The College of Idaho softball team dropped two games to No. 1-ranked Oregon Tech on Sunday, including a 13-inning marathon and were unable to get the one win they needed to clinch the Cascade Conference Tournament championship.
The No. 6 Yotes (46-8) had beat the Owls in the double-elimination tournament on Saturday, but were unable to duplicate the magic the following day after Oregon Tech came back around in the elimination bracket. Oregon Tech took Sunday’s first game, 5-4 in 13 innings, and the decisive second game, 8-2.
The College of Idaho will find out its NAIA Tournament fate Tuesday.
The Yotes forced extra innings in the opener after trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Haley Loffer drew a bases-loaded walk with one out in the inning before a throwing error scored two more runs tying the game. The College of Idaho had bases loaded with two outs, but a flyout to centerfield ended the threat.
Hannah McNerney led off the seventh inning with a double, giving the Yotes an opportunity to get the walkoff win with a base hit, but two strikeouts and a flyout prevented them from being able to do that. The Yotes also had a runner on third in the 11th inning after a two-out single by Madelyn Powell advanced Hattie Hruza from first, but another strikeout ended that threat.
Oregon Tech got the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th with a leadoff home run by Mckenzie Staub and the College of Idaho got a leadoff walk from Loffer in the bottom half of the frame, but were unable to advance her.
McNerney pitched 10 and 1/3 innings picking up the loss, while allowing just two runs.
Oregon Tech plated four runs in the second inning of the deciding game, and a two-run home run by Loffer in the fifth inning was all the damage the Yotes could do to Staub, who allowed just three hits in a complete game win, giving the Owls their second straight title.
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YOTES BASEBALL GOES TWO-AND-OUT AT CCC TOURNAMENTThe College of Idaho baseball team dropped both its games at the Cascade Conference Tournament on Sunday, scoring just one run on the day.
The Yotes opened the tournament — which got pushed back a day by inclement weather in Klamath Falls, Oregon — with a 5-1 loss to British Columbia and then were eliminated by Oregon Tech 9-0.
Kris Kirkpatrick gave the College of Idaho a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single, but the Thunderbirds got a solo home run in the bottom half of the frame, plated another run in the sixth and had a three-run home run in the seventh.
In the second game, Oregon Tech got two runs in the first inning, then blew the game open with a sixth-run sixth inning.
NNU SOFTBALL HEADS TO IRVINE FOR NCAA TOURNAMENTThe Northwest Nazarene softball team earned the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Division II West Regional tournament and will head to Irvine, California to compete in the West 1 pod.
The Nighthawks (36-15), who won the GNAC Tournament Championship on Saturday, will open the national tournament at 1 p.m. MDT Thursday against Cal State San Bernardino. The Nighthawks beat the Yotes 1-0 on Feb. 4, with Sidney Booth pitching a no-hitter. Booth just missed pitching a perfect game, with Cal State San Bernardino’s only base runner coming off a fielding error in the sixth inning.
The other two teams in the double-elimination pod are hosts Concordia Irvine and Biola.
