VANCOUVER – The path to a conference championship and spot in the NAIA World Series Opening Round was never going to be easy for the UBC Thunderbirds, but the 'Birds have set themselves up better than ever to tussle with a quartet of the NAIA's best for a ticket to the big dance. No.4-seed UBC begins the potentially grueling six-team, three-day, double elimination tournament with the opening game of the event against No.5-seed College of Idaho at 9:00 a.m. (PT) on Friday.
The T-Birds (22-16, 16-11) finished the regular season scorching hot, winning nine in a row to end up in fourth in the brutally difficult Cascade Collegiate Conference, the first time UBC has ever earned a top-four seed in the CCC Championship Tournament.
Unfortunately for the blue and gold, four of the other five teams they will be competing against have been ranked in the top 25 in the NAIA for much of the season, and only the tournament winner gets a guaranteed spot in the World Series Opening Round.
Host and top seed Oregon Tech (41-7, 23-4) is the No.2-ranked team in the NAIA. No.4-ranked Southern Oregon (44-6, 23-4), the second seed at the tournament, was the top-ranked team in the Association until the final rankings update. The third-place team in the CCC is NAIA No.14-ranked Eastern Oregon (28-9, 22-5). Even the fifth seed, who UBC finished ahead of in the regular season, is the College of Idaho Yotes (26-16, 14-13), the No.25-ranked team until they slipped down two spots to the received votes category in the final rankings; implicitly No.27.
44 coaches voted for the Yotes to be in the top 25 and not one voted for the T-Birds, despite their superior conference record.
UBC Head Coach Jenn McKellar and her team are ready to prove that those 44 coaches made a mistake.
"We're very proud of our results and the girls have worked tremendously hard for this," said McKellar. "The Yotes are always a very high energy team. They're battle-tested and have made the post-season regularly for the last several years. They know how to win when it matters.
"But we are maintaining the approach we've had all year. We haven't focused too much on who's in the other dugout, but playing our game and how we're going to beat a given opponent."
The key to success for UBC for much of season has been shutdown pitching. The T-Birds have allowed the fewest hits, runs and earned runs in the conference, while holding opponents to the second lowest batting average in the CCC.
Leading the way on the rubber for the blue and gold have been co-aces
Shae Sever and
Carleen Murray. Each of them has logged over 100 innings this season, with both rankings top-seven in the conference in earned run average, opponent batting average, wins, and strikeouts.
"I think both Shae and Car have had to be the ace with no one behind them before, so I think they feel a sense of comfort in having each other," mused McKellar. "Hopefully that brings out the best in each of them in this tournament, because both of them have plenty of innings left to give.
"Our strength as a team is our pitching staff, which comes as no surprise. Though it's not just the two who pitch the most innings, but the five of them together have formed a well-rounded staff for us, which has helped establish a better balance over the course of the season."
The T-Birds may need all five of their hurlers to get through the highly condensed, double elimination tournament, that could see them playing as many as six games over three days in order qualify for the next round.
Find the full tournament bracket
here.
UBC's first game can be streamed live
here. All subsequent game times and opponents will be updated on the
gothunderbirds.ca softball schedule as they are confirmed. Stream all of the action all tournament long on the
Oregon Tech Owls Youtube Channel or at
oregontechowls.com/watch.
