ROCKLIN, Calif. — Kelsey Randall's last at-bat, inside-the-park home run and a combined shutout from Allie Hancock and Gabby Sandoval gave No. 3 Southern Oregon a perfect afternoon against William Jessup (Calif.) and Menlo (Calif.)on Saturday at Redding Field.
The Raiders — who went 3-1 on the opening weekend — trailed WJU 4-3 in the top of the seventh inning when Avery Morehead-Hutsell walked and Randall's one-out shot over the head of the center fielder chased them both home for the lead and an eventual 5-4 victory. They got even after Friday's 4-2 loss to the Warriors, then notched a 5-0 win against the Oaks as Hancock started with three scoreless innings and Sandoval followed with four more.
Randall, SOU's all-time hits lead with 260 in her four-year career, hadn't hit a home run since notching two during her freshman season. Her latest made a winner out of Morgan Jones (1-0), who recorded four outs in relief and stranded Warriors in scoring position in the sixth and seventh innings after Karlee Coughlin allowed seven hits, four runs and one earned in 5 2/3 innings of work.
Harlee Donovan's first-inning double, which followed Randall's triple, and Katrina Winterburn's two-RBI single in the fourth accounted for SOU's other three runs. Donovan and Taelor Mayben had two hits apiece.
To set up Randall's heroics, WJU's Arianna Barton scored from first in the sixth inning on a Raechel Hooper single and one of the Raiders' four errors later in the play.
SOU's defense play error-free against Menlo behind Hancock and Sandoval (1-1), who scattered three singles apiece.
Hannah Wessel went 3-for-3 in the game. The Raiders struck in the first inning when Randall singled, stole second and scored on Donovan's base hit, and they made it 2-0 three batters later on a Rebecca Velasquez single up the middle that played Coughlin.
Hannah Shimek and Mayben added RBI singles in the fourth, and Tayler Walker tripled and scored her second run of the game on a wild pitch in the sixth.
The Raiders will play six different opponents over the course of three days starting next Friday at the NAIA Southern California Classic in West Covina, Calif.
Men's Wrestling
SOUTHERN OREGON SWEEPS: At Ashland, Tanner Canaday, C.J. McKinnis and Matt Peterson earned two wins apiece to help No. 11 Southern Oregon defeat Warner Pacific, 28-22, and No. 17 Eastern Oregon, 27-16, in its first home action of the season.
Canaday, McKinnis and Peterson each won by fall, as did fourth-ranked Devin Poppen and 12th-ranked Andrew Ramirez while sharing 141-pound duties. Poppen's victory made him 27-7 overall and 12-1 with eight pins in dual matches.
By completing season sweeps of the Cascade Conference foes, the Raiders went to 11-5 going into their final dual of the season — 7 p.m. Wednesday against Simpson (Calif.) at Ashland Middle School.
WPU won five of nine contests against SOU, but the Raiders scored bonus points in all of their wins and the difference was the Knights' forfeit to third-ranked Tanner Fischer at 197 pounds.
After sixth-ranked Joshua Johnson (125) put the Knights on the board first with an 11-8 defeat of Trey Long, Peterson (133) pinned Lucas Higginbotham in 4:51 and Ramirez (141) finished Pavlin Blas in 3:26 to put the Raiders up for good. Canaday's first-round win by fall against Timothy Riviera at 157 and McKinnis' 18-10 major decision over Jonathan Moskowitz at 174 made it 22-12.
WPU took the last two contests with bonus points, getting Joe Dickinson's pin at 184 and Alvaro Venegas' major decision at 285 to sandwich the forfeit.
Long kept another nationally-ranked opponent, No. 7 Mhar Caballa, to a decision to start the EOU dual. The Raiders answered with 14 unanswered points: Peterson upset No. 18 Blake McNall, 8-4; Poppen pinned Jared Brant in 2:35; and Scottie Stockman wrapped up a 17-1 technical-fall victory in the second round against Kaleb Ballard at 149.
Canaday's second win was a 14-6 major decision over Marco Retano. Wrestling up to 184, McKinnis clinched the match by pinning Keegan Dorsey in 1:22 to make it 24-10, and Alejandro Sandoval (197) completed the scoring by taking a 5-1 decision from Braeden Phillips.
For the Mountaineers, 16th-ranked Drake Randall (157) pulled off a 4-3 upset of No. 6 Hunter Hodges. Jacob Dupuis (174) later added a major decision and seventh-ranked Eric Fan (285) ended the day with a fall.
Women's Wrestling
SOUTHERN OREGON 25, EASTERN OREGON 19: At Ashland, Tristyn Borden's pin of Jacey Lindner 41 seconds into the 191-pound match finalized the No. 12 Southern Oregon women's wrestling team's 25-19 win against No. 14 Eastern Oregon.
The Raiders won for the second time in three meetings with the Mountaineers despite. Four classes were contested: EOU forfeited three, SOU forfeited two and one was left vacant.
In the first contest of the dual, EOU's Jessica DeHart pinned Olivia Ioppolo five seconds before the final buzzer at 116 pounds. The Raiders got on the board at 123, where Anesia Ramirez upset fifth-ranked Amber Pair with a 10-0 technical fall.
At 155, EOU's Alexis Cavero ended Sienna Ramirez's 13-match winning streak with an 11-1 technical fall. Ramirez's point gave SOU a 20-19 lead before Borden took the mat.
The Raiders completed their dual season with a 5-6 record. They'll compete next Friday and Saturday at the Women's College Wrestling Association Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla.