ASHLAND, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University softball team won its third-straight contest against No. 20 Southern Oregon (SOU) for the first time since 2008, as the Mountaineers took down the Raiders, 12-11, in a seesaw affair on Friday afternoon.

With the win, EOU needs just one more victory in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament to advance to its first NAIA National Championship Opening Round appearance since 2000.

KEY PERFORMANCES
EOU outhit SOU, 18-11, and the Navy and Gold saw three players notch at least three hits in the winning effort. Junior right fielder Cheyenne Barker stayed hot at the plate, batting 3-for-5 with a trio of RBI, while senior center fielder Shelby Baertsch replicated Barker's effort. In addition, sophomore second baseman Maryssa Santi and senior first baseman Marisa Gonzalez mustered three hits apiece. 

Both sophomore pitcher Hailey Kline and junior hurler Haylie Van Laethem saw action in the circle and combined for three strikeouts. Kline came away with her 15th victory of the season.

A pair of Raiders in Tyler Burke and Abigail Lund posted two hits and two RBI apiece, while Victoria Mackey dropped to 15-3 on the season after tossing three strikeouts in 2.2 innings of action.

THE STORYLINE
EOU (27-21) jumped on the Raiders early, plating three runs on two hits in the bottom of the first inning. With the bases loaded and only one out, junior designated player Lauren Burchak drew a hit-by-pitch to plate senior shortstop Haley Hess, and then Baertsch delivered a two-run blooper to drive home two more runs.

After going hitless to open the affair, the Raiders (34-15) responded with four hits and a trio of runs in the second to knot the contest.

In the third, Barker added to her record-breaking single-season RBI total with a two-run double to right center, as EOU posted six runs on eight hits to regain a 9-3 advantage. Burchak launched an RBI double down the left-field line to force an SOU pitching change, Baertsch mustered an RBI single, and then junior catcher Alex Shuster delivered a two-run single to cap the inning.

A two-out RBI single by Santi in the third extended EOU's lead to seven (10-3), but SOU fired right back with seven runs of its own, all of which came in the fourth frame.

In the fourth, junior third baseman Jorden Gerlach led off with a single to left field and ultimately crossed home plate thanks to an RBI single by Barker to put the lead (11-10) back in the hands of the Mountaineers.

EOU tacked on another run in the fifth after Gerlach drew a bases-loaded walk, but SOU kept things interesting and responded with a run in the sixth via a sacrifice fly to make it a one-run (12-11) nailbiter.

In the seventh, Kline forced a pair of groundouts against the middle of the lineup for SOU and, despite yielding an infield single, notched the final out of the contest on a pop out to Hess.

GAME BALL GOES TO…
Barker – With the game knotted at 10 apiece in the fourth inning, Barker delivered an RBI single with two outs to give EOU the edge, 11-10. 

UP NEXT
EOU returns to the diamond tomorrow against Great Falls at 2 p.m. To follow live stats, click here.