CALDWELL, Idaho – Oregon Tech kept their Cascade Conference softball title hopes alive, opening a weekend series at No. 23-ranked College of Idaho with a Friday sweep, claiming 9-0 and 4-1 victories at Symms Field.
OIT (40-6, 22-4 CCC) reached the 40-win plateau for the sixth-straight season – with the Owls in a 3-way battle for the league crown heading into the final day of the regular season. A win by Tech in Game 3 of the series would clinch the squad no worse than the No. 2 seed in the CCC Tournament – with the Lady Owls winning the title if Eastern Oregon and Southern Oregon split their two Saturday games (EOU won the series opener, 9-7, in 16 innings and lead a suspended Game 2, 5-3, in the fifth). Two EOU wins give the Mounties the title, while two SOU wins give the Raiders the crown.
In today's opener, the Owls took a 7-0 lead after two innings and cruised behind a 3-hit shutout from
Kacie Schmidt. Tech scored a pair in the first – one on a
Puakea Milbourne fielders' choice and another on an error by the Coyotes (25-15, 14-12) – while an inning later, got 2-run doubles from
Jayce Seavert and
Gina Allen to break the game open.
Allen added a second RBI double in the sixth, extending the lead to 9-0 – with Schmidt working a scoreless bottom of the frame to end the contest due to the mercy rule.
Nita Cook was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, Seavert and
Sawyer Stenson each had two hits, as did
Gina Allen and
Zoe Allen.
C of I held a 1-0 lead in the sixth of Game 2, as a Sydney Jund solo homer in the second was the lone run for the majority of the contest. Tech countered in the sixth, as Cook singled and Seavert was hit by a pitch – before Milbourne launched a 3-run blast to give the visitors the lead. An inning later, Cook plated
Marla Goodspeed with an infield single to provide an insurance run.
Jenna Gorden allowed one run on five hits in five innings to claim the win, with Schmidt fanning five in two shutout innings to claim her third save of 2025.
Cook was the lone OIT player with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3, with Kayla Vahlberg going 2-for-3 for C of I.
The two teams close out the regular-season tomorrow with a 11 a.m. (MDT) doubleheader.
