SURREY, B.C. – In a weekend that will see them play for pride while honouring three graduating seniors the UBC Thunderbirds softball team (11-24, 9-17 CCC) dropped two games to Cascade Collegiate Conference powerhouse Southern Oregon Raiders (32-14, 18-8 CCC) at Softball City in Surrey.
 
In the first bill of the doubleheader UBC couldn't keep up with the explosive Raider offence and lost 16-1. In the second game UBC played stifling defence and utilized a masterful pitching performance by Zoe Gillis (Delta, B.C.) to almost pull off the upset, but came up on the short end of a 3-0 decision.
 
Three innings into Game 1, Southern Oregon already had an 11-0 lead and had chased UBC starting pitcher Lindsey Ogilvie (Surrey, B.C.).
 
UBC's lone run came in the bottom of the fifth when gritty T-Bird captain Quinn Dhaliwal (Delta, B.C.) scored on Hillary Strelau's (Richmond, B.C.) fielder's choice. The run signified Dhaliwal's four years as a Thunderbird, as she aggressively slid and hustled around the bases, setting the example for her younger teammates.
 
Southern Oregon pounded out 21 hits in the lopsided victory with shortstop Kelsey Randall gathering four of them, while first baseman Rebecca Velasquez had four RBI's.
 
The second game saw Gillis pitch one of the best games of her career for the 'Blue and Gold'. She was backstopped by catcher Margarita Sison (Richmond, B.C.), who kept the Southern Oregon base runners in check with her arm, picking off a Raider at third base in the second inning and gunning down another trying to steal second in the third.
 
Despite collecting as many hits in total as Southern Oregon (six), UBC just couldn't find a way to cash their runners in and ended up on the wrong end of the 3-0 decision.
 
"Zoe did an amazing job of locating her pitches and changing the pace," said UBC head coach Gord Collings. "I was very impressed with her, we just couldn't get the bats going to support her."
 
"I felt good. I knew I had to do it for the team to keep us in the game," explained Gillis. "I tried not to think about it to much and just pitch."
 
Kayleen Smith was the big bat for Southern Oregon in the win, driving in two runs. Strelau and Shayla Kaplen (Richmond, B.C.) had two hits apiece for the T-Birds in the losing cause.
 
It doesn't get any easier for UBC, as tomorrow they will face another conference heavyweight in Oregon Tech. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Softball City.
 
Dhaliwal, Sison, and third baseman Lauren du Toit (Vienna, Austria) will be honoured for their four years of service in blue and gold, as UBC softball holds their version of "Senior Day".