IRVINE, Calif. – It's hard to imagine a better start to the NCAA DII West Regional for the No. 13 Concordia University Irvine softball team.

As the No. 2 seed, the Eagles probably couldn't have scripted a better outcome than their 8-0 win over conference rival Azusa Pacific University. 

Hosting the West Regional for the fourth time in the NCAA DII era, the Green and Gold jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three frames and cruised from their behind strong pitching and stout defense.

D2CCA First Team All-Region pitcher Katlin Entrup tossed a complete game shutout and limited the Cougars to only two hits on the day.  She struck out four batters and kept the Cougars off-balance for most of her time in the circle.

CUI secured the victory with a two-run walk-off single by All-Region third baseman Sydney Sprinkle in the bottom of the sixth inning to seal the deal.

Lauren Fairchild and Megan Massa each supplied a RBI single in the second inning to give the Eagles a 2-0 advantage. Madison Urrutia entered as a pinch-runner and scored in the third on a wild pitch to make it 3-0 CUI.

Freshman catcher Kendall Flatt was clutch at the plate and provided three base hits.  Her second single came in the bottom of the third and plated two runs to stretch the CUI lead to 5-0.

VIDEO: CLICK HERE for the postgame comments from Entrup, Flatt, and Coach Rosenthal

Concordia will face Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday at 11 a.m. PT for a chance to advance to Saturday's Regional Final on the winner's side of the bracket. 

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APU will play in the first elimination game against Chico State Friday at 1: 30 p.m.

Both CUI and APU will be the designated home teams for their first games on Friday. 

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CLICK HERE for the updated CUI softball schedule