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GREAT FALLS, Mont. – Lady Argo softball went 2-2 against Carroll College to start conference play, but won the wrong game of the four, coming away with a victory in Game 2 of the second doubleheader, which counts as a non-conference game. That puts in the bottom half of the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings with a conference record of 1-2.
UGF will look to move out of that bottom half with back-to-back doubleheaders against Southern Oregon University (14-4, 2-1) in Ashland, Oregon. The Raiders started conference play going 3-1 against the College of Idaho, with one of those wins coming in the non-conference game.
In 2016, the two schools played three times, including one playoff game. In a home regular season doubleheader, UGF split with the Raiders, losing Game 1, 4-0, before winning Game 2, 8-6. When the two met in the CCC Playoffs, UGF won 3-2. The all-time series record between the two programs is 4-4.
The Raiders have leaned heavily on freshman pitcher Gabby Sandoval in 2017. She has pitched 14 of the team's 18 games, getting the decision one way of the other in 11 of those contests. She is 8-3 on the year with a 1.96 ERA and 41 strike outs.
Offensively, SOU has used speed on the base paths to create pressure on opposing infields. The team ranks 20th in the NAIA with 34 stolen bases on the year and already have two players with 10 or more stolen bases.
The Lady Argos on the other hand have cycled through pitchers more liberally, using more than one pitcher in every game but one this season. The two standouts in the rotation have been senior Shelby Abeyta, who is 5-0 on the year with UGF's only complete game of the year, and junior Kristina George who leads the CCC in strike outs per game and has an ERA of 0.81.
Juniors Bailey Henderson and Kylie Gonzales have led the way for the Lady Argo offense, hitting back-to-back in the batting order and combining for 23 of the team's 49 RBI and 8 total doubles. They have usually been driving in a trio of UGF seniors, with Jocelyn Kaufman, Paige Bodner, and Morgan Robinson all hitting 0.390 or better on the year with 21 combined runs scored.
The games on Friday, March 10 will be played at 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. MT, while the games on Saturday, March 11 will be played at 10 a.m. & Noon MT.
