LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola Softball has one more quick homestand before it hops on the plan to Hawaii this Sunday. The Eagles host Concordia Portland for a pair of game Saturday, closing out what's a very busy half-week for the Cavaliers.

The Saturday doubleheader is Biola's only action of the week, and it's booked for a 9:30 a.m. start on Saturday morning at Freedom Field.
 
THIS WEEK: vs Concordia Portland (9-6) - Saturday Feb. 29 at at 9:30 a.m. & 11:30 a.m.

MULTIMEDIA: Live video and live stats will be provided free of charge for all Biola home contests. Information on live video and live stats made available for road games/tournament games will be listed along with the previews of those games below.

TICKETS: Biola home events are always free to Biola students, staff, faculty and alumni. Children 12 and under are also always free. General admission is $6 and discounted tickets for opposing school students, guests under 18 and seniors are $4. See ticketing information for road contests below each preview below.

BIOLA (7-2) vs CONCORDIA PORTLAND (9-6): Saturday February 29 at 9:30 a.m. (DH) \\ Live Stats \\ Live Video
After opening their home slate against a familiar PacWest foe, the Eagles welcome their first non-conference opponent of 2020 to Freedom Field this weekend. Saturday's doubleheader marks the last time a Biola team will face off against one from Concordia Portland, as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference member is set to close its doors for good at the completion of the 2019-2020 academic year. In the meantime, Concordia Portland's softball team looks to defend its 2019 GNAC championship under fourth-year head coach Shelley Whitaker, who won a share of her conference's coach of the year award in 2019. The Cavaliers are off to a solid start in their quest to finish strong. Their 9-6 overall record includes a 4-2 record against PacWest schools, including blowout wins over Dominican and Notre Dame de Namur. However, they also lost a neutral-site game to Academy of Art, which just got handed a four-game sweep at Biola last weekend. Biola has won three of the five all-time meetings between these two sides. The last meeting was all the way back in 2015, when both schools were still in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). CU won the meeting in 2015 and the previous meeting before that in 2013, so Biola will be looking to break a brief losing streak against the Cavaliers. In the same way Paige Austin's excellence has been such a huge part of the Eagles' success over the past couple of seasons, then-junior Sally Bowles played a big role in the Cavaliers' run to the GNAC championship last year as the ace of Concordia Portland's pitching staff. Bowles, a transfer from Monterey Peninsula College is entering her final season of collegiate competition. Last season, she recorded a 2.70 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 163.1 innings of work. The Cavaliers swept their most recent series as their offense powered them to back-to-back victories in a doubleheader against Northwest Christian University, outscoring the Beacons 15-3 over the two games. Shortstop Karley Yoshikoa and first baseman Kennedy Jantzi led the way for the Cavaliers' bats. The two combined for eight hits, five runs and four RBI during that quick two-game homestand, leaving Porter Park in Portland on a good note as they head on a Southern California road swing. The Cavaliers start their road trip against Biola's old NAIA rival San Diego Christian (Thursday) before playing another frequent Eagles foe in CSU San Marcos (Friday). After stopping in La Mirada, the Cavaliers will then head to Ellensburg, Wash. to finally kick off their GNAC conference slate against Central Washington.

LAST TIME OUT: Head Coach Nikki Udria could not have asked for a better start to her second year leading the Eagles through PacWest play. Biola took care of business against ART U over a four-game sweep, with the Eagles looking strong throughout, even as some bad weather interfered with the schedule. Paige Austin and Paula Damas delivered dominant performances, handling 25 of the 26 total innings in the series to the tune of four earned runs, 25 strikeouts and only five walks. Austin has now widened her lead in the PacWest strikeout leaderboard, leading all pitchers in the conference with 41. She also currently has the third-lowest ERA (1.76) among all PacWest pitchers, while Damas owns the third-lowest opponent's batting average (.194) in the conference. Not to be outdone, the bats played a huge role in the sweep of ART U as well. Ruth Munoz and Jennifer Morinishi are becoming a dynamic duo at the top of the batting order and they both showed out that weekend. Munoz had six hits and scored six runs in 16 plate appearances over the four-game span, while Morinishi recorded nine hits and seven RBI while scoring five runs of her own over 14 plate appearances. The two also had a knack for showing up when the Eagles needed them most over the course of the series. The biggest example of their knack for the clutch came in the second game, when their back-to-back extra-base hits in the fifth inning turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead that wound up becoming the final score of that game. Kylie Velasco also had a solid week, hitting the Eagles' first homerun of the season and hitting safely in all four games while scoring twice and driving in five runs. This Biola lineup is looking DEEP after their first weekend at home. The four wins and no losses puts Biola alone at the top of the conference table for now. Trailing the Eagles at 2-0 are Concordia Irvine, Hawaii Pacific and Dominican. After this weekend, Biola heads to Hawaii to face Hawaii Hilo (5-7, 0-0 PacWest), HPU (7-4, 2-0 PacWest) and Chaminade (2-2, 0-2 PacWest).

WEEKLY HONORS: Jennifer Morinishi and Paige Austin both received PacWest Conference Weekly Honors for their work against Academy of Art last week. For the first time in her career, Morinishi took home conference player of the week accolades after leading Biola to a four-game sweep of ART U. The sophomore went 9-for-12 and drove in seven runs while scoring five times herself. She also threw one scoreless inning to pick up a save in the series finale. Austin earned Pitcher of the Week honors for the second time in her three-year career. She continues to mow hitters down, taking a double-digit lead in the conference strikeout race. She's got 40+ Ks this season in 30.2 innings pitched. She threw in all four games this past weekend, racking up 14 innings, winning two games and getting the save in two others. She's got a 1.76 ERA for the season and batters are hitting just .200 against her.

THE NUMBERS: Biola's top statistical categories in terms of national rankings.
TEAM
Fielding Percentage - .979 - 8th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Doubles-per-game - 2.1 - 14th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Strikeout-walk ratio - 3.73 - 16th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Shutouts - 3 - 19th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
WHIP - 1.05 - 20th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Fewest Hit Batters - 2 - 25th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Batting Average - .332 - 28th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Earned Run Average - 2.02 - 29th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
On-Base Percentage - .407 - 42nd in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Doubles - 19 - 72nd in NCAA II - 2nd in PacWest

INDIVIDUAL
Doubles-per-game - Jennifer Morinishi - 0.78 - 7th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Doubles - Jennifer Morinishi - 7 - 13th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Saves - Jennifer Morinishi - 2 - 16th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Saves - Paige Austin - 2 - 16th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Runs-per-game - Ruth Munoz - 1.33 - 28th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Doubles-per-game - Ruth Munoz - 0.56 - 28th in NCAA II - 3rd in PacWest
Strikeouts-per-7 innings - Paige Austin - 9.4 - 31st in NCAA II - 2nd in PacWest
On-base percentage - Ruth Munoz - .588 - 40th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Walks-per-game - Kayla Neff - 0.89 - 40th in NCAA II - 2nd in PacWest
WHIP - Paula Damas - 0.89 - 41st in NCAA II - 2nd in PacWest
Batting average - Ruth Munoz - .500 - 46th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Batting average - Ari Gonzales - .500 - 46th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWestStrikeouts - Paige Austin - 41 - 60th in NCAA II - 1st in PacWest
Doubles - Ruth Munoz - 5 - 61st in NCAA II - 3rd in PacWest
On-base percentage - Kayla Neff - .567 - 62nd in NCAA II - 4th in PacWest
Strikeout-to-walk ratio - 4.10 - 66th in NCAA II - 4th in PacWest
WHIP - Paige Austin - 1.04 - 74th in NCAA II - 5th in PacWest
Hits-per-7 innings - Paige Austin - 5.02 - 77th in NCAA II - 3rd in PacWest
Hits-per-7 innings - Paula Damas - 5.06 - 80th in NCAA II - 4th in PacWest
On-base percentage - Jennifer Morinishi - .548 - 92nd in NCAA II - 6th in PacWest
Complete games - Paige Austin - 3 - 100th in NCAA II - 4th in PacWest
ERA - Paige Austin - 1.76 - 114th in NCAA II - 7th in PacWest
ERA - Paula Damas - 2.00 - 134th in NCAA II - 9th in PacWest

WHO'S NEW?: Biola has five newcomers on its 2020 roster. All five of them are freshmen. See more about each new player below.

• Rilee Ruvalcaba
• Loren Meza
• Raylene Roybal
• Alexis Lara (RS)
• Niki Ibarra (RS)

RANKINGS: See below for the NFCA/NCAA Division 2 Top-25 (week 2). Biola's only contest against a ranked team so far this season was a 2-1 loss to now-No. 5 Chico State (12-1). The Eagles are 7-2 overall, in first place in the conference and the only other loss was a 3-2 loss to an 11-5 CSU Dominguez Hills team. Another good week or two and BU could work its way right into these rankings. 
 

Rank	Team	Record	Points	Previous
1	Young Harris (14)	12-0	397	1
2	Augustana (S.D.) (2)	8-2	382	2
3	UT Tyler	10-0	363	4
4	Rollins	14-0	351	6
5	Chico State	12-1	341	5
6	Southern Arkansas	14-2	323	7
7	Lincoln Memorial	11-1	302	8
8	Angelo State	13-3	281	9
9	North Georgia	16-2	260	12
10	Concordia Irvine	8-1	256	11
11	Dixie State	14-2	241	13
12	Saint Anselm	6-0	202	14
13	Trevecca Nazarene	9-1	181	19
14	UC San Diego	16-5	178	18
15	Rogers State	17-4	169	22
16	Texas A&M-Commerce	9-4	162	21
17	Saint Leo	11-5	127	16
18	Indianapolis	8-3	122	10
19	Texas A&M-Kingsville	12-5	107	15
20	Lenoir-Rhyne	14-2	101	23
21	Valdosta State	10-4	73	25
22	Lubbock Christian	15-3	55
23	Tarleton State	13-4	48	24
24	Southern Indiana	8-3	36
25	Winona State	4-3	34	17

RV: Charleston (23), UAH (22), Grand Valley State (19), West Florida (15), Oklahoma Christian (11), Coker (5), Southern New Hampshire (5), St. Cloud State (4), Western Oregon (3), Mississippi College (1).

IT'S REAL STARTING NOW: The 2020 Biola Softball season has added significance in that it's the Eagles' first as full members in NCAA Division II. Back on July 12, 2019 the Biola campus received a call from the NCAA Division II Membership Committee notifying BU of its successful completion of the membership transition process. The change became official as of September 1 and now Biola is officially eligible for NCAA postseason play, national and regional rankings and official NCAA postseason honors. The Eagles will be competing for a chance to compete at NCAA Division II regionals, super regionals and finals at the end of the season. The PacWest Conference does not currently host a postseason conference tournament, making a postseason appearance all the more meaningful. Last season, Concordia Irvine went 47-8 overall and 30-3 in PacWest Conference play to represent the conference in NCAA postseason. The Eagles of Irvine rode the arm of Callie Nunes, the reigning PacWest Pitcher of the Year and first-team All-American, all the way to the Super Regional final, where they came up short 4-3 against UC San Diego. 

UPCOMING MILESTONES:
Tori Apodaca - 100 games played (87)
Tori Apodaca - 100 putouts (82)
Paige Austin - 400 IP (305)
Paige Austin - 40 wins (33)
Paige Austin - 50 starts (32)
Paige Austin - 25 complete games (21)
Paige Austin - 10 saves (9)
Paige Austin - 500 strikeouts (347)
Paige Austin - 1,500 batters faced (1,329)
Paula Damas - 25 wins (19)
Paula Damas - 100 appearances (74)
Paula Damas - 40 starts (30)
Paula Damas - 300 IP (225.1)
Paula Damas - 150 strikeouts (107)
Paula Damas - 1,000 batters faced (1,057)
Ari Gonzales - 50 games played (49)
Ari Gonzales - 100 putouts (73)
Haley Martinez - 100 games played (100)
Jennifer Morinishi - 100 IP (61.2)
Jennifer Morinishi - 500 batters faced (304)
Jennifer Morinishi - 50 games played (52)
Ruth Munoz - 100 games played (98)
Ruth Munoz - 75 runs scored (71)
Ruth Munoz - 100 hits (86)
Ruth Munoz - 50 walks (37)
Ruth Munoz - 200 putouts (179)
Ruth Munoz - 200 assists (129)
Kayla Neff - 150 games played (145)
Kayla Neff - 100 runs scored (71)
Kayla Neff - 200 hits (151)
Kayla Neff - 50 doubles (41)
Kayla Neff - 20 homeruns (14)
Kayla Neff - 100 RBI (86)
Kayla Neff - 50 walks (48)
Kayla Neff - 800 putouts (695)
Kayla Neff - 100 assists (82)
Kylie Velasco - 100 games played (78)
Kylie Velasco - 100 putouts (89)
Kylie Velasco - 100 assists (67)

NEXT WEEK: at Hawaii Hilo (5-7, 0-0 PacWest) - Monday March 2 at 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. PT & Tuesday March 3 at 2 p.m. & 4 p.m. PT; at Hawaii Pacific (7-4; 2-0 PacWest) - Thursday March 5 at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. PT & Friday March 6 at 3 p.m. & 5 p.m. PT; at Chaminade (2-2, 0-2 PacWest) - Monday March 9 at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. PT & Tuesday March 10 at 12:30 p.m. & 2:30 p.m. PT