IRVINE, Calif. – The Concordia University Irvine Golden Eagles and Jessup Warriors continued to showcase impressive pitching and defensive prowess in the field during their doubleheader on Tuesday.
Coming off a split in
Monday's first two games of the series that saw a diving grab by
Jessica Im in right field and multiple impressive plays by third baseman
Audrey Robles at the hot corner, both of Tuesday's contests were tight affairs.
Unfortunately for the first-place Golden Eagles, Jessup was able to win the series with two narrow victories.
Game 1: Jessup 5, No. 24 CUI 4
Six of Concordia's nine hits in the first game of the day came from the first two batters in the lineup.
Audrey Robles also plated three runs on a pair of productive groundouts to help position CUI with a 4-1 lead.
Leadoff hitter
Jessica Im supplied two singles while
Kayla Rodgers went 4-for-4 with a double, three singles and a steal and a RBI. She also scored twice – including once on an unorthodox play in the bottom of the fourth.
With Robles in the batter's box and Im and Rodgers both in scoring position, Rodgers hustled around from second base and slid underneath the tag moments after Robles was put out at first base. As the saying goes, good things usually happen when you put the ball in play.
Jessup rallied with three runs in the top of the fifth inning. A key sequence was when NAIA National Player of the Year Sarah Giles stumbled during a pitch while extending her lead off of second base with a teammate also at third. CUI catcher
Shelby Pfeiler successfully pulled off a snap throw to
Kaliya Yco, but before the tag was applied, Jessup scored the tying run with the runner on third base racing home. What appeared to be a mistake at first by Giles, later had fans wondering if it actually was done on purpose to draw attention and help the other runner get home. Regardless, the game was tied 4-4 after five frames.
In the top of the sixth,
Kayla Rodgers and
Kaliya Yco helped save a run after a Reagann Hobl double to left field. The relay throws by Rodgers and Yco were on the money and Pfeiler tagged out the potential go-ahead run at the plate.
Unfortunately, Jessup still scored two batters later on a RBI single with two outs. The Golden Eagles got at least one batter on the base paths in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings but the game ended 5-4 in favor of the visitors.
Game 2: Jessup 2, No. 24 CUI 1
The Green and Gold were in for another nail-biter in the series finale. The two teams combined for three unearned runs while starting pitchers
Kira Morris and Alexandria Himes each pitched all seven innings.
Morris scattered seven hits, struck out five and walked only two batters.
CUI saw seven different players collect one hit but the offense could not string together a big inning and Jessup hung on for the 2-1 victory.
This is the first time a PacWest Conference opponent has won a series against CUI softball since Biola in 2021.
On Deck
Next up for the Golden Eagles is a four-game series back at home against Dominican beginning this Friday, April 4. The opening doubleheader gets underway at 3 p.m. PT with game two to follow approximately at 5 p.m.
The Golden Eagles and Penguins will then play two more games to wrap up the series this Saturday, with that doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. PT
CLICK HERE for the full CUI softball schedule
CLICK HERE for the updated PacWest Conference softball standings
