REDDING, Calif. – Playing their first road games of the Cascade Conference season, Oregon Tech split a doubleheader at CCC newcomer, Simpson University, winning the opener, 6-4, before dropping the late game, 3-2.
The Lady Owls (17-3, 4-1 CCC) limited the host Redhawks to just six hits on the day, but SU was able to capitalize on 10 walks and six errors to claim their first-ever CCC win.
Tech rallied to win Game 1, erasing 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to early their ninth-straight victory. After Angela Diaz staked the Redhawks (6-13, 1-1) to a 2-0 lead with a second inning 2-run single, the Owls tied the score in their next at bat, as
Sawyer Stenson slugged a 2-run home run to left.
SU regained the lead in the fourth with an unearned run, but OIT scored three times in the sixth – getting a game-tying RBI single from
Malia Mick and a 2-out, go-ahead 2-run single from
Leah Huffman. The Owls made it 6-3 in the seventh after back-to-back doubles from
Puakea Milbourne and
Addison Kachnik, with
Kristine Schmidt getting the final three outs for a save.
Alli Parker earned her sixth win, allowing two earned runs on three hits, striking out eight. Milbourne, Mick and Sawyer each had two hits for the Owls.
Game 2 belonged to the Redhawks, as the California side never trailed. SU scored twice in the first on RBI singles from Olivia Bicondova and Nayzeth Gonzalez, adding an unearned run in the fourth. OIT tried to respond, scoring a run on a fifth inning
Gina Allen double and another in the sixth on a Mick ground out – but were limited to five total hits in the loss.
Allen was 2-for-4 for OIT, with Schmidt throwing five-plus innings of 1-hit ball in a no-decision.
The two teams close out the series tomorrow with an 11 a.m. doubleheader.
