Raiders sweep Opening Round bracket in Ashland to punch ticket to NAIA finals in Georgia

ASHLAND — For the most part, parity was rampant throughout the Opening Round of the NAIA Softball National Championship. Not in the Ashland Bracket.

Top-seeded Southern Oregon made sure of that by completing a perfect week with a 5-3 win against third-seeded Hope International (Calif.) on Thursday afternoon at University Field. The Raiders (48-8) are World Series-bound for the seventh time in eight years, with their sights set on a fourth national title.

Of the 10 teams that advanced to the final double-elimination tournament in Columbus, Ga., only four were top seeds in their Opening Rounds. Southern Oregon will open World Series bracket play next Thursday against Marian of Indiana at the South Commons Softball Complex.

The Raiders outscored their Ashland Bracket opponents 18-6 combined and eliminated the Royals (37-15), the Golden State Athletic Conference champions, in the title round for the third time since 2019. But HIU — which would have needed to win back-to-back games in order to advance — made SOU sweat in the final after losing 10-2 in Tuesday’s matchup between the teams.

The Raiders trailed 1-0 when they finally broke through against HIU ace Kaitlyn Maaske with a four-run fourth inning. A hit-batter and Vanessa Lang’s single set the table for catcher Kierstin Grotewiel, who provided the go-ahead swing with a two-RBI double laced down the left-field line. Faith Moultrie later made it 3-1 with SOU’s fourth hit in a row, a soft shot into right, and a dropped foul-popup extended Sarah Kerling’s at-bat long enough for her to drive in another run with a grounder to second.

The Royals cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fifth with Vivian Little’s two-run single, but the Raiders got a run back in the sixth when Kailer Fulton’s liner took a bad hop off the edge of the outfield grass, turned into a double and enabled Moultrie to trot home.

Ayla Davies did the rest. The freshman pitcher survived her third complete game of the week, limiting the damage around six hits and four walks. The Royals brought their top hitter, Emma McCraw, to the plate representing the potential go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh, and Davies got her to pop out in foul ground. She improved to 31-4 and struck out seven during the 104-pitch performance.

Fulton, Kerling and Moultrie dropped in two hits apiece for the Raiders, who had 11 as a team. They batted .411 on the week behind Kerling’s 5-for-10 effort.

They also played flawless defense. In three tournament games, they committed one total error.

Dating back to their first World Series run in 2017, the Raiders are 26-5 in Opening Round games and 6-0 in those against HIU.

Of the teams heading to the World Series, only they and Oklahoma City have previously won a championship.

Eastern Oregon also advanced out of the Cascade Conference, with Opening Round host Oregon Tech falling to Midland (Neb.) in Thursday’s championship final.