LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Softball sidestepped weather this weekend to get in four games and four wins over Academy of Art to open up its 2020 PacWest Conference season.

The series was littered with tremendous individual efforts, but above all Jennifer Morinishi and Paige Austin stood out. The Eagles' duo earned PacWest Conference Player of the Week and PacWest Conference Pitcher of the Week as a result of their efforts.

It's the first PacWest Conference Player of the Week award for Morinishi and the second career Pitcher of the Week honor for Austin. It's both players' third total PacWest weekly honor because Morinishi was the PacWest Freshman of the Week twice last season and Austin won that award once in 2018.

"I am super proud to see Jen receive this honor," said Head Coach Nikki Udria. "After not having her best showing our first weekend out, she worked really hard on the field and put in a lot of extra work and it definitely paid off for her. She is really starting to take off as an athlete and I am really excited to see the year ahead." 

Morinishi continued her hot streak at the dish, hitting .750 on the week (9-for-12) and having an OBP of .786 thanks to a couple of walks. The sophomore drove in seven runs to take the team lead in RBI and also touched home plate five times herself, which was second only to Ruth Munoz (6).

She played a perfect outfield in both center field and right field, handling all balls hit her way. She also pitched one scoreless inning in relief on Sunday to pick up her second save of the season.

Thanks in large part to Morinishi's work at the top of the lineup, the Eagles outscored ART U 22-6 in the series.

Paige Austin played a big role in keeping the opponent's run total down. She threw a team-high 14 innings on the week and allowed just six hits while striking out 19 Academy of Art hitters.

Batters hit just .130 against Austin as she picked up two wins to improve to 4-1 on the young season. She now leads the conference in strikeouts (by 10), despite only being seventh in the league in innings pitched.

"Paige is looking really strong. Her presence and confidence on the mound is really assuring and our defense is having fun playing behind her," said Udria. "She has the ability to grow and develop this year under Coach Kris and I am excited to see her compete this year and do her best to lead our team!"

The Eagles used this past weekend to improve to 7-2 overall and 4-0 in PacWest Conference contests. Next up for Udria's team is a home doubleheader against Concordia Portland (9-6) at 9:30 a.m. this Saturday.