WEST COVINA, Calif. --- Biola and Menlo are old foes, having spent the past few years together in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Over the past handful of seasons the Oaks had the upper hand on the Eagles, but that was not the case today as Biola opened the So. Cal Classic with a 5-4 win.
The Eagles were in control of the game from start-to-finish, trailing for just one half-inning. They managed 12 hits while the pitching staff allowed the hot-hitting Oaks just three.
The offense began in the bottom of the first when Biola quickly loaded the bases against Menlo starter Vanessa Cervantes. The Eagles scratched out one run, but had two consecutive outs that ended the inning before more damage could be done.
Terri Van Dagens got the start for Biola and retired the first eight batters she saw before a two-out walk opened the door a bit for Menlo in the third inning. The Oaks capitalized about as much as they could in that half inning and ended up taking a 2-1 lead.
"I feel really good about today," said Van Dagens. "I had a lot of help from the team behind me. We had an approach going into the game and I think it worked out well."
The lead quickly disappeared in the bottom half when the Eagles once again managed to load the bases and forced the MC starter out of the game. Biola would get one run off of a Kylie Velasco sacrifice fly, but the scoring stopped there.
At that point Paige Austin was in the game and was humming right along. She held the game at 2-2 until a wild pitch and RBI double by Selina Sherlin helped BU stake a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth. BU managed 10 hits through the first four innings as the lineup was ultra-productive early.
In the top of the fifth Austin actually struck out four Menlo batters, but a dropped third strike extended the inning and once again the Oaks' offense was ready to take advantage. They pushed across a run on an error and another run on a double steal of second and home plate to once again tie the ballgame.
That tie did not last long though as Missy Poti led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, got sacrificed over to third base and then trotted home with what would be the game-winning run on a wild pitch.
Menlo went down in order in the sixth and seventh innings to lift Biola to the 5-4 win. The Eagles improve to 3-1 on the season and Menlo falls to 4-2.
"It feels great to beat Menlo," said Van Dagens. "They have a lot of returning players, so to see that we made the adjustments and were able to come out on top was cool."
Jay Perez, Kayla Neff, Selina Sherlin, Areana Ramos and Missy Poti (the Eagles' 2-6 hitters) each ended the game with two hits to drive the offensive effort. Perez scored a game-high two runs and Sherlin drove in a two, also a game-high.
"I thought our offense did really well. The first inning we were taking a lot of first-pitch strikes and so we changed our approach going into the next few innings. They had to be aggressive, and it worked!"
Austin gets the win to improve to 2-1 on the season. She ended her outing with 4.1 innings of 2-hit ball and struck out eight Oaks.
Biola continues play at the tournament with a matchup against William Jessup (4-2) immediately following this game.
