VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds softball team will be playing at the Northwest Cup tournament this weekend in Clackamas, Oregon, an event hosted by Concordia University of Portland.

UBC will play six games.  On Friday, the T-Birds will face the host team (1 p.m.) and the College of Idaho (3 p.m.).

Day two will feature games against the top-ranked NAIA team in the pre-season, Oregon Tech (9 a.m.) and No. 23 Corban College (11 a.m.).

The team will face Corban again on Sunday (11 a.m.) after matching up against Northwest Christian (OR) at 9 a.m.

UBC head coach Phil Thom is looking for more consistency from his squad this weekend.

"Our team has shown over the last week in California that they can hit the ball and score," said Thom.  "In the high-scoring games, we have to be able to shut the other team down and hold on to that lead.  Our pitching staff is improving.  Our rookies, several of them, have come up big and we're happy with that.  Overall, we have a very competitive team.  Now, we just have to learn to win."

The Thunderbirds come into the weekend with a record of 1-8, along with a game that was called because of darkness tied at 6.

FULL TEAM SCHEDULE

Last weekend at a tournament hosted by Simpson University in California, UBC came close to pulling off an upset of No. 1 Oregon Tech, losing 2-1 last Friday.  The team got its first win of the year on Saturday by shutting out Menlo 8-0.

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