Freshman pitcher fans eight to keep No. 3-seeded Raiders’ NAIA World Series hopes alive

COLUMBUS, Ga. — A masterful Ayla Davies start and some timely hitting gave No. 3-seeded Southern Oregon a 3-1 win against Reinhardt (Ga.) and life in the NAIA World Series on Friday morning at the South Commons Softball Complex.

Davies, the freshman ace from Burns, jump-started the Raiders on the long road through the elimination bracket with a one-hit complete game less than 24 hours after she went all 12 innings and tallied a team-record 15 strikeouts in a gut-punch of a 3-2 loss to Marian. She struck out eight more against the No. 10-seeded Eagles and faced just one over the minimum to collect her 32nd victory.

The Raiders (49-9) — who have still never lost back-to-back games in seven trips to the World Series — moved on to play at 7 a.m. Pacific Saturday against the loser of Friday’s game between No. 1 seed Cumberlands (Ky.) and No. 8 seed Grand View (Iowa). They need six more consecutive wins to capture their fourth championship in six years.

SOU never led in its first tournament game and never trailed in its second. Kierstin Grotewiel’s two-out single up the middle drove in Kailer Fulton in the first inning, and Sammie Pemberton led off the second with a line drive before coming in on a fielding error to make the score 2-0.

Reinhardt didn’t call on its ace, Anslie Pettit, until the third, and she quieted the Raiders until Ari Williams took advantage of a pinch-hit opportunity by lifting a solo home run to the opposite field in the sixth.

Davies, meanwhile, dismissed the first 13 Eagles she faced. Her perfect game was broken up by Kyra Lightner’s fifth-inning homer, but she settled back in to strike out the next five batters she saw. She was aided by an errorless defense that saw Brooke Nordahl take away a hit with a diving stop at third base and Fulton took away a potential home run with a game-clinching catch in left field.

Now 32-5, Davies has limited opponents to one or no hits in nine different starts this season. The right-hander has logged 49 strikeouts across 38 national-tournament frames.

The Eagles were also one-hit in their 1-0 loss to Eastern Oregon on Thursday. They ended their season at 32-12 after becoming the first No. 5 seed ever to advance out of the Opening Round.

One more win would get the Raiders through the weekend, setting them up with a 10 a.m. Pacific game on Monday. Under 10th-year coach Jessica Pistole, they’re 24-4 in postseason elimination games since 2017.

Sarah Kerling led the team with two hits and is now 8-for-19 since the start of the Opening Round. Williams’ home run was her fifth of the season, and Nordahl added SOU’s only other extra-base hit, a fourth-inning triple.