ASHLAND, Ore. – Oregon Tech broke a 3-3 tie with a trio of runs in the bottom of the fifth to top College of Idaho 7-3 in opening day action of the Cascade Conference Tournament presented by U.S. Bank.
The No. 2 seeded Yotes (35-15, 22-5 CCC) will now play No. 5 Eastern Oregon on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. PT in an elimination game, while the No. 3 seed OIT (40-8, 21-6 CCC) takes on No. 1 Southern Oregon at 2 p.m. PT.
On Friday, C of I got the scoring started in the top of the first after
Kylie Smith singled down the line in right and came around on a
Kaily Christensen double to left.
Trailing 1-0, the Owls responded with two runs in the bottom half to jump out to a 2-1 lead.
It wouldn't take long for the Yotes to bring in the equalizer, as second inning leadoff hitter
Hattie Hruza raced her way to third after hitting a fly ball to right field that was dropped by Maggie Buckholz. Hruza later scored on a
Mallory Copeland RBI groundout to the right side of the infield.
Once again OIT answered in the bottom half, bringing in McKenna Armantrout on a base hit from Kaila Mick to right.
A leadoff home run by
Haley Loffer in the third tied the game at 3-3, however the Owls would go on to plate three runs in the bottom of the fifth and one in the sixth to take control.
In other action on Friday, Corban topped EOU 2-1 to start the day, OIT won 3-0 over Warner Pacific thanks to a no-hitter from Sarah Abramson and SOU defeated Corban 4-1.
Abramson (21-5) went five innings against the Yotes as the starter, allowing five hits and three runs, two of which were earned.
Three pitchers went two innings each for C of I, with freshman
Annie Polster working the final two frames and allowing just one hit and no earned runs.
