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--> --> April 29: Raiders drop two, can still grab league title Ashland Daily Tidings The Southern Oregon University softball team set a spate of school records in a 17-0 rout of last-place Albertson College at University Field Sunday afternoon, but only after a crucial 2-1 extra-inning setback in the opener. SOU's second doubleheader split over the weekend dropped the Raiders (26-6, 14-4) a game behind 17th-ranked and defending Cascade Conference champion Oregon Tech (36-8, 15-3) entering the final weekend of league play. Despite suffering their most lopsided loss of the season, the Coyotes (10-34, 2-14), a first-year intercollegiate program from Caldwell, Idaho, turned in a nearly flawless Game 1 effort. ACI came back from a 1-0 deficit - Lisa Aitchison's 235-foot fourth-inning home run - with a bases-loaded wild pitch in the seventh and registered the game-winning run on a Heather Keepers' one-out triple followed by a sacrifice fly to center by Melissa Finlayson in the ninth. Coyote junior pitcher Nicole Glenn (9-21) tossed a five-hitter, wiggled out of jams in the seventh and ninth innings and outdueled Raider star hurler Brandi Brown, who complied a six-hit complete game. Game 2 was a vastly different story as Southern Oregon broke school game records for runs - they had 11 in the third inning alone - hits (17) and doubles (6), and senior catcher Stacey Marshall tied an individual record with four RBIs. Marshall, Brown, junior Angie Chaplin and freshman Haley Varley each collected three hits in the romp, while Brown improved to 23-5 by hurling a four-hitter and registering her 10th shutout of the season. By virtue of OIT's sweep of Eastern Oregon in Klamath Falls Sunday, Southern Oregon must win both ends of Saturday's regular season-ending home doubleheader against the Owls in order to capture the school's first-ever softball conference crown. The fracas starts at noon. On Saturday, the Raiders clinched a berth to next month's four-team NAIA Region I tournament in a Cascade Conference doubleheader split against Eastern Oregon at University Field. The Raiders landed among the regional elite by virtue of a 2-0 Game 1 victory, but the third-place Mountaineers (13-15, 7-7) snapped SOU's school-record 13-game win streak with a 5-3 Game 2 triumph. Brown, who went a combined 5-for-5 with three RBIs as a batter, scattered seven EOU hits in the opener en route to her conference-best 22nd season victory and ninth complete-game shutout of the season. The Mountaineers pounded out eight hits and charged to a 5-0 lead through four innings off freshman pitcher Seanna Doyel in Game 2, including two-run doubles by pitcher Katie Martin and designated hitter Beth Hull. Southern responded in the fifth with Brown's two-run single, but Martin enticed Chaplin and Aitchison - representing the potential game-tying runs - into ground-ball outs to stave off a seventh-inning rally. The setback halted SOU's five-game home win streak, but junior shortstop Latisha Inget (2-for-6) and Varley (3-for-7) each extended hit streaks to eight consecutive games. The Mountaineers quenched a 21-inning scoreless drought against Raider pitching with a two-run first inning off Doyel, who dropped to 3-1 on the season. Martin improved to a team-best 8-6 with the Game 2 win. SOU Tennis At Lewiston, Idaho, the Southern Oregon University tennis team finished the season on a high note Saturday with Region I wins over Seattle University and Albertson. The Raiders swept all three doubles matches en route to a 5-2 win over Seattle University, then won three of four singles matches in a 5-2 victory over Albertson. The wins improved SOU to 13-4 overall. The Raiders finished as the third-place team in Region I. SOU Track and Field At Eugene, SOU senior Tiwana Merritt placed second in the women's 400 meters and fifth in the 200 to lead the Raiders at the Oregon Invitational Saturday. Merritt finished the 400 in 56.28 seconds and the 200 in 25.46, both season bests. Also for the Raiders, Nick Dunn placed third in the 400 hurdles with a season-best time of 53.04, while Jeff Bentley finished fifth in the javelin with a throw of 203-1, one inch off his best heave. Richard Bailey and Megan Heuberger also performed well for the Raiders. Bailey placed second in the shot put with a throw of 55-1/2 - an NAIA national qualifying mark - and Heuberger took second in the 400 hurdles (1:03.94). SOU's Rachael Childers participated in the Western Oregon Invitational on the same day, and took second in the hammer throw with a school record of 146-1. Email your... 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