IRVINE, Calif. – All good things must come to an end and unfortunately for the Concordia University Irvine softball team, its historic season came to a close on Friday in the NCAA Division II Super Regional.

Given a second chance against the UC San Diego Tritons, the Eagles regrouped in game two of the best-of-three series after the Tritons earned a 9-1 win in Thursday's opener. The Eagles were the visitors in this contest and tweaked their approach at the plate. Timely hits by Lauren Lopez and Megan Massa helped CUI piece together a 3-2 lead over the first six innings and a third game seemed very likely.

However, UC San Diego rallied in the bottom of the seventh and emerged with a 4-3 win on a walk-off hit by Mikaila Reyes.

Both teams went with the same starting pitcher that took the mound the previous day. Fans were treated to a second straight opportunity to see two D2CCA First Team All-Region pitchers with Callie Nunes on the hill for CUI and the Tritons once again turning to their sophomore ace Robyn Wampler.

Nunes struck out the initial batter she faced as part of a 1-2-3 first inning.

Michelle Lieng collected the first hit of the day for the Green and Gold in the top of the second inning with a hard hit ball into right-center. After stealing second base, Lieng advanced to third on a fly out to right to give the Eagles their first scoring opportunity. Lauren Lopez then provided a clutch RBI single to put the Eagles up 1-0.

Tritons outfielder Mikaila Reyes delivered a RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to even the game at 1-1. But Nunes was able to freeze a hitter for a strikeout and then coerce a popup to shortstop Sarah Kretschmar to keep the score knotted at one.

Concordia retook the lead in the fifth, when Mackenzie Graham neatly placed a bunt down to score Megan Massa to make it 2-1 Eagles.

Massa helped key the CUI attack again in the top of the sixth. She lifted a fly ball to the outfield and was able to plate McKinsey Thorpe on the sacrifice fly to make it 3-2 Eagles.

"I just wanted to do my best for the team and produce runs anyway I can," said Massa.

CUI was just three outs away from tying the series, but the Tritons had other plans.  UC San Diego was able to quickly get multiple runners in scoring position and after tying the game at 3-3, Reyes delivered a clutch hit to clinch the victory.

Afterwards, the Eagles reflected on the tough loss as well as the entire season as a whole.

VIDEO: CUI's Massa, Coach Rosenthal and Nonora talk about their final game of the year and what the 2019 season meant to them.

"What a great ride it's been," said CUI head coach Crystal Rosenthal. "I can promise you that we are going to work really hard to get us a step further next year."

"I think the thing that impacted me the most was the chemistry and the close-knit community of our team," continued Rosenthal. "Getting to this point has been extremely hard for us. It wasn't all flowers and rainbows and I think we did a great job as an entire team sticking together, committing to growth and keeping our eyes on the most important thing with is each other."

"I think we grew a lot as a team," added Massa. "Personally, I came in really nervous as a freshman but I gained a lot of confidence."

Friday's game also marked the final game for senior outfielder Heather Nonora in a Concordia uniform. Nonora is the only graduating player on the roster as the Eagles expect to return everyone else for the 2020 season.

"We had lots of emotions which kind of played into the game," said Nonora. "I thought we fought really hard and it just didn't work out for us. Overall, this season was really awesome for us. I think getting the back-to-back PacWest Championships was really important and getting us to Super Regionals. Last year we got to the first round, this year we got to the second round. Next year our plan is to go all the way."

Concordia University Irvine finishes its historic season with a 47-8 overall record. The Green and Gold won the PacWest Conference for the second straight season, saw 11 different players earn All-Conference accolades and featured another dominant season from Nunes on the mound.  Nunes finished her season with four no-hitters and 33 victories and is a top ten finalist for NFCA National Pitcher of the Year.

For a look back at the CUI softball team's performances in the Super Regional, click here for our Tournament Page.