via Oregon Tech Athletic Communications
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Oregon Tech kept their dreams of a sixth-straight trip to the NAIA Softball World Series alive, winning back-to-back tight elimination games to force a winner-take-all title tilt at the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round inside Stilwell Stadium.
The top-seeded Lady Owls (45-10) stunned No. 2-seed Southeastern in eight innings, 2-1, before three pitchers combined on a 3-hit shutout to blank No. 3-seed Midland, 2-0.
Tech advances to their 11th-straight Opening Round bracket final – searching for their seventh World Series appearance since 2015.
In the opener, the Fire (42-11) took a 1-0 lead in the third after consecutive 2-out singles from Raylei McKinney, Leah Gonzalez and Lauren Sekinger – with the Florida team squandering a bases loaded chance in the top of the seventh.
Down to their final two outs, Gina Allen energized the home fans, lining a game-tying solo homer just inside the left field foul pole to tie the game.
In the eighth, SEU loaded the bases with one out, but Kacie Schmidt struck out Hailey Bradley and Sun Conference Player of the Year, Chapel Cunningham, to end the rally. In the bottom of the frame, Jayce Seavert blooped a hit down the right field line and was awarded second due to obstruction. Puakea Milbourne followed with a hard ground ball just inside the third base bag to plate Seavert for the winning run.
Schmidt held the powerful Fire lineup to seven singles, striking out five. Seavert was 3-for-4 and Allen had a pair of hits in the victory.
An hour later, Tech got a rematch with the Warriors (39-16) – the team that topped the Owls 24 hours ago. OIT turned to Jenna Gorden, who handcuffed the Nebraska squad over five-plus innings, limiting Midland to three hits.
The Owls broke a scoreless tie in the fifth, as Nita Cook walked, moved to second on a ground out and scored on a 2-out Addison Kachnik single. An inning later, Allen blooped a double down the right field line and scored on a Malia Mick double off the left field wall.
The Warriors had chances in the sixth and seventh – loading the bases in both innings. In the sixth, Carli Moore came in from the pen and got a pop up and a strikeout to end the threat, while in the seventh, Schmidt returned, getting a strikeout and a ground out to close out the victory.
Seavert was 3-for-4 and Allen had two hits for Tech, while Jayci Reimers was 2-for-2 in the loss for MU.
The two teams will meet tomorrow at 1 p.m. with a spot in the NAIA Softball World Series on the line – one of five championship games to be played.