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Scoreboard

Sicili Brittingham hits ball
Kyla McGuire
3
Winner Biola University BU-SB 13-3
2
Hawaii Pacific HPU 11-9
Winner
Biola University BU-SB
13-3
3
Final
2
Hawaii Pacific HPU
11-9
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Biola University BU-SB 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 9 0
Hawaii Pacific HPU 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 7 1

W: Austin, Paige (9-1) L: Wilson, Megan (1-1)

Game Recap: Softball |

As Close As Can Get

Biola extends its lead with some insurance in the top of the 7th, cashes that in during bottom half.

KANEOHE, Hawaii --- It was another heart-pounding battle for Biola Softball as its 2020 Hawaiian road trip continued in successful fashion at Hawaii Pacific on Thursday. The Eagles stranded the game-tying runner at second base in the bottom of the seventh to hang on and beat HPU 3-2. 

Biola got its first two runs on the board early, and it seemed like it would be enough to get the job done as Paige Austin continued her mastery over PacWest Conference hitters. 

Ruth Munoz began Biola's offense by first-pitch swinging in the top of the first. She turned around the very first pitch of the ballgame and placed it right over the center fielder's head for a double to get Biola going right away. 

Munoz would later score on a wild pitch to give Biola its early 1-0 lead. That would be all the scoring for either side as both teams left runners on base between the first and fourth innings until Biola finally got one more to touch home plate.
 
Again, getting the leadoff batter on base was key as the Eagles executed their small ball. Rilee Ruvalcaba led-off the top of the fourth with a single, before a sacrifice bunt and groundout to the right side advanced her to third base with two away.

Jennifer Morinishi took a 2-1 pitch right back up the middle allowing Ruvalcaba to come home and score the game's second run. 
 
HPU got runners in scoring position in the fourth and had their bases loaded in the fifth inning, but Austin and her defense managed some heroics to escape both situations unscathed. 
 
Keeping with the theme of leadoff production, it worked in favor of the Sharks in their half of the sixth inning. Hawaii Pacific got a leadoff solo homerun from their catcher to tighten the game to 2-1.

Despite getting one more runner on base later in their sixth inning, HPU would go down without and furth damage, thanks in large part to a successful back-pick from Kayla Neff to Kiana Meriales.

A one-out double from Kylie Velasco gave Biola its first chance at extending the lead in quite awhile. The junior second baseman was pushed to third base following a deep fly ball by Neff, which served as a functional sacrifice fly. 

Sicili Brittingham slashed an 0-1 pitch right through the ss-3b gap to bring home Velasco and give Biola its breathing room at 3-1 headed into HPU's last at-bats.
 
As it turns out, Biola would need ever sliver of that breathing room as the rain began to come down in bunches at Howard A. Okita field. The Sharks' DP led-off their seventh inning with a double to deep right-center. 

A groundout to shortstop and a strikeout had it looking like the Eagles were in good position to wiggle out with a win. With two outs though, the HPU no. 2 hitter doubled to that same outfield gap to score the DP and put herself on second base with the chance to tie the game.

That double brought into full focus the impact of having Kayla Neff at catcher. Just before that double was hit, the strikeout that made the second out of the inning happened to be a pitch in the dirt. It was against the very speedy HPU leadoff batter forcing a near-perfect throw from Neff to beat her by a half-step.

Had Neff and Meriales not connected on that play, the game likely would've been tied already at 3-3 on the no. 2 batter's double. 

Instead, Austin was afforded an opportunity to work out of trouble with two outs and that runner on second base. It took her seven pitches to do it, but ultimately the Eagles' staff ace got a swing and miss on a 3-2 pitch to end the game with Biola in the lead, 3-2.
 
The win improves Biola to 13-3 overall and 8-1 in PacWest Conference competition. The loss drops the Sharks to 11-9 overall and 6-5 in conference games.

The two teams have three more games scheduled between Thursday and Friday in Kaneohe. The second game of Thursday's doubleheader can be followed at https://athletics.biola.edu/sidearmstats/softball/summary.  
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