After beginning their season in Las Vegas more than one week ago, the Eagles returned home on Saturday for their home opening doubleheader against the Concordia University Portland Cavaliers. 

Game One: Callie Nunes was on the mound for the Eagles in game one and she was on top of her game.  After struggling with her control in her two starts in Las Vegas, Nunes was on fire on Saturday.

After getting the first batter of the game to pop up, Nunes went on a strikeout tear.  She struck out the next seven Cavalier hitters.  On the other side, Sally Bowles did a fine job of slowing down the Eagles' offense.  At the end of four innings, the game remained scoreless.  Finally, in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Eagles broke through.  After Heather Nonora reached, Megan Massa hit a rocket up the middle, Lauren Lopez reached on an error, and Amanda Gjertsen singled in two runners to break the scoreless tie.

Now working with a lead, Nunes went back to the mound in the sixth inning and continued to mow down Cavalier hitters.  Through five, she had retired all but one hitter, surrendering a walk in the fifth, but she had yet to give up a single hit.  In the sixth, she retired the side in order once again.  She was one inning away from her third career no hitter.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Eagles' offense gave Nunes a cushion.  Mackenzie Graham began the inning with her first home run of the season, a moonshot over the wall in left center field to put the Eagles up 3-0.  Four more hits, including a double by Gjertsen, her fourth hit of the day, helped stretch the Eagles' lead to seven runs.

As Nunes took the mound in the top of the seventh, only three outs separated her from her first no hitter of the season.  After surrendering a leadoff walk, Nunes locked back in.  She collected two quick outs and was one batter away from finishing the job.  With two outs in the seventh inning, Karley Yoshioka popped up to Graham for the final out.  Nunes did it!  Her third career no-hitter was a masterpiece.  She struck out 11 and forced 10 flyouts, none of which were hit very hard. 

"Callie had a great pace today," said head coach Crystal Rosenthal.  "She had good stuff on the ball which made her hard to predict."

Nunes wasn't alone, however.  Massa finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two runs scored.  Gjertsen went 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs. 

Game Two: In the second game, the Eagles got off to a slow start, but rallied to finish the day with the sweep.  Jordan Quinn was on the mound for the Eagles, and after a rough first inning, she settled in and cruised to a win.  The Cavaliers' first three batters reached base, but Quinn worked her way out of the jam giving up only one run.  Midway through the first, the Eagles trailed 1-0.

In the second inning, the Eagles' offense tied the score up.  Sydney Sprinkle began the rally with a single to right.  She then advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Sarah Kretschmar.

In the fourth inning, the Eagles went on top for good.  Eight batters hit in the inning, and the Eagles scored three. 

Meanwhile, Quinn continued to record outs, shutting out the Cavaliers over the final six innings and giving up only one hit over the final six frames.  She finished the day with a complete game, surrendering only four total hits and one earned run.  It was her second win of the season.

"I was proud of both of them [Nunes and Quinn] today, as they put in a lot of work with Coach Rose the past couple of weeks," said coach Rosenthal. "Our pitching was outstanding today."

Sprinkle finished 2-for-3 and scored a run for the Eagles.  Kretschmar finished 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.

What's Next:  The Eagles continue their home stand on Tuesday, taking on the Adelphi Panthers.  Game one begins at 12:00 p.m.

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