KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The UBC Thunderbirds (27-21, 15-9) saw their run at the 2026 Cascade Collegiate Conference Championship Tournament come to an end on Saturday with a 9-1 loss to NAIA No.6-ranked Eastern Oregon (37-10, 18-6) in five innings.
The T-Birds, who won a program-record four games at last year's tournament before falling to these same Mountaineers in the final, bow out after losing their first two games against their perennially titanic intra-conference competition. They are the second team knocked out of the six-team double-elimination event, after newcomer Simpson was bounced by the College of Idaho earlier on Saturday.
UBC simply could not touch EOU starter Maliyah Mann (16-1) who worked around early control issues to limit the blue and gold to one run on one hit. T-Birds' ace
Carleen Murray (17-12) started strong, but was undone by a difficult third inning, taking the loss giving up four earned runs on three hits in 2.1 frames.
It was an ideal start for the 'Birds as, after Murray kept the Mountaineers quiet in the top of the first, three of the first four T-Birds reached on a pair of walks and a hit by pitch.
With the bases loaded and two-outs,
Tegan Harnett came through with UBC's lone hit of the day, grounding a single through the right side to score
Brielle Donoghue.
Clare VanSpall was also waved home from second, but she was cut down at the plate on a bang-bang play after Mounties' right fielder Hope Burke delivered a strong throw from right-centre to earn the assist.
That 1-0 lead held until the third inning, when things unraveled for UBC.
EOU's Elizabeth Heinz was hit on the hand to lead off the inning, sparking a long delay as she was attended to by trainers on the field before being pulled from the game. The incident may have gotten to the normally unflappable Murray, as the Mounties followed with back-to-back infield singles before a two-RBI double swung the lead to EOU, 2-1.
That prompted a pitching change, as first-year
Brynn Fortier entered the game for the 'Birds. However, she was quickly victimized by the Mounties' mighty bats. Eastern Oregon scored five runs before UBC recorded an out in the inning, finishing the frame with a 6-1 lead.
EOU added three more in the fourth and kept the T-Birds' bats quiet from there.
Kennedy Laird did launch a ball to deep left-centrefield with a runner on in the bottom of the fourth, but with the wind blowing in, the would-be homer was caught on the warning track.
Pitcher
Mila Anderson was also a bright spot for UBC, as she tossed a scoreless inning of relief in her first career post-season appearance.
The loss ends the T-Birds' CCC Championship Tournament, but not necessarily their season. UBC now awaits word on whether they will receive an at-large bid to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round for the second straight season, after qualifying for the first time in program history last year.
The Thunderbirds were the implied No.36-ranked team in the NAIA in the final Coaches' Poll of the year, meaning they should be right on the borderline of advancing. The field for the Opening Round should be announced in roughly a week's time, with the regional tournaments set to begin on Monday, May 11
th.
