Kennedy Kila, SOU softball

KLAMATH FALLS — Kacie Schmidt headlined another stingy day for the Oregon Tech pitching staff as the No. 6-ranked Owls finished off a four-game sweep of No. 6 Southern Oregon, winning 3-0 and 2-1 on Saturday afternoon at Stilwell Stadium.

Schmidt, who earned both decisions for OIT (16-6, 7-2 Cascade Conference) on Friday, pitched a three-hit shutout in Game 1, the third and final CCC counter of the set. She never allowed the Raiders (17-8, 6-3) to advance a runner past first base and got a lead to work with in the first inning, when Nita Cook led off with a triple and scored on Kaila Mick’s sacrifice fly.

Puakea Milbourne hit an RBI double in OIT’s two-run fourth against SOU starter Katie Machado, who went all six innings and limited the Owls to six hits.

Mckenzie Staub gave up one run in 5 1/3 innings for the Owls in Game 2. After Piper Love’s run-scoring single trimmed OIT’s lead to one in the sixth and the Raiders loaded the bases with one out, Alli Parker came on in relief and induced an inning-ending double play. She went on to complete a five-out save, escaping trouble in the seventh, too, when Kennedy Kila was stranded at second after leading off with a double.

Milbourne homered and Cook hit a run-scoring triple for OIT against SOU starter Katie Fodge. Mayze Menefee threw three innings of scoreless relief for the Raiders.

OIT won all four matchups by a combined margin of seven runs. The series was especially clean: There were three errors combined between the teams and none committed on Saturday.

Track & Field

HORNET INVITATIONAL: At Sacramento, Calif., Andrew Mitchell met the NAIA’s ‘A’ standard for the second time in as many weeks to lead Southern Oregon’s abbreviated showing at Sacramento State’s Hornet Invitational.

Mitchell placed fourth of 20 in the javelin with a throw of 191 feet, 9 inches after being named the national field athlete of the week for his school-record heave at Lane. Carson Le Bel was also strong in the field, placing seventh of 31 in the high jump (6-3.25) and ninth of 26 in the pole vault (14-7.25).

Garrett Chaffee paced the Raider men’s sprinters, taking 14th of 75 in the 400 meters (48.70) and 52nd of 130 in the 200 (22.45).

On the women’s side, Abi Stevens was 11th in the high jump (5-3.75) and 17th in the long jump (17-6.25). India Ortiz missed a PR by less than one-tenth of a second in the 400 hurdles, placing 13th of 37 in 1:05.52.

In total, the Raiders recorded 12 men’s and eight women’s Cascade Conference qualifying marks.

Beach Volleyball

SOU 5, COLLEGE OF IDAHO 0: At Kirkland, Wash., following a near upset of Corban, the No. 2-ranked team in the NAIA, Southern Oregon wrapped up the weekend with a shutout win against College of Idaho on Saturday at the NU Beach Volleyball Complex.

The Raiders went toe-to-toe Corban in a 3-2 loss after failing to take a match off the Warriors in three matchups a season ago. It came down to a matchup of top pairs: SOU’s Madi Gray and Tessa Zimmermann forced a third set with a 21-16 win in the second, but Corban’s Megan Dennis and Emma Bischoff prevailed 15-12 in the tiebreaker to clinch the team victory.

The Raiders got straight-set victories in the matchup from their No. 4 pair, Annie Hite and Skyy Nihipali-Botelho, and their No. 5 pair, Natalie Perez and Natasha Perez.

Against the Yotes, the Raiders didn’t drop a set. They brought their record to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the Cascade Conference, remaining in possession of second place.