Eagle Point's Madi Dean, center, unwinds for a pitch during the first inning against Yreka on Monday at Lithia & Driveway Fields.

Risk and reward is what will always keep sports entertaining, but sometimes that boldness to roll the dice doesn’t guarantee the victory.

That is what happened to the North Medford softball team in a 1-0 loss to Oregon City on Monday afternoon on the first day of the North Medford Spring Break Invitational at Lithia & Driveway Fields.

The Black Tornado (3-4) made a gutsy move when sophomore Carmen Lozano attempted a game-tying slide into home plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, but the effort was denied as Lozano was tagged out by Pioneers catcher Reese Gardner to end the comeback bid.

With Caileigh Raines making her way to second base after Luci Roberts hit the ball to right field, Black Tornado softball coach Chris Campbell made the aggressive call for Lozano to go home to tie the game instead of stopping at third base.

“It’s one of those 50-50 things,” said Campbell. “It’s got to be a perfect play, a perfect pass from (Oregon City). I took a gamble and it didn’t quite pay off on that one.”

“If the ball gets away or bobbled or anything, we would have tied the game up and we hopefully would have gotten another hit,” he added. “We would have baserunners on third and second and we would need just one more hit to win the ballgame.”

It was a dramatic end to an errorless game from both sides that also featured a stellar pitching battle between North Medford’s Gabbi Urban and Oregon City’s Lily Riley.

Urban had nine strikeouts and allowed only three hits, while Riley had 11 strikeouts and allowed five hits.

In the well-played battle, Riley ultimately won the duel by supplying the lone run of the game with her first home run of the season, sailing a ball to left field in the top of the fifth inning.

“I missed a spot right down the middle,” Urban said about Riley’s homer. “It was not in the river or anything, it was right down the middle and she smacked it. I got to give props to her for that one.”

Even with the home run, North Medford’s defense held firm with great execution that fielded multiple groundouts to keep chances for Oregon City (5-1) to a minimum.

“I’m just extremely proud of the girls and the way they played,” said Campbell. “It was a phenomenal game defensively. Pitching was great and just a couple more basehits here and there, it could have been a different game.”

North Medford’s second game of the day also produced an error-free effort, and this time the Black Tornado was rewarded for their efforts after plating all three of their runs in the top of the first inning to earn a 3-0 win against McNary.

Gia Rutigliano, Urban and Roberts each drove in a run as North Medford combined for seven hits.

Maili Hamlin batted 2-for-4 and Raines also went 2-for-4 with a double.

Urban had another strong pitching game with 10 strikeouts, one hit and one walk against the Celtics (3-3).

Oregon City 000 010 0 — 1 4 0

North Medford 000 000 0 — 0 6 0

Riley and Gardner; Urban and Lawton. W — Riley. L — Urban. 2B — NM: Lawton. HR — OC: Riley.

North Medford 300 000 0 — 3 7 0

McNary 000 000 0 — 0 1 2

Urban and Lawton; Macik, Wittnebel (5) and Netzel. W — Urban. L — Macik. 2B — NM: Raines.

SOUTH MEDFORD SPLITS: A three-run home run by McMinnville’s Mackenzie Bekofsky in the top of seventh inning dealt South Medford a 3-0 loss before it was able to return and secure a 6-0 victory over South Salem to close out the first day of the North Medford Spring Break Invitational.

Against McMinnville, Kaycee Hudson and Jayden Cote each connected for a double but the Panthers (3-2) were unable to scratch out a run. Hudson also recorded 13 strikeouts with four hits and four walks in the circle.

Hudson went on the offensive by batting 2-for-4 and scoring twice against South Salem in a game that ended in six innings due to time constraints.

Nicole Ledendecker pitched 11 strikeouts and only walked one for the Panthers in the second game.

McMinnville 000 000 3 — 3 4 0

South Medford 000 000 0 — 0 4 1

Roberts and Fleischman; Hudson and Hillyer. W — Roberts. L — Hudson. 2B — SM: Hudson, Cote. HR — M: Bekofsky.

South Medford 201 012 — 6 5 2

South Salem 000 000 — 0 2 4

Ledendecker and Hillyer; Thompson and Orr. W — Ledendecker. L — Thompson.

EAGLE POINT SPLITS: Eagle Point came close to a sweep but wasn’t able to push past Yreka in a 10-8 loss after it had earned a dominant 8-0 win over Central earlier in the day.

Baylee Mullen went 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI and Madi Dean also was 3-for-4 with one run against Yreka. Eagle Point (3-2) also got two hits apiece from Kady Ledbetter, Kady Lindstrom and Brylee Leonardo.

Against Central, Sarah Estes finished 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Allison Martin, Lindstrom and Mullen finished with two RBIs apiece as the Eagles combined for 12 hits.

Central 000 000 0 — 0 3 0

Eagle Point 340 100 x — 8 12 0

Brown, McCormick (2) and N/A; Leonardo and Estes. W — Leonardo. L — McCormick. 2B — C: Williams; EP: Estes.

Eagle Point 340 001 0 — 8 14 4

Yreka 262 000 x — 10 11 3

Dean, Leonardo (2) and Estes; DeBortoli, Collier (3) and N/A. W — DeBortoli. L — Dean. 2B — EP: Ledbetter.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN SPLITS: A total of 13 hits paved the way for Cascade Christian to gain a 9-2 victory over Amity after the Challengers lost 9-6 to Henley in their first game Monday.

Emalee Logan and McKenzie Bonner each gave the Challengers (5-1) two doubles against Amity. Logan batted 3-for-4 with an RBI and Bonner finished 2-for-3 to score two runs and an RBI, while Carsyn Sousa, Danika Brackett and Becca Tuivanu each had two hits and an RBI.

Ashlyn Cooper drove in two runs against Henley, with the game ending after five innings due to time constraints. Brackett also scored twice for Cascade Christian.

Cascade Christian 111 30 — 6 4 5

Henley 104 13 — 9 7 5

Cooper and Brackett; Campos and Birch. W — Campos. L — Cooper. 2B — H: Campos, Moore, Vickery.

Amity 110 000 0 — 2 4 3

Cascade Christian 300 123 x — 9 13 1

Trejo and Nettrouer; Logan, Cooper (6) and Sousa. W — Logan. L — Trejo. 2B — CC: Logan 2, Bonner 2, Sousa, Tuivanu, Brackett.