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Red-hot SOU softballers nab conference honors ASHLAND - Southern Oregon University's perfect week and fast season start was rewarded with first-ever Cascade Conference and NAIA Region I honors for a pair of Raider players Tuesday. Junior all-star pitcher Brandi Brown is the conference and regional pitcher of the week, while sophomore first baseman Lisa Aitchison garnered player of the week status after the tandem spearheaded SOU doubleheader sweeps of Patten, Concordia, Eastern Oregon and Albertson in recent days. Brown was the winning pitcher in six of the team's eight games, which upped her season mark to a league-best 18-4. The Colton native surrendered only 15 hits and four earned runs in 32.1 innings, and she tossed a one-hit shutout against Patten as well as two-hit blankings at EOU and Albertson. She also registered 27 strikeouts while only walking seven. Brown now boasts a 1.28 ERA and eight shutouts in 131 innings this season and is responsible for 40 of the team's 44 victories since the SOU program was reinstated at the intercollegiate level prior to last season. Aitchison took over the team lead for batting average with a 14-for-25 week (.560) with 11 RBIs, including her first two career collegiate home runs. The Bandon High product raised her season clip to .394 and moved up to seventh in the conference for hitting in the process. The softball duo - the program's first recipients of conference or regional weekly honors - has helped Southern Oregon to its best start ever (20-4 overall, 8-2 in league play). The Raiders, winners of 15 consecutive road games and eight straight overall, enter a Sunday afternoon doubleheader at 17th-ranked Oregon Tech (28-6, 9-1) one game behind the defending champion Owls for first place. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.