VANCOUVER – After their final conference road series of the year against Eastern Oregon last weekend, the Thunderbirds (20-18, 10-8) are back home for a stretch of eight straight home games to finish off the regular season.
 
The T-Birds have a big opportunity this Friday and Saturday, as they take on the Warner Pacific Knights (12-22, 7-11) in a pair of doubleheaders on April 17 and 18. If UBC wins two of the three conference games in the series, they will punch their ticket to the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.
 
Even if the Thunderbirds do clinch a spot in the postseason before this weekend is done, each remaining conference game will remain important in their own right as the battle for seeding heats up. Heading into Friday's action, the difference between the third seed and the sixth seed (the final playoff slot) is just one game, with UBC and Southern Oregon tied at 10-8 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play, and College of Idaho and Simpson tied at 9-9.
 
"The conference is extremely competitive, so every weekend can be your most important weekend," said T-Birds head coach Jennifer McKellar. "But I think we're just focused on really enjoying our team and living in the present moment…not too worried about what it could mean or should mean, but making sure we're staying true to our team identity and having fun with it."


 
The Thunderbirds have certainly shown themselves to be a tough out this year, as even including nonconference play there's only one team that UBC has played multiple times and not beaten at least once – Oregon Tech, the No. 1 team in the entire NAIA, who the T-Birds came very close to upsetting in a 2-1 extra innings loss during their series in late March.
 
At the same time, the blue and gold have only swept one CCC opponent, when they defeated Corban four times to begin conference play. They'll aim to increase the consistency in which they hit their high ceiling in this final stretch of the regular season.
 
"Each weekend we're still just focused on competing and playing our best that we can," added McKellar. "I think we've been able to find our stride in most series, but not necessarily enough to always close out a close game. So we're working on some of those aspects to come back to what we do really well in order to play with that consistent 1-through-14 doubleheader mindset."


 
The T-Birds' collective strength as a unit this season has in large part stemmed from the leadership within the team, which has been essential in a year that's featured a lot of roster turnover and an infusion of young talent.
 
McKellar praised this year's senior class in that regard, which includes ace Carleen Murray, hits leader Jessica Heutink and the longest-tenured Thunderbird in Casey Lo. Kennedy Laird and Clare VanSpall – who round out the quintet of fourth-years – make up half of the group of four captains within the squad.
 
"Kennedy not only on the field but off the field has been a key leader for us," remarked McKellar. "Clare has been a key leader and has had some huge moments down the stretch…as well as two underclassmen in Marin Jorgenson and Jillian Matsubara who have been key players on the field but also growing in their leadership off the field…that group of four have worked really hard for us and represent the team really well."


 
Like UBC, the Knights are coming off a series against Eastern Oregon (which preceded a bye week). After a strong start to CCC action the Portland outfit have hit a bit of a rough patch, losing seven straight games heading into this weekend.
 
They're led offensively by first-year infielder Brylee-Rose Demello, who sports a .346 batting average on the season with team-highs in both RBIs (22) and home runs (5). Senior ace Kili Makanani should start the first game on both days, and has thrown a complete game in two of her last four outings.
 
The series begins at 2:00 p.m. (all times PT) on Friday at Collings Field in Nobel Park, with another game at 4:00 p.m. immediately afterwards. Saturday's games are set to begin at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., with no tickets required to come enjoy the action. You can also catch the games streaming for free on the Urban Edge Network.