KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – After an absolute whirlwind of a weekend, the UBC Thunderbirds (26-18, 16-11) emerged as runners-up at the 2025 Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship, capping the best season in program history.
The highlights continued to come in the first game of Sunday's action, as the Thunderbirds upset the top-seeded Oregon Tech Owls (42-9, 23-4), with a walk-off extra innings home run by Shae Sever to eliminate the No. 2 ranked team in the NAIA.
That shot the T-Birds into the championship round for the first time ever, where their Cinderella run came to an unfortunate end. Facing a scorching-hot and more-rested Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (32-9, 22-5) side, the blue and gold were dispatched by the Mountaineers who won their second straight CCC title.
The defeat in the final game certainly does not take away from the overall success that this group of T-Birds made for themselves in the tournament, as they doubled the program record for playoff wins in a season and took down two teams ranked in the top five of the entire NAIA while doing so.
GAME ONE
Entering the day as one of the final three teams still in the running for the conference title, the T-Birds first faced off against the Owls in a battle to see who would play the Mountaineers in the championship round.
This game came just two days after Oregon Tech had beaten UBC in extra innings, and although the tournament took place in Klamath Falls, the site was technically a neutral one and the Thunderbirds were awarded "home team" status. That distinction helped pave the way for the fireworks that came later.
To begin though, the game was a pitcher's duel. Sever and Oregon Tech's Alli Parker combined to allow just three hits and one walk through the first three innings, as the two teams settled into a hard-fought battle.
The first breakthrough came in the fourth, when a Puakea Milbourne single followed by a double from Maria Goodspeed put the first run on the board for the Owls. They then doubled their lead with a solo home run the following inning from Sawyer Stenson.
Needing a spark in the bottom half of the fifth, the T-Birds got one in the form of pinch-hitter Clare VanSpall, who stepped into the box and launched a home run of her own to left-centre, her first long ball in a UBC uniform.
The power hitting then continued in the sixth. After Marin Jorgenson beat out a single on a ball chopped towards the pitcher, Kennedy Ainge pinch-hit and smashed a homer of her own to left field. Pumping her first as she rounded first and mobbed by her teammates at the plate, Ainge and her teammates now found themselves three outs away from another massive victory.
It was not to come that easy, however, as in the top of the seventh the Owls got the tying run on third with two outs on the board. A bouncing grounder off the bat of Zoe Allen was mishandled in the infield and the game was tied up at 3-3.
The Thunderbirds had a chance to walk-off the win in their half of the seventh, getting runners on the corners with just one out. But they were unable to convert, sending the game into extra innings.
The battle continued all the way into the tenth, just the second time this season the T-Birds reached double digits in frame count. There, it was Sever who played hero, walking off the Owls on their own field.
Sever also earned the win on the mound, as after starting and pitching the first four innings of the game, she also came back in to pitch the final two outs of the tenth.
Riley Woodward and
Carleen Murray both saw multiple innings of action as well, as the trio of pitchers combined to hold one of the best teams in the NAIA to just nine hits and three runs across ten innings.
Jorgenson and Sever both got on base three times for the T-Birds, with Jorgenson hitting 3-4 at the plate to lead the team in that category.
GAME TWO
There was no rest for the Thunderbirds after that marathon, as they took the field just 30 minutes later to play Eastern Oregon. As per the double elimination format, the T-Birds needed to win two in a row against the Mountaineers to become CCC champions, while EOU needed to just win once.
The Mountaineers were determined to win the banner right then and there, and with the wear and tear advantage (playing just their fourth game of the weekend compared to the sixth for the T-Birds), they capitalized with a fast start.
A solo home run in the second made it 1-0 for the defending champs, but the real damage came in the third when an EOU avalanche made it 10-0. They tacked on four more in the fourth to close out the win, and lifted the trophy for the second time in as many years.
Jessica Heutink hit 2-2 in the game to lead the UBC batters. Graduating senior
Lindsay Bell saw some work in relief in potentially her final appearance in a Thunderbird uniform, while first-year
Mary Jane Mitchison gave a glimpse of the future as she retired the final five EOU batters in order in her first taste of playoff action.
The Thunderbirds now will wait and see whether they'll receive a wildcard bid for the NAIA Softball National Championship Opening Round, taking place from May 12th to 15th. If they do, it would be their first such berth in program history.
