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The Official Athletic Site of the Biola University Eagles

Scoreboard

Huddle before Regionals
Neil Morgan
3
Northwest Nazarene NNU 31-13
4
Winner BIOLA BU-SB 20-13
Northwest Nazarene NNU
31-13
3
Final
4
BIOLA BU-SB
20-13
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Northwest Nazarene NNU 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 4 2
BIOLA BU-SB 1 0 0 3 0 0 X 4 5 0

W: Austin, Paige (11-5) L: Booth (16-4)

Game Recap: Softball | | Ethan McGarvey, Assistant Sports Information Director

Moving On

In its first appearance in the NCAA DII West Regional Championships, Biola defeated NNU in a 4-3 nail-biter.


IRVINE, Calif. --- The Eagles did not disappoint in their opening act of the NCAA DII West Regional Championships. A Thursday afternoon matchup resulted in a 4-3 victory for second-seeded No. 24 Biola against third-seeded Northwest Nazarene.

PacWest Coach of the Year Nikki Udria was happy with how Biola played on Thursday saying, "I'm very proud with the way we competed and hopefully getting that one game underneath our belt set the tone and allows us to play a little bit more free."

The scoring began in the opening frame for Biola with Ruth Munoz touching home on a Brie Nowak hit up the middle. Munoz reached base by way of a walk and took advantage of a NNU error to move to second, before advancing to third on a groundout.

The BU offense was effective with plenty of singles and good baserunning in the fourth inning. The mid-game surge proved crucial for the Eagles, as the team strung together four base hits and three runs. 

Kylie Velasco led the way with a single to start the fourth. Madison Blossey kept things moving with a sacrifice bunt, allowing Velasco to reach third with a savvy play on the base paths. Rilee Ruvalcaba followed up with an RBI single to right field to spark the scoring output.

The rally continued with singles from Allie Beck and Jennifer Morinishi, helping BU add two more runs. Morinishi notched two RBI with her base hit, giving Biola a 4-0 lead with three innings remaining.

NNU came alive in the sixth frame, launching a three-run homer to reduce its deficit to just one run.

Unable to score in the sixth, Biola needed to hold the Nighthawks scoreless through the final frame to secure the victory. A leadoff double and a subsequent bunt threatened quickly for NNU, placing a runner on third with a one out.

With the game on the line, Ruth Munoz stepped up with the defensive play of the game. The shortstop fielded a ground ball and threw home to nab the potential game-tying run at the plate. The second out of the inning halted the NNU momentum, as the final batter flew out to end the contest.

Leading into the huge defensive highlight, Munoz kept a positive mindset, "I kept telling myself, 'my team needs me to step up to be big,'" said Munoz. "I heard their coach say, 'Go, go!', so I said, 'okay I got you then.'" 

Paige Austin tallied the win from the circle, dealing a complete game on Thursday. The junior was basically untouchable, recording 11 strikeouts in her 11th victory of the season. 

The righty hurler kept a potent NNU offense silent for six of seven innings in the spectacular performance. The impressive strikeout total proved to be the seventh double-digit strikeout effort of the year for Austin.

Abie Nowak provided the only BU hit outside of the fourth inning, smacking a double in the third.

Biola will continue its postseason run on Friday, taking on fifth-seeded Hawaii Hilo in the winners bracket at 12:00 pm.
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