Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 IRVINE, Calif. --- For the second time in as many weeks Biola Softball found itself playing a road doubleheader against a future PacWest Conference Rival.
 
This Tuesday Head Coach Lorie Coleman's team traveled out to Irvine to try to get two games in against the Concordia-Irvine Eagles. Former GSAC giants, the Eagles of Irvine took a big lead early on in the opener and went on to win 6-0. Then the two teams played to a 3-3 tie in the second contest after Biola forced extra innings and the two teams couldn't break the deadlock before night fell.
 
Concordia had the preseason PacWest Pitcher of the Year, Grayson Harvey, in the circle for the first game. She held the Eagles to three hits over six innings and struck out eight in a dominant individual performance.
 
Briana Acuna saw the ball well against her, getting a pinch-hit double to lead off the sixth inning, but not much else went Biola's way in that first game.
 
Kimmy Triolo and Paula Damas combined to allow just six total hits to Concordia, but three errors led to the large run total for the home team. It was actually a very good four innings of relief for Damas, who came in for four innings and held the Irvine Eagles to just one run and only three hits.
 
The second game was much closer to what we've become accustomed to seeing from this Biola Softball team early in this 2016 season. The Eagles racked up more hits and scoring opportunities and committed fewer errors in a low-scoring affair.
 
Both teams scored a run in the first frame. Concordia added two more in the third, before Biola pulled back within one in the fourth. Then BU trailed by one all the way up until its last at-bats.
 
A Karen Lieng leadoff single in the top of the seventh made all of the difference in the game. She would round the bases after a Areana Ramos sacrifice bunt pushed her over and a Triolo single scored her to knot the game up.
 
Concordia-Irvine would get a runner over to third base in the bottom of the seventh but could not score her and so the game went into extra innings. Although today it would not be extra innings, but rather just one extra inning.
 
The two teams played a scoreless eighth before the game was called and the Eagles were saddled with their second tie of the season.
 
Kaile Chavez got the start in the second game and went three innings before Damas came back and put out another excellent relief performance. The freshman threw five scoreless innings of one-hit ball. Her only struggle was that she allowed five walks, but none of them ended up hurting her and she's a big reason the Eagles were able to escape with a tie instead of two losses in this one.
 
Biola moves to 6-4-2 overall following its latest non-conference action. The Eagles host an abbreviated version of their 2017 NAIA So. Cal Classic tournament over the next two days.
 
Games will be going all day tomorrow at Freedom Field at Biola. Then, on Thursday games will be played all day at Big League Dreams West Covina. Games are also scheduled for Friday and Saturday, but heavy rain is expected to cancel all play on those dates.
 
More information about the tournament can be found at http://athletics.biola.edu/sports/2017/2/7/SoCalClassic.aspx?path=softball