SURREY, B.C. – The UBC Thunderbirds hung tough but couldn't overcome the 17th-ranked Corban (Ore.) Warriors in a Cascade College Conference softball doubleheader Friday in Surrey, B.C.
 
Corban earned 13-9 and 4-2 victories to improve to 32-12 overall and 18-8 in league play. UBC fell to 12-23 and 8-17 in the CCC. The Thunderbirds remain in the sixth and last remaining playoff spot up for grabs, a half game up on Providence (Mont.), and a game and a half ahead of Northwest (Wash.) and Eastern Oregon.
 
UBC holds the tiebreaker on all three teams, and got great help Friday with Northwest's sweep of Northwest Christian (Ore.), which won its season series against the T-Birds.
 
UBC and Carroll (Mont.), which clinched the fifth CCC post-season berth today after a split with Providence, will still need to complete its suspended game from last weekend if the final league standings deem it necessary.
 

 

Game 1

Corban used a seven-run seventh inning to shock the T-Birds in the opener, after the hosts erased a 6-0 deficit.
 
With eight hits over the first three innings, the Warriors jumped out to a six-run advantage.
 
UBC got on the scoreboard on a third-inning dropped fly that Nicole Salas to reach home. Salas then doubled home Cassa Courtney in the fourth to cut her team's deficit to 6-2, a lead Corban took into the sixth.
 
That's when the T-Birds exploded for seven runs. Courtney led off with an infield single, and eventually got to second base on an Emily Chorpita single. A fielding error loaded the bases.
 
Senior Michaela Moore singled to right center on the first pitch of the at-bat to score Chorpita and Courtney, and force a Corban pitching change.
 
Avery Hilpert kept the rally going with a single through the right side. After a force out at home, Sierra Sherritt, another senior playing in the last home games of her university career, nailed a two-RBI battle up the middle to tie the game at 6-6.
 
Mia Valcke's single up the middle on the next at-bat gave the hosts the lead at 7-6 after Taylore Jones scored.
 
At bat for the second time in the inning, Courtney hit an 0-0 pitch to left field for a double to plate Valcke and Sherritt, and put UBC up 9-6.
 
Corban quickly replied by loading the bases in the top of the seventh. The Thunderbirds got the second out of the inning on a force out at home.
 
Megan Rybar hit a two-RBI single up the middle to bring her team to within a run at 9-8.
 
UBC starting pitcher Kaia Gyorfi then got the next batter Madison Wyllie to hit a fly ball to right field, but it was dropped allowing the tying run to score.
 
Makiah Johnson gave the Warriors the lead for good with an RBI infield single to make it 10-9. Corban added three more runs to escape with the win.
 
Courtney went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in. Sherritt and Moore also drove in a pair of runs for UBC.
 
Johnson and Kaylee Buhrkuhl had three hits apiece for the Warriors, while Buhrkuhl batted in three runs.
 

 

Game 2

The second game of the day was a more pitcher-friendly contest, as Ally Crakes earned the win for Corban after throwing five innings, and giving up just one earned run.
 
Shelby Kempel pitched a complete game for UBC, surrendering four runs.
 
After Corban opened the scoring on a sacrifice fly in the top of the third, Valcke replied for the Thunderbirds in the home half, with an RBI single to right to plate pinch runner Gabby Freer.
 
The Warriors re-took the lead with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
Courtney got her team a run back in the sixth with an RBI single through the right side to make it 3-2, still in favour of Corban.
 
Buhrkuhl added an insurance run in the seventh by driving in Jessie Isham, one of her two runs scored in the game. She also went 3-of-4 at the plate.
 
The T-Birds attempted a last-gasp rally in the bottom of the seventh, getting their first two batters on base, but three consecutive flyouts to left field ended the game.
 
Valcke and senior Shaelyn Ogilvie had a pair of hits each for UBC.
 
The teams will play another doubleheader at Softball City on Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. PT. Seniors Claire Eccles, Moore, Ogilvie, and Sherritt will be honoured after the final game for their contributions to the T-Birds' softball program.