BRISBANE, Calif.- The No. 14 Concordia University Irvine softball team headed out to play Academy of Art to conclude their Northern California road trip. The Eagles finished the trip 5-1.
 
"Good overall effort today on a get away day, Megan Massa was big time up at the top of our lineup and Pino and Stockton had great days," explained head coach and athletic director Crystal Rosenthal. "Erika was big time with a save in game one, and Dani Cole helped us finish off game two." 
 
The Eagles sweept the Urban Knights, playing great all around. 
 
Game One: CUI 3, ART U 2
 
All-American pitcher Callie Nunes got the start and the victory in game one, moving her up to 73 career wins. She is in second place in the program's history for most career wins and just eight shy of Natalie Brown who is the current career wins holder with 81. Nunes had a solid performance against ART U throwing a no-hitter up until the fifth inning. She coerced 12 flyouts, two groundouts, and three strikeouts. 
 
"I wasn't feeling my best on the mound today, but my team absolutely got me through it and had my back," stated Nunes. "Erika came in and finished the game out when I couldn't and made sure we kept the lead. Overall, we had great base running and our team play in general was good."
 
In the sixth, Erika Morris came in with two runners on base and was able to effectively end the inning and close the game for the Eagles. 
 
The game was locked 0-0 until the fourth inning when the Eagles broke through at the plate. Missy Nemeth began the inning with a single up the middle, and was replaced by pinch runner Megan Johnson. Johnson ended up scoring on a fielding error by ART U's shortstop, putting the Eagles up 1-0. 
 
The Green and Gold continued to put pressure on the Urban Knights in the fifth and added two insurance runs. Massa started the inning off with a single and McKinsey Thorpe continued the inning with a walk. Massa and Thorpe both advanced and eventually scored on wild pitches. 
 
Academy of Art scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth, but the Eagles defense efficiently shut them down, holding the lead and going on to win the game by one.
 
Game Two: CUI 10, ART U 2
 
CUI's pitching staff teamed up to get the second win over Academy of Art as well. Graduate student Kelsea Sweeney started game two, throwing two solid innings. Her team backed her up with their offense, accumulating seven runs. Freshman Cortney Koelmans then got the opportunity to throw in the third inning and stayed in the game until the fifth where lefty Rae Flores came in to close. 
 
Game two's win was a great overall combined team effort. CUI's offense went off racking up 14 hits. Thorpe began the first inning with a single and was scored off of a sacrifice fly by Sydney Sprinkle. Jocelyn Pino singled and advanced Nemeth who had walked. Marisa Stockton then came up with a big double scoring Pino and Nemeth. Lauren Lopez continued the inning by lacing a triple to left center, which easily scored Stockton. The Eagles made their dent and ended the first inning up 4-0.
 
The CUI's bats stayed hot in the second. Massa doubled to center and was then advanced by Thorpe's single. Thorpe stole second, putting both her and Massa in scoring position with Nemeth up to bat. Nemeth came up with a double down the right field line, bringing in Massa and Thorpe. Pino singled again, successfully scoring Nemeth. The inning concluded CUI up 7-0.
 
"Today I felt great in the box," explained Pino. "I was calm and collected and just tried to get a base hit. My team as a whole did amazing. We all had each other's backs and cheered for one another."
 
In the third inning, Myka Hughes scored off of a sacrifice fly by Nemeth, bringing the score to 8-0. The Urban Knights were able to get two runs across in the fourth but the Eagles answered back with two more in the fifth. Cole singled down the left field line, scoring the final two runs to make it an eight-run lead. The game concluded after the fifth as CUI run-ruled ART U 10-2.

To view the CUI softball team's full schedule, CLICK HERE.

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