COMING UP: at No. 5 Eastern Oregon (DH), Friday, 2 p.m.; at Eastern Oregon (DH), Saturday, 11 a.m.
 
GAME DAY INFORMATION: All Cascade Conference softball games will be carried live on the Urban Edge Network, with Live Stats through the OIT SIDEARM Stats Portal.
 
OPPONENT PREVIEW – EASTERN OREGON: OIT hits the road to La Grande this weekend for a first-place showdown at Eastern Oregon, as the No. 5-ranked Mountaineers (35-7, 16-5 CCC) look to build off a third-place finish at last season's NAIA Softball World Series. EOU won 2-of-3 games in each of their last CCC series (vs. UBC/at Corban), with the team looking to defend back-to-back CCC Tournament titles. The 2026 team leads the league in stolen bases (83), hitting .338 as a team – with leadoff hitter Raygun Klippert (.368 1 HR 34 RBI, 41 SB) the table setter. Newcomer Lexi Grumbois (.427 5 HR 46 RBI) is a great addition to a lineup that returned All-CCC picks in Hope Burke (.409 9 HR 40 RBI), Emily Barry (.296 5 HR 31 RBI) and Kelly Monaghan (.311 4 HR 34 RBI). Three pitchers handle the load for the Mounties – Camille Schmitz (12-1 1.41 ERA), Natalie Dimitrov (6-2 2.34 ERA) and Maliyah Mann (15-1 3.28 ERA). Tech holds a 112-38 series lead – but only a 37-25 mark in La Grande, where EOU has won five of the last seven meetings.
 
TECH CLINCHES SHARE OF UNPRECEDENTED FIFTH-STRAIGHT TITLE: With their sweep of Southern Oregon and an Eastern Oregon loss on Friday to Corban, the Lady Owls clinched a share of the 2026 Cascade Conference regular-season title – the fifth-straight season OIT has earned a share of the crown. It is the 17th all-time championship for Tech, more than all other CCC teams combined – with the Owls the first school to win 5-straight league titles (OIT won 4-straight titles from 1995-98).
 
PLAYOFF PICTURE: Tech has a Magic Number of one to clinch the host site of the CCC Championships – needing one win in the CCC series vs. Eastern Oregon. EOU is guaranteed no worse than the No. 2 seed into the CCC tourney, with the rest of the field still up in the air. Southern Oregon holds a one-game lead on British Columbia for third (UBC holds the head-to-head tiebreaker), with UBC holding a one-game lead on College of Idaho for fourth place (UBC also holds the head-to-head tiebreaker). Simpson is in sixth-place, a game ahead of Warner Pacific for the final postseason spot – with SU holding the tiebreak. The CCC Championships will be held at the regular-season champ, May 1-3.
 
PLAYOFF STREAK CONTINUES: With an April 4 win over Bushnell, the Lady Owls clinched one of six spots in May's CCC Championships, the 15th-straight postseason appearance and 30th playoff appearance in 33 years. Tech is a combined 112-79 in 191 all-time postseason games, including a 39-22 record in CCC Tournament games.
 
BEST STARTS: The 38-4 start to the season for the Lady Owls ranks as the best 42-game start in program history, surpassing a 37-5 record set by the 2006 and 2023 teams. Last season, the club began 36-6, while the 2012, 2022 and 2024 teams started 35-7. OIT has clinched their Owls 26th 30-win season and have secured their 15th-straight 35-win season (minus COVID season) and are two wins from posting their seventh-straight 40-win season. The club has 26 seasons with 30-or-more wins, 13 seasons with 40-or-more wins and two seasons with 50-or-more wins.
 
STREAKING: For the eighth-straight year (minus COVID season), the Owls have posted a win streak of 10-or-more games, taking an 11-game win streak into the EOU series.
 
LADY OWLS RANKED NO. 1: The Owls 38-4 start kept Tech atop the NAIA Top-25 Coaches' Poll for the second-straight polling period and the 11th time in program history. Oregon schools continue to dominate the Top-10 – as Eastern Oregon is ranked No. 5 and Southern Oregon is No. 6.
 
HOME FIELD EDGE: The Lady Owls closed out home regular-season schedule with a sweep of Southern Oregon, finishing 19-1 on their own diamond. Since the construction of Stilwell Stadium in 2019, OIT has a combined record of 146-24 on the home turf, an 86% win percentage.
 
STATEMENT SERIES WIN: Facing the defending NAIA champs and No. 5-ranked Southern Oregon, the Lady Owls looked to make a statement against their longtime rivals – and make a statement they did. OIT outscored SOU 23-4 in the series, holding the Raiders to a combined 13 hits in the series (including just two extra base hits). It marked the fifth-straight regular-season series victory for the Owls over SOU – dating back to 2021.
 
PITCHING AND DEFENSE: The success for the Owls in a stretch of 20-of-21 wins is directly attributed to pitching and defense. Over the last 16 games, OIT has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of the games – combining for a 1.08 team ERA, with the club leading the CCC (and ranking No. 11 in the NAIA) with a 1.82 ERA. Defensively, the Owls have committed just five total errors in the 16-game stretch, posting a .989 fielding percentage – as Tech ranks No. 10 in the NAIA this season in fielding percentage (.973).
 
MORE FROM THE ARMS: Each of the four pitchers for Tech contributed in the 4-game sweep – led by Kristine Schmidt, who earned two victories in the series. Schmidt tossed a 2-hit shutout in Game 1, tying a season-high with 11 strikeouts, while fanning seven batters in a Game 3 victory – improving to 16-1 on the season. Alli Parker moved to 12-0 on the year, limiting SOU to two hits in a Game 2 victory, while retiring all five batters in a Game 3 relief appearance. Carli Moore and Jenna Gorden tag-teamed the Game 4 win, holding Southern to five hits and one run in the victory.
 
COOK ALL ALONE ON THE BASE PATHS: Nita Cook swiped two bases in the Game 4 win over SOU, moving into sole possession of first place on the OIT stolen base chart – pushing her 4-year total to 107. The senior finished the series 5-for-11 with a double and three RBI, adding four runs scored – becoming the third Tech player in program history to surpass 200 runs scored in a career. Cook continues to lead the CCC in batting average (.455) and hits (64).
 
THE LONG BALL: After hitting 21 home runs through the first 38 games of the season, the Lady Owls knocked six balls over the fence in the 4-game sweep of Southern Oregon – including three 3-run homers. Puakea Milbourne became the 14th OIT player with multiple multi-home run games in her career, hitting a pair of homers in the Game 2 win – with the senior now three RBI away from 200 for her career (12 RBI from the OIT all-time record). Addison Kachnik hit home runs in Game 1 and Game 3, extending a hit-streak to 10 games along the way. Kachnik finished the series 5-for-11 with five RBI, pushing her team-leading RBI total to 42. Both Brooklyn Loose and Sawyer Stenson hit important 3-run homers – Loose ending Game 2 with her blast, while Stenson's long ball gave the Owls a 3-0 lead in Game 3.
 
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Southern Oregon rebounded from the series loss to Tech, sweeping Simpson, while the remaining series each saw teams win 3-of-4 (College of Idaho over Bushnell, UBC over Warner Pacific, Eastern over Corban). This week, SOU is at Warner Pacific, Bushnell at UBC and Simpson at C of I.
 
TEAM LEADERS: Batting Average – Oregon Tech .359, College of Idaho .348, Eastern Oregon .338, Southern Oregon .317, Bushnell .269; Runs Per Game – EOU 7.62, C of I 6.95, OIT 6.62, SOU 5.671, Simpson 4.34; Home Runs – C of I 41, EOU 31, OIT 27, Simpson 15, Warner Pacific 13; Stolen Bases – EOU 83, SOU 66, C of I 62, OIT 55, Corban 46; ERA – OIT 1.82, SOU 2.49, UBC 2.52, EOU 2.55, SU 4.34; Fielding Percentage – OIT .973, SOU .970, UBC .967, EOU .964, C of I .955.
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS: Batting Average – Nita Cook (OIT) .454, Kina Watts (OIT) .438, Lexi Grumbois (EOU) .427, Addison Kachnik (OIT) .426, Riley Peeler (BU) .422; Runs Scored – Watts 52, Raygun Klippert (EOU) 48, Kamryn Ham (CI) 46, Cook 44, Puakea Milbourne (OIT) 40; Hits – Cook 64, Watts 60, Vanessa Lang (SOU) 59, Kachnik 58, Kalea Thomas (SOU) 55; Home Runs – Madelyn Powell (CI) 10, Brianna Lopez-Cortez (SU) 9, Hope Burke (EOU) 9, Watts 8, Milbourne 8; RBI – Powell 51, Grumbois 47, Watts 45, Kachnik 42, Lopez-Cortez 41; Stolen Bases – Klippert 41, Cook 25, Thomas 21, Noe Barawis (WPU) 18, Isabella Lauerman (EOU) 16; ERA – Carleen Murray (UBC) 1.21, Kristine Schmidt (OIT) 1.22, Camille Schmitz (EOU) 1.41, Alli Parker (OIT) 1.66, Ayla Davies (SOU) 2.21;  Strikeouts – Murray 165, Davies 134, Schmidt 133, Parker 101, Maliyah Mann (EOU) 97.
 
RECORD BOOK: Eight current players rank among the Top-25 in the OIT career record book, including Nita Cook, who is No. 1 all-time in stolen bases (107), No. 3 in runs scored (201) and defensive assists (423), No. 4 in walks (76), No. 5 in sacrifice hits (24), No. 7 in hits (260), No. 9 in defensive chances (839), No. 10 in at bats (686), triples (9) and hit by pitches (16),  No. 17 in doubles (41) and No. 19 in RBI (117). Puakea Milbourne ranks No. 2 in defensive putouts (1,455) and chances (1,501), No. 3 in sacrifice flies (11), No. 4 in RBI (197), No. 5 in hit-by-pitches (24), No. 6 in home runs (30), No. 7 in sacrifice hits (22), No. 8 in hits (247) and at bats (693), No. 11 in runs scored (157), ranking No. 16 in doubles (42) and stolen bases (31); Addison Kachnik is No. 8 in doubles (50) and defensive assists (334), No. 12 in RBI (140), No. 13 in at bats (664), No. 15 in triples (7), No. 19 in hits (216), No. 20 in sacrifice flies (6), No. 24 in walks (45) and just outside the Top-25 in home runs (16); Alli Parker is No. 3 in saves (7), No. 16 in pitching appearances (57), No. 18 in strikeouts (151), No. 19 in wins (23) and No. 23 in innings pitched (170.0); Jenna Gorden is No. 20 in pitching appearances (44), No. 24 in wins (15) and shutouts (2), ranking just outside the Top-25 in innings pitched (142.0); Malia Mick is No. 10 in triples (9), No. 12 in hit by pitches (15) and No. 24 in stolen bases (23); Carli Moore is No. 15 in saves (2), No. 23 in strikeouts (86), No. 24 in shutouts (2) and No. 25 in pitching appearances (44); with Kristine Schmidt No. 15 in saves (2), No. 18 in shutouts (4), No. 21 in strikeouts (133) and No. 22 in wins (16).
 
NEXT WEEK: Tech will compete in the 6-team 2026 CCC Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, next Friday through Sunday – either at Stilwell Stadium or in La Grande, Ore., depending on the outcome of weekend games.