HONOLULU, Hawaii – A trio of pitchers combined to throw a pair of shutouts on Saturday and No. 17 Concordia University Irvine took care of business in fine fashion in their first doubleheader with Hawaii Pacific.

Concordia improved to 11-1 in its last 12 games and is now 9-1 in conference play.

The pitching staff has performed at an elite level during this first five weeks of the season. In fact, the Golden Eagles have now shutout their opponents nine times in the last dozen contests.

Game 1: CUI 8, HPU 0

Pitchers Daniela Alvarez and Callie Nunes combined to throw a one-hitter in the series opener. 

Together, both pitchers remarkably went 1-2-3 every inning and faced the minimum for batters in a six-inning mercy-rule game.

Alvarez went five innings and only allowed one single and struck out two batters. The only single came in the fourth but that batter was immediately erased on a sweet double-play turned by Rylie Rohr, Mary Baccay and Missy Nemeth.

Nemeth and Rohr helped get the offensive party started in their first at-bats.  Nemeth plated Megan Massa on a RBI single and later scored on Rohr's RBI triple.

It was still 2-0 CUI in the fourth until the Golden Eagles added three more runs.  Massa and Baccay each contributed a RBI base hit to help the cause.

Jocelyn Pino smacked a two-run double in the top of the sixth to move CUI into the mercy-rule range.

Nunes pitched the final frame to secure the victory after Shelli Faulk caught the final out at first base to seal the deal.

Game 2: CUI 2, HPU 0

Rohr again came up clutch in the second game of the day.  Her two-run double to center in the sixth inning gave the Green and Gold a lead they would not relinquish.

Katlin Entrup (8-2) and Alvarez tag-teamed in the rematch to hold HPU to just five hits in this one.

Entrup kept the Sharks off the scoreboard for six innings She scattered three hits while striking out four. 

Alvarez wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh thanks to some solid defense behind her and earned her second save of the season.

It's the third consecutive shutout for CUI after Cortney Koelmans pitched a gem the day before – and hit a grand slam - in the final game of the Chaminade series.

The Golden Eagles close out their 12-game Hawaii road trip on Sunday with two more games against the Sharks.  The doubleheader is slated to begin at 1 p.m. PT (11 a.m. local HT)

CLICK HERE for the updated CUI softball schedule