Southern Oregon University announces SOU eyes 3rd NAIA title as World Series starts Thursday

NAIA SOFTBALL WORLD SERIES

1 p.m. PDT Thursday – No. 4 SOU vs. No. 5 Georgia Gwinnett

South Commons Softball Complex | Columbus, Georgia

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*All SOU games to be carried live by Oak Tree Northwest Bar & Grill.

ASHLAND – Following a one-year absence, Southern Oregon University returns to the NAIA Softball World Series this week for the fifth time in six postseasons with its sights set on a third national title that would put the Raiders in elite company.

The 42nd edition of the 10-team, double-elimination tournament gets underway Thursday at the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus, Georgia. The No. 4-seeded Raiders (46-12 overall) will play the third game of the afternoon at 1 p.m. Pacific Time against the No. 5-seeded Georgia Gwinnett Grizzlies (43-10) in the teams' first-ever matchup.

PLAYOFF PICTURE: The SOU-GGC winner will move on to the semifinals of the championship bracket and play at 1 p.m. Saturday against the winner of a game between top-seeded Oregon Tech and either No. 8 seed Central Methodist (Mo.) or No. 9 Baker (Kan.). The SOU-GGC loser, on the other hand, faces a long road through the elimination bracket, needing to win seven consecutive games to claim the title. The first of those would be at 7 a.m. Friday against the Central Methodist-Baker loser. Sunday is the only off day of the tournament, and the championship round is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

AROUND THE BRACKET:

• The Raiders were also the No. 4 seed when they won their first championship in 2019, going through No. 1 Science and Arts (Okla.), No. 3 Oklahoma City and No. 5 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.). The last time a team outside of the top-five in the rankings captured the title was 2012.
• Three teams in the field have previously won championships: Oregon Tech (2011), Science and Arts (2018) and SOU (2019, '21). None of the other teams have even a top-four finish between them. OIT and Science and Arts are the only qualifiers who were also present at last year's World Series.
• SOU is among six schools all-time with multiple national championships. Only one active NAIA school owns more than two: Oklahoma City, which won its 11th last year but went down in the Opening Round last week.
• Eleven of the last 13 champions have come out of the winners' bracket. SOU was one of the exceptions, winning five consecutive elimination games in 2021 following a semifinal loss.
• The field includes three first-time qualifiers: Cumberlands (Ky.), Baker (Kan.) and Our Lady of the Lake (Texas).
• Eight of 10 top seeds advanced out of the Opening Round. In the Raiders' most recent World Series appearance two years ago, they and Oregon Tech were the only top seeds to qualify.

SOU SHORT HOPS:

• The Raiders had to win four straight elimination contests to keep their season alive after dropping their first game of the Opening Round. Since 2017, the year of their first World Series appearance, they've won 22 of 25 national tournament elimination games.
• There is a case to be made that Cayla Williams is providing more all-around value than any player in the country. The senior stands at 20-5 with a 2.83 ERA as a pitcher, and has a .459 average with 20 extra-base hits and 55 RBIs as a hitter – making her the only individual in the NAIA with 20-plus wins and a batting average of .400 or better. In the Opening Round, she went 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA over 21 innings and batted 8-for-15. In 28 games since the beginning of April, she's batted .557 (49-for-88) with 14 extra-base hits and 35 RBIs.
• Riley Donovan is back in Georgia for the first time since walking away with the World Series MVP in 2021, when she went 11-for-17, reached base in 19 of 25 plate appearances and totaled eight runs and eight RBIs over seven games, capping her week with the go-ahead home run in extra innings of the championship against OIT. Donovan has batted .450 (27-for-60) in 20 career national tournament games. She enters the week with career totals of 48 home runs, 238 RBIs and a .471 batting average – all SOU records – in 182 outings. Donovan in 2023 is the NAIA's leader in home runs (20) and RBIs (89). She was also No. 1 in RBIs last season (89) as the NAIA Player of the Year and is the only individual in the country to hit 20 home runs each of the last two seasons.
• Deja Acosta totaled four multi-hit games in the Opening Round, going 9-for-17 with seven runs scored and six RBIs. After leading the NAIA in runs scored (82) in 2022, she ranks third with 66 this season while boasting a .406 average.
• Kailer Fulton is at .345 with 50 runs scored from the No. 2 spot in the lineup. She scored eight runs through her first 15 games and 42 in 31 games since.
• Out of the Nos. 8 and 9 spots in the lineup over the last two seasons, Sarah Kerling and Lindsey Stripling have combined for a .358 batting average.
• Defensively, shortstop Sammie Pemberton did not commit an error on 25 total chances during the Opening Round. Offensively, her .383 average gave her a recent bump in the batting order.
• Katie Machado still leads SOU's qualifying pitchers in win percentage (19-4), ERA (2.77), strikeouts per seven innings (6.0), and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.2-to-1). She capped the Opening Round with a one-hit, five-inning shutout of Reinhardt (Ga.) after collecting her first two saves of the season earlier in the tournament.

ABOUT GEORGIA GWINNETT:

• The Grizzlies are in the World Series for the third time, having qualified previously in 2018 and '19. They went 1-2 as the No. 1 seed in their first appearance and 3-2 as the No. 8 seed in their second, winning their opening games of both tournaments.
• Making them a title contender this year is sophomore pitcher Annalise Wood, who enters the week with a 23-2 record and a microscopic 0.61 ERA. Over 183 2/3 innings, Wood has compiled a remarkable 285 strikeouts compared to just nine walks. She gave up 13 hits and three earned runs over 20 2/3 innings in the Opening Round.
• The Grizzlies bat .342 as a team, and what they lack in power – they've hit only nine home runs – they make up for with speed, ranking eighth in the NAIA with 153 stolen bases on 165 attempts.
• Senior catcher Sydney Pelaez, a second-team NFCA All-American in 2022, is the heart of the lineup with a .449 average, a .529 on-base percentage, 24 extra-base hits and 44 RBIs. Lindzie Owen is a leadoff-hitting prototype with a .457 average and 52 steals on 53 attempts.
• The Grizzlies are 12-1 against NAIA Top 25 opponents. Of their 10 losses, seven were decided by one or two runs.

Original source can be found here.