Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Its opponents getting out to a quick start on offense again doomed Biola Softball to another rough day during Friday afternoon's doubleheader with the Menlo Oaks.
 
Menlo scored in the first inning of both ballgames on Friday as it worked a 12-6 win in a two hour and 45 minute first game and then worked an 8-5 lead in a second game that was suspended in the middle of the sixth inning.
 
The second game was halted just before Biola grabbed the bats in the sixth because the sun went down and eliminated all visibility at Freedom Field. That meant that the game would remain undecided until it will be resumed from its stopping point during Biola's trip to Atherton on April 16.
 
The first game was all about offense as both team knocked the ball all over the place at Freedom Field. The Oaks scored 12 runs on 17 hits and benefitted from one Biola error while Biola scored its six runs on 10 hits and the benefit of four Menlo mistakes.
 
After a competitive first inning saw the game head to the second with a 2-2 tie Menlo took over with nine runs over the course of the second, third and fourth innings. They built an 11-6 lead over that span until the game finally slowed down over the course of the final three innings.
 
Menlo's Jessie Salsbury threw the entire first game for the Oaks and earned her 10^th win of the season despite allowing six runs and a bunch of hits. Her ERA was not damaged too much because four of the runs were unearned as a result of Menlo's woeful fielding.
 
Bria Madrid and Heather Hall were both on fire for the Eagles with three hits each in game one as BU attempted to keep pace with the torrid Menlo offense.
 
It was the Oaks' five-run third inning that truly made the difference in the ballgame. Three of those runs were charged to Terri Van Dagens who entered the game in the first as Kaile Chavez was taken out due to a concern with some swelling in her arm.
 
Kimmy Triolo would enter in the third after a two-run homerun and walk allowed the Oaks' lead to begin to expand. Her arm would get quite the workout during Friday's games as she threw 9.2 total innings and nearly 200 pitches for Head Coach Lorie Coleman.
 
The biggest threat to the Eagles' pitching staff during game one was actually the No. 8 and No. 9 batters in Menlo's order. Alyssa Seva'aetasi and Brooke Shigematsu combined to go 8-for-8 with six runs scored and four RBI.
 
Biola got off to another slow start in the field in game two when Menlo exploded for four two-out unearned runs in the top of the first.
 
The Eagles were able to stage a bit of a comeback in the bottom half of the inning when Andi Hormel and Bria Madrid started the game with back-to-back hits and Kimmy Triolo singled later in the inning to bring the game to 3-4.
 
The Eagles took a lead in the second with two more runs, which also coincidentally came off the bats of Hormel and Madrid.
 
That lead would hold all the way until the very last half inning played before the darkness rule came into effect. Triolo entered the game in the second and held the Oaks to zero runs on three hits over the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.
 
Unfortunately the Oaks broke out in the top of the sixth for four runs to take the lead and do a little bit of damage to the upbeat spirits of the Eagles' team in the dugout.
 
We'll wait to see how that game finishes up late next month, but in the meantime Biola will hold to its record of 13-17-1 (1-8 GSAC). The Eagles will hope to break what's turned into a five-game losing streak when it hosts Vanguard for a doubleheader at 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on March 22.