LA MIRADA, Calif. – Only some pockets of rain and a brief period of lightning could stop the top-seeded Concordia Golden Eagles on Thursday in their second game of the PacWest Softball Conference Tournament.
The Golden Eagles earned an 8-2 win over No. 2 seed and tournament host Biola after about a two-hour delay.
Apparently the Golden Eagles didn't want to wait around any longer to start swinging the bats.
Shortstop
Rylie Rohr crushed a grand slam in the first inning to announce the arrival of the Concordia offense. A Second Team All-Conference selection earlier this week, Rohr leads the entire league in home runs for the second consecutive season. Her bomb on Thursday gives her a career-high 16 homers this season.
CUI loaded the bases in four different innings and finished with nine total hits.
Mia Saucedo had a solid game with two hits as did catcher
Shelby Pfeiler. Saucedo also prevented a hit by Biola with a rare 9-3 putout from right field.
CUI built a quick 6-2 lead to back starting pitcher
Katlin Entrup. The PacWest Pitcher of the Year improved to 16-3 and went five frames while only allowing two runs to cross.
Biola pushed those two runs across in the bottom of the third after loading the bases themselves, but first baseman
Sydney Sprinkle fielded a grounder cleanly for the third out to prevent any further damage.
In the fifth inning, Biola threatened again with the bases loaded and two out, but Entrup and the Golden Eagles wiggled out of trouble when an illegally batted ball was called for strike three to end the inning.
Ranked No. 1 in Wednesday's new NCAA DII regional rankings, Concordia will next face APU in the double-elimination tournament on Friday at 12:00 p.m. If the Cougars force an extra game, that would be played immediately afterwards at 3 p.m.
If Concordia earns a win on Friday, the Golden Eagles will secure the automatic bid to the NCAA DII West Regional Tournament next week. CUI has hosted the first round of the regional every year it has been held since 2018 and is projected to do so again from Thursday, May 11 to Saturday, May 13.
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