No 9 SOU stays hot with sweep of Jessup

The No. 9-ranked Southern Oregon softball team collected its 12th and 13th wins in its last 14 games, sweeping Jessup (Calif.) by scores of 6-4 and 8-0 in nonleague action Friday at Foskett Regional Park.

A five-run fifth inning, busted open by Rylan Austin’s three-run double, was the story of Game 1 as the Raiders (18-4 overall) flipped a 2-1 deficit. They ended Game 2 in six innings, rewarding pitcher Katie Machado’s shutout effort with a four-run frame that triggered the eight-run rule in their final at-bat.

The Warriors, who received votes in the latest NAIA Top 25 coaches’ poll, sunk to 13-8.

Their Game 1 lead dissipated when Sarah Kerling scored on a wild pitch to tie the score at 2-2 in the fifth. Cayla Williams, SOU’s pitcher of decision, then plated Kailer Fulton for the go-ahead run with a single up middle before Austin delivered the big blow.

Ashton Cathey had two hits, a walk and a run scored in the contest. Williams worked around 10 hits and two walks in a complete game. The only two earned runs she allowed scored in the seventh inning. She struck out seven and left nine Warriors stranded on the bases.

Acosta went 3-for-4 in Game 2, hitting a two-run double in the sixth that gave SOU a comfortable 6-0 advantage. Fulton – who had two hits and scored three times – followed with a run-scoring infield single, and Riley Donovan completed the rally with an RBI double.

RBI singles from Ashton Cathey and Lindsey Stripling in the first and second innings put the Raiders in front. Donovan doubled their lead in the fifth with a two-run hit. Sammie Pemberton added a pair of singles and a run.

Machado continued her recent strong work with seven strikeouts and no walks in a five-hitter, and Kerling kept her line clean by robbing a potential game-tying home run in the third inning. She won her sixth consecutive decision, improving to 8-1, and over her last five starts has allowed just four earned runs in 30 innings. The junior’s ERA is down to 1.76.