9 in hit-by-pitches (16), No. 10 in sacrifice hits (16), No. 13 in RBI (132), No. 17 in home runs (20) and just outside the Top-25 in runs scored (108), hits (177), doubles (26) and stolen bases (20); with Addison Kachnik No. 14 in defensive assists (234), No. 21 in doubles (33), No. 25 in triples (5) and just outside the Top-25 in hits (144). In the circle, Kacie Schmidt ranks No. 2 in saves (6) and pitching appearances (135), No. 3 in shutouts (24) and strikeouts (576), No. 4 in pitching starts (91) and innings pitched (598.2), No. 5 in wins (76) and No. 6 in complete games (55); while Alli Parker is No. 4 all-time in saves (5) and just outside the Top-25 in wins (10), strikeouts (62) and pitching appearances (29); Carli Moore is just outside the Top-25 in pitching appearances (33) and strikeouts (57), as is Jenna Gorden in pitching appearances (32).
 
NEXT WEEK: Tech closes the regular-season on the road in Idaho next week, traveling for Friday-Saturday games at No. 20-ranked College of Idaho.