IRVINE, Calif. – The ninth-ranked Concordia Golden Eagles buckled down for a couple of tough games with conference rival Azusa Pacific on Wednesday afternoon and were rewarded for their efforts.
In game one of the doubleheader, the two squads needed an extra inning to settle the score. In game two, CUI's offense came alive and left no doubt who would come out on top.
Concordia's remarkable pitching staff continued to make life hard for the opposition and held true to their eye-popping 0.98 team earned run average. Starters
Katlin Entrup and
Daniela Alvarez both only allowed one earned run to stay right on pace and maintain the best NCAA DII team ERA.
Game 1: APU 1, CUI 0 (8 innings)
Recently named
PacWest Pitcher of the Week Katlin Entrup struck out six batters over eight innings of work. She only allowed six hits on the entire afternoon and had three 1-2-3 innings.
However, APU's outfielders robbed CUI of multiple base hits.
Shelby Pfeiler nearly parked a softball over the centerfield wall in her first at-bat but Kinsey Erickson tracked it down to keep both teams scoreless.
Both teams had goose eggs until the top of the eighth when APU strung together three hits to scratch together a run.
In the bottom of the eighth,
Kaia Nisby worked a one-out walk but APU was able to coerce a double play on a grounder to hang on for the narrow victory.
Game 2: CUI 6, APU 1
Shelby Pfeiler helped wake up the offense in the bottom of the first inning of game two. Her two-run double with the bases-loaded opened the scoring to put CUI in front.
Jocelyn Pino added a two-run single in the second inning to double the CUI advantage to 4-0. Then in the third frame,
Kaia Nisby placed a two-run double to push the lead to 6-0.
Daniela Alvarez improved to 7-2 with the victory and added to her strong case for PacWest Newcomer of the Year consideration. She limited the Cougars to just three hits and did not walk a batter while striking out six.
CUI will now enter the upcoming weekend 31-9 overall and 16-4 in PacWest play.
The first-place Golden Eagles host their rivals from Biola on Saturday, April 8 with their conference doubleheader scheduled to start at 12 p.m. in Irvine.
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