ALEXANDRIA, La. --- Two of the 40 softball teams remaining in contention for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics are set to play in some less-than-favorable conditions on early Monday morning to kick off play in the LSU Alexandria bracket of the NAIA Tournament Opening Round.
 
Threats of inclement weather have No. 18 Biola and Belhaven (Miss.) playing an 8 a.m. CT/6 am PT contest to determine the first team to move into the winner's bracket semifinal in this double-elimination tournament.
 
The two squads have never met and will likely never meet again as this is the Blazers' final season in the NAIA. Biola boasts its Golden State Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year, Reba DePriest, while Belhaven comes in with the Southern States Athletic Conference Player of the Year, Ashlee Hitt.
 
DePriest falls within the top-5, easily, in the discussion of best pitchers in the NAIA, and in her senior season Hitt has definitely blossomed into one of the premier hitters at the third base position in the nation.
 
As the story so often is with this Biola team, it will be all about getting DePriest a lead early on and then letting her hold it throughout. The Eagles are 29-9 in 2015 when they strike first.
 
Biola's offense does not have the gaudy numbers that the three other schools in this bracket have, despite having the most powerful season in school history, but it rarely needs a whole lot of crooked numbers. BU is 30-1 this season in games in which it scores three-or-more runs.
 
The Belhaven pitching staff comes into this game allowing an average of 2.99 earned runs-per-game, which would be just the number Biola is looking for to keep this bracket going according to plan.
 
Aside from Hitt, who has 13 homeruns and 45 RBI this season, the Blazers do not have a whole lot of pop, with the next-highest homerun tally being five. They do have players who know how to get on base, with four of their regulars hitting over .300 and three players having double-digit two-baggers.
 
Biola's job will be to contain Hitt and keep runners out of scoring position. This will be a challenge as the humidity at Generals Field causes the softball to travel much further than it does back in La Mirada. The Eagles will look to capitalize on that with their own biggest boppers: Selina Sherlin, Kasey Hormel, Bria Madrid and a left-handed Heather Hall.
 
The Eagles will not have to face the ace of Belhaven's staff, Julienne Broussard, who has not played since before the Blazers' conference tournament. Instead, DePriest's counterpart will likely be freshman Jordan Herring, who comes into play with a 13-10 record, 2.86 ERA and just 76 walks over 142 innings pitched.
 
It will be early. It could be wet. It will definitely be interesting. We predict a solid performance from DePriest and some big moments from Sherlin and Ashley Spadt.
 
Tune in to see if we are right. LSU Alexandria offering a video broadcast at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lsua/. This broadcast is $8.95 per game or $46.95 for all of the games in this bracket. Belhaven providing a FREE audio-only broadcast at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/belhaven/. Live stats available at http://www.sidearmstats.com/belhaven/softball/.