Moultrie, Kerling rescue Raiders for another elimination contest win at NAIA Softball World Series

COLUMBUS, Ga. — On one hand, Southern Oregon could’ve done without more NAIA World Series extra innings. On the other, they made heroes out of seniors Faith Moultrie and Sarah Kerling as the Raiders walked off Marian (Ind.) in the ninth as 7-6 winners on Monday morning at the South Commons Softball Complex.

A seventh-inning collapse, which saw the Knights erase SOU’s 5-0 lead with six runs in the top half, briefly threatened to become the Raiders’ dark, defining moment of the tournament. It instead amplified their typical postseason resilience thanks to Moultrie, who lined a game-tying single with two outs in the bottom of seventh, and Kerling, who drove in the game-winning run with a hit that one-hopped the fence two innings later.

The No. 3-seeded Raiders (51-9) paid No. 6-seeded Marian (48-9) back for a 3-2, 12-inning loss on the tournament’s opening day. They’ve since survived three consecutive elimination games, creeping within two victories of the championship round. They’ll face No. 2 seed Georgia Gwinnett at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Tuesday, and the winner of that game will turn around to play at 1 p.m. against Eastern Oregon or Oklahoma City for a spot in the final.

Kerling, the Gold Glove center fielder, went 4-for-6 with three RBIs to help the Raiders end Marian’s season for the third time in seven years. She drove in her first run with a single that made it 2-0 in the second, shortly after Sammie Pemberton and Brooke Nordahl put SOU in front with back-to-back doubles.

Kerling’s next RBI single appeared to be a knockout blow in the sixth, stretching the Raider lead to 5-0. SOU pitcher Ayla Davies was working on a 15-inning scoreless streak at that point, but the Knights finally got to her in the seventh with the help of two walks and two errors. Brooke Knox and Abbey Hofmann drilled two-RBI hits in consecutive at-bats to tie the game with one out; with two outs, a dropped routine popup on the infield enabled the Knights to score the go-ahead run.

Staring down the most stunning postseason loss in team history, the Raiders didn’t fold. Kierstin Grotewiel led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to the opposite field, and her pinch-runner, Gia Almont, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Down to their last out, Moultrie sliced an RBI single through the hole into left that kept the season alive.

Davies held off the Knights for two more innings to set up the walk-off. The ninth-inning rally started with a walk of Pemberton, who flew to third base with nobody out as Marian threw the ball away on Nordahl’s ensuing sacrifice bunt. That sequence set the stage for Kerling, who drove Olivia Stunkel’s one-out delivery over the head of center fielder Anna Pritchett for the win.

The Raiders had lost four of their five extra-inning games prior to Monday. They denied Stunkel, a three-time All-American, her 100th career win.

Only four of the runs on Davies’ ledger were earned. The freshman struck out seven, walked two, improved to 34-5 and has now handled all 54 of SOU’s national-tournament innings.

Moultrie went 3-for-4, Nordahl was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Ari Williams notched her third run-scoring pinch-hit of the tourney.

Kerling, a World Series All-Tournament selection in 2023, is now 18-for-37 in her career at the final site.

Dating back to 2021, the Raiders have won 10 of their last 11 elimination games at the World Series. To earn their fourth championship in six years, they’d have to become the first team ever to win seven in a row.

Eastern Oregon and Oklahoma City are the only unbeaten teams left at the tournament. Whichever team comes out of their matchup on Tuesday — which was rescheduled due to inclement weather on Monday evening — will be in Wednesday’s final round with two chances to win one game. The loser will await the SOU-Georgia Gwinnett winner on Tuesday evening.