SALEM, Ore. – The Bushnell University softball team avoided the conference sweep on Saturday, taking the opener of a two-game set at Corban University before settling for a split. Corban won both on Saturday to take the conference series, 2-1.
 
GAME ONE: Bushnell 6, Corban 5
 
Jordan Kuykendall hit a game-winning RBI single in the top of the seventh inning and the Beacons held on for the one-run victory in the opener. Kuykendall, in fact, was at the plate for four of Bushnell's runs and finished the game hitting 2-for-3 with two RBI.
 
It was a fierce battle from start to finish as the teams changed leads three times and were tied on three separate occasions. After the Beacons opened up the game with a run in the first, Corban responded with an RBI double and two-run homer in consecutive at bats in the bottom of the inning.
 
Bushnell came back to tie the game at 4-4 in the fifth when both Maddy Steelman and Anna Cardwell scored on a sacrifice squeeze by Noel Balderston. Kuykendall then gave Bushnell the lead again with an RBI single, but the Warriors knotted things up again at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth before Kuykendall won the game in the seventh.
 
Corban again threatened in the bottom of the seventh but with the game on the line, who else but Kuykendall made the defensive play of the game, catching a line drive at third before nailing the runner at first base for a double-play.
 
Balderston also went 2-for-3 at the plate, and scored three runs. Miranda Jensen (7-10) threw a complete game for Bushnell, allowing five runs on ten hits while striking out four. The Beacons managed six hits of their own while Corban pitcher Ally Crakes struck out nine batters in the win.
 
Head Coach Katie Duroe said, "Miranda did another great job pitching for us and our batters used what they learned about Crakes from yesterday's one-hitter and made adjustments to our approach in the box."
 
GAME TWO: Corban 10, Bushnell 2 (6 innings)
 
Anabel Mendez's second line-drive home run highlighted the non-conference night cap for the Beacons, as they suffered a run-rule defeat. The strong defense from game one was unable to carry over as Bushnell made four errors, leading to five unearned runs. The Beacons gave up ten runs on just seven hits, and starting pitcher Sam Silver (1-9) gave up just five hits in four innings of work.
 
"Sam did a really good job producing ground balls," said Duroe, "we just needed to be better behind her. Our hitters still did a good job getting on base, but we didn't push them across when we needed to."
 
The Beacons (8-30, 5-16 CCC) will back to Eugene next weekend, playing their final home games as they take on first-year program Warner Pacific University (17-18, 9-12) for the first time.