GAME ONE BOX SCORE | GAME TWO BOX SCORE
FULLERTON, Calif. --- Biola wrapped up its regular season with an impressive sweep over Hope International, winning a pair of mercy-rule games by scores of 13-0 and 12-1 at the Titan Softball Complex in Fullerton.
The Eagles close out the regular season portion of the schedule with a record of 31-15 and finish fourth in the GSAC at 12-12. Biola's next stop will be the 2007 NAIA Region II Playoffs which run May 8-10 in Riverside, Calif. The Royals end the year at 11-36 and 2-22 in GSAC.
The Eagles were outstanding on offense all day, scoring at least one run in each of the 10 innings played.
Third baseman Jacqie Hudson had the best day of all, going 5-for-7 with a pair of home runs, a double, three runs scored and seven RBIs. She hit a homer in each game, a two-run bomb in the first game and a three-run shot in the second.
First baseman Sarah Jensen reached base seven of the eight times she stepped up to the plate, recording four hits, and reaching once on a walk and twice via the hit by pitch. She ended up scoring six times and driving in one.
Centerfielder Amerra Kesterson, playing in her final regular season games at Biola, was 4-for-6 from the plate with two walks, a double, a triple, six runs scored and two RBIs.
Biola jumped all over the Royals in the first game, scoring three times in the first, twice in the second and four times in the third. Hudson had her first homer in the second inning to account for the scoring there and had a two-RBI double in the third.
The Eagles got an unearned run in the fourth as Holly Jackson drove in Kacie Lyding with a single. They closed out the game with three runs in the fifth capped by a solo home run by Krista Johnson, her second of the season.
Meanwhile, Biola starter Katie Gustaveson mowed down the Hope batters, scattering just two hits and striking out eight to pick up the win and improve to 15-9 on the season.
Game two was more the same as the Eagles jumped out quickly with two runs in the first. Kesterson led the game off with her eighth triple of the season and scored on a ground out by Jensen, the only time she didn't reach base on the day. They would later add another on an RBI-single by Johnson.
The Royals scored their only run of the doubleheader in the bottom of the first as Angie Abby doubled with one out and scored on a single by Kim Smith.
Biola answered back with a run in the second and another in the third, taking advantage of a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
Hudson blew the game open in the fourth with a three-run bomb to left-centerfield to make it 7-1. That was followed by a solo shot off the bat of Keena Levert to make it 9-1. For Levert, it was her sixth home run of the season and 14th of her career, both of which are just two off the school record.
Biola put the game away with four runs in the fifth camped by an RBI single by Johnson and an RBI double by Kesterson.
Emily Gray picked up the win to go to 12-5 on the season, allowing just one run on two hits over three innings while striking out four. Tatiana Garcia pitched the final two innings and recorded two strikeouts.
The Eagles take a week off as they prepare for the 2007 NAIA Region II Tournament, set for May 8-10 in Riverside, Calif. Biola will likely earn the fourth seed in the four-team field and open with Cal Baptist on Tuesday (May 8) at 9:00 a.m. The tournament field will be released early next week.
