PacWest Release

LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Softball went 3-1 last week when it hosted Hawaii Pacific and had some outstanding individual performances, spearheaded by Kayla Neff and Paige Austin.

As a result of their contributions Neff and Austin were each awarded a PacWest Conference weekly award on Monday. Neff, who hit nearly .800 on the week and doubled her season RBI total was named PacWest Player of the Week. Austin, who went 2-0 and had two complete game shutouts, was named PacWest Pitcher of the week.

"Kayla is a competitor and definitely someone that you want in the box when the game is on the line," said Head Coach Nikki Udria. "I am so proud of her and the way she carries herself on the field. Her presence behind the plate is unmatched she takes control of our infield and helps encourage our pitchers."

Neff hit .727 for the series with eight hits in 11 ABs. Three of those eight hits were for extra bases, including two bombs to keep the team-lead in homers (5).

She drove in six runs, scored four and slugged 1.364 while helping Biola outscore the Sharks 18-10 on the week. Upped her season batting average from .326 to .407 and doubled her season RBI total.

"Paige has been battling all year so it is awesome to see her finally finding her groove," said Udria. "She is a competitor but also her biggest critic so I am thrilled that she will have some encouragement going forward to keep battling and working hard to get better."

She went 2-0 against Hawaii Pacific throwing 15.1 innings while holding the Sharks to just five hits over those 15+ innings. She struck out 12 and limited HPU to a .098 batting average.

Hawaii Pacific came into this series averaging six runs-per-game with 10 players in their lineup hitting over .300. Austin's two scoreless starts gave her a streak of 17-consecutive scoreless innings against HPU dating back to last season.

The Eagles have big series coming up this week as they host Hawaii Hilo (16-4, 11-1 PacWest) on Tuesday and Wednesday night.