SAN RAFAEL, Calif.- The No. 11 Concordia University Irvine Softball team played in the first day of the PacWest Conference Automatic Qualifier Pod Series. The two-day, round-robin event features each of the pod champions from the PacWest's three geographic regions.
 
Game One: CUI 2, UHH 1
 
CUI and UH Hilo were locked 0-0 for a majority of the game. Both teams were solid on defense and were battling to get on the board. The Green and Gold broke through in the fifth inning. Freshman Rylie Rohr came up big once again for the Eagles with a solo-shot home run over left center. This is Rohr's sixth home run of the season and she improved her slugging percentage to .494.
 
The Eagles were able to get another run across in the fifth. PacWest Player of the Year, McKinsey Thorpe singled to bring in Lauren Lopez at third.
 
Kelsea Sweeney, PacWest Newcomer of the Year, dominated the Vulcan's offense for most of the game. Sweeney threw a shutout until the seventh inning. In the seventh, PacWest Pitcher of the Year and All-American Callie Nunes closed the game out for CUI and got the save. Nunes now has 11 saves in her career, furthering her lead as Concordia's record book holder in the career saves category. 
 
Game Two: CUI 9, DUC 3
 
Nunes had lots of run support in the circle versus Dominican University. She threw a six inning shutout and was relieved by Erika Morris to close the game. Nunes improved to 11 wins on the season.
 
The Green and Gold put up nine runs on the board against Dominican. Recently nominated First Team All-PacWest Missy Nemeth singled in the first inning to score CUI's first run, Megan Massa. Massa was also a First Team All-PacWest nominee and she singled to start the game.
 
Several Eagles hit 500 or over including: Sydney Sprinkle (3-2),  Jocelyn Pino (3-3), Sydni Dix (2-4), and Lauren Lopez (2-3). Pino smacked two doubles and a two-run home run to right center that brought the Eagles up 5-0 in the fifth inning. 
 
The Eagles improved their overall record to 28-11 and they play UH Hilo and Dominican again Thursday May 13 at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

In addition to the seven CUI softball players who were named All-Conference recently, four of these players were also named to the All-Region First Team including: Nunes, Thorpe, Massa, and Nemeth by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA). CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE STORY.

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