LINCOLN, Calif. - The Lady Warriors returned to their home diamond this weekend first taking on the No. 3 ranked team in the NAIA, Southern Oregon for a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. The Warriors fell behind early in game one and weren't able to regain the lead, but game two would favor the home team as they split with the Raiders with a 3-2 victory.

"Overall I thought the girls competed well today, besides the one big inning we were right with SOU the entire day," head coach Kristen Drage reflected. "This team fights hard every at-bat. I never feel like they give up or feel out of a game which is great."

Despite answering SOU's single run in the first inning, a bad frame to follow for the Warriors would dominate the boxscore in the Raiders favor as Jessup was down 10-1 after the second inning. The visiting team would add one more in the top of the fourth before the Warriors had one last shot to battle back.

The bottom of the fifth comeback would fall short, but not before they posted a pair of runs thanks to Jena Oven's lead-off triple to bring in a run, and Mehana Johns singling to left field collecting her second RBI of the game.

The Warriors would have to battle back in game two as the Raiders took the victory in game one, 11-3.

"In the transition between games we just talked about playing clean defense and making adjustments at the plate quicker," Drage said, "We started to do that late in the first game but knew we needed to start the game like that."

The first frame would be identical to game one as SOU hit the board in the top of the inning, but the Warriors answered right back Ovens singled and Johns brought her in on a double. 

The game would go silent until the top of the sixth where the Raiders pushed one across led by a triple for the 2-1 advantage. Jessup would have the last chance opportunity in the seventh as Ruiz got the rally started with a single through the right side.

With two out and two on, Abbie Lewis would bring in the game-tying run and a walk-off single for Ovens would be the ballgame as the Warriors took it 3-2. 

Coach commented on the last chance win, "People stepped up throughout with big plays and hits and then, of course, the rally with two outs at the end got it done for us." 

Mehana led the Warriors on the day going 4-for-6 with 3 RBI's and Ovens going 3-for-7 with a pair of RBI's and her second walk-off of the season. Taylor Garcia would pitcher her first complete game for the Warriors allowing just two runs on four hits with two strikeouts in her first win.

Jessup will return to the dirt tomorrow to take on another ranked opponent in No. 10 Oregon Tech in a doubleheader starting at 1 pm at Wilson Park. 

"Tomorrow we have Oregon Tech," Drage concluded, "Our goal is again to play solid defense and put pressure on every inning on offense. If we do both of those things we will put ourselves into a great position to win the ballgame."

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