Former Hillsdale High School teammates Mackenzie Driscoll and Lauren Quirke meet as college rivals

The two have been teammates since their Bobby Sox softball days, teaming together through four years at Hillsdale and two more years at College of San Mateo. Now, they will find themselves in opposing dugouts, with Driscoll serving as the catcher for Oregon Tech, the No. 5-ranked NAIA team in the nation, while Quirke is a dominant two-way player for No. 1 SOU.

“We’re excited,” Driscoll said. “We’re really excited.”

Both players are part of the modern-day softball pipeline from CSM to Oregon. After the 2019 season, Driscoll transferred to Oregon Tech from CSM along with infielder Aubrie Businger (Mills); while Quirke transferred to SOU along with outfielder Allie Stines (Capuchino), who were joined by catcher Riley Donovan (Half Moon Bay) the following year.

The two teams never played each other last year, with the season being shuttered prior to their scheduled rivalry series in April.

Now, they’re not just happy to be back on the diamond but are immersed in quite a race in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. SOU is in first place with a conference record of 9-0 with an overall mark of 23-1. Oregon Tech dropped the first game of a doubleheader in last Saturday’s doubleheader against Corban University — snapping a 20-game winning streak to start the year — and is currently 8-1 in CCC play and is 21-1 overall

“We’re definitely grateful just to be out there practicing every day … and play against teams and travel,” Driscoll said. “But we’re definitely looking forward to the competitiveness of this weekend because it’s definitely two very good softball teams.”

Quirke has been a force at the plate, batting .494 while tied for sixth in the nation with 29 RBIs. But even these smashing numbers have been outshined by her pitching as of late. Starting with her first career perfect game Feb. 26, Quirke has allowed two runs (none earned) on 10 hits over her last 36 innings.

Not bad, considering she only began her career as a starting pitcher two years ago as a sophomore at CSM, and never even threw a pitch while at Hillsdale. Her former high school head coach Randy Metheany knew she could pitch, and figured she could have dominated in the circle, but never needed her due to a depth of pitching lead by current St. Mary’s senior Eryn McCoy.

“Totally,” Metheany said to whether or not Quirke could have pitched at Hillsdale, “and probably doing well, because ‘Quirkey’ can pitch. We just didn’t need her.”

Driscoll, Quirke and McCoy were the core of a perennial Central Coast Section playoff contender at Hillsdale. Driscoll grinded through her underclassman seasons until putting herself on the college prospect map by hitting .306 her senior year in 2016.

“She was just kind of in awe at the beginning,” Metheany said, “And then her senior year, she just had a tremendous year for us.”

It was her defense behind the plate that really shined, though.

“She was very catcher smart,” Metheany said. “You know how catchers are, the way they see everything? She was kind of that way.”

Driscoll said the transformation had everything to do with being surrounded by talent.

“I definitely think it was because of the great athletes I had around me,” Driscoll said. “We were all friends and pretty close. So, there comes a time you rise to the occasion and just keep rolling and working hard.”

While Quirke has been viewed as a softball natural since picking up a bat and glove, she almost opted to not play collegiately. With an acceptance to attend University of Oregon academically, she only made the decision to further her softball career by going to CSM with the strong encouragement from Metheany and Hillsdale assistant coach Michelle Zalba.

“Me and Michelle had to talk to her for weeks, and tell her: ‘No, you’re going to CSM,’” Metheany said.

That is where she landed in 2017.

“I think she knew her time wasn’t done with the game,” Driscoll said. “I definitely think it wasn’t done. And just seeing how she’s gone on and been such an asset for SOU, I do think that shows she was meant to keep playing.”

Now, at the midway point of the Cascade Conference schedule, the two friends are engaged in quite a pennant race. SOU took over sole possession of first place in the conference after Oregon Tech lost its first game of the year this past Saturday, before bouncing back to win the second game of a doubleheader 14-5.

“It definitely stung a little bit,” Driscoll said. “But we still had a game 30 minutes after that … and we knew it was no time to hang your head. We’re still rolling in our season. And we came back and took it to them again.”