Davies spins two-hitter as No. 3-seeded Raiders keep hopes alive at NAIA Softball World Series

COLUMBUS, Ga. — Pitching rules at the 2025 NAIA World Series, making it no surprise that Southern Oregon will hang around through the weekend.

A day after one-hitting Reinhardt (Ga.), Ayla Davies spun a two-hitter and the Raiders scraped together just enough offense to knock out top-seeded Cumberlands (Ky.) with a 3-0 victory on Saturday morning at the South Commons Softball Complex.

Their second elimination-bracket win brought the No. 3-seeded Raiders (50-9) within three wins of reaching the championship round and five of claiming their fourth title. They advanced to play at 10 a.m. Pacific Monday against the loser of Saturday night’s game between No. 6 seed Marian (Ind.) and No. 7 seed Eastern Oregon.

The Raiders have won 25 of their last 29 national-tournament elimination games dating back to 2017, including nine of their last 10 at the World Series.

The Patriots (40-9) departed the tournament before ever crossing the plate and gifted SOU its only runs with an error in the first inning and a bases-loaded walk that was followed by a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Davies upped her NAIA-leading win total to 33. In the process, she broke SOU’s single-season record for shutouts with her 16th. She struck out five, didn’t walk anyone, and of the last 21 batters she faced the only one to reach did so with an infield single.

“The numbers speak for themselves, but she’s just doing what she’s done all year,” SOU coach Jessica Pistole said of Davies. “Her confidence is huge and everyone else can feel it. She’s keeping it simple, going right at batters and trusting her defense.”

The distress she caused Cumberlands at the plate made the lead feel bigger than it ever was. The Raiders went up in the first when, with runners on second and third, Kierstin Grotewiel’s two-out grounder to shortstop was bobbled and Kailer Fulton came home without a play.

Davies’ effort to protect the 1-0 edge was stress-free until the sixth, where Marquila Howell beat out a tapper to shortstop and moved to second on an errant throw with one out. Second baseman Vanessa Lang then made the defensive play of the game by making a diving catch of a blooper to keep Howell in place, and Davies induced a flyout to end the threat.

The Raiders strung together three of their seven hits in the seventh as Ari Williams, Sarah Kerling and Fulton loaded the bases with singles. They capitalized with Kennedy Kila’s bases-loaded walk and Hailey Seva’s sacrifice flyout to deep center.

“The big innings aren’t happening for us but our patience and composure were big offensively,” Pistole said. “The game is simple when you’re playing like we are on defense – you just have to execute, and we did when we needed to.”

The pinch-hitters were a big reason for that. Williams, who homered in the same spot on Friday, came through again. So did Aubree Muxen, who improved to 4-for-4 in postseason pinch-hit opportunities.

Fulton and Kerling both went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Brooke Nordahl extended her postseason hitting streak to five games.

The support was plenty for Davies. Over 26 World Series innings, she has a 1.08 ERA and 28 strikeouts compared to three walks. And after throwing 189 pitches in 12 innings on Thursday and 90 more on Friday, she needed just 69 to discard the Patriots.

Of the first nine games at the World Series, the winning team has allowed two or fewer runs in seven of them.