By: Neil Morgan, Associate Athletic Director
Box Score
DENVER, Colo. --- Head Coach
Nikki Udria's team continues to shock at the NCAA Division II Softball Finals. Well, they're shocking everyone except themselves, that is.
The Eagles flew high on Saturday night, dismissing No. 2 North Georgia in another dominant victory, using the 5-2 final to secure their spot as one of just two teams remaining with a chance at the 2021 NCAA Division II national title.
"I'm just extremely excited for this program and for the university," said Udria. "I'm proud of them for making it this far and excited to see what the future holds for us. Obviously like a nail biter there at the end and credit to North Georgia for putting up a good fight. They're a phenomenal team and coaching staff as well."
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Biola had to do a lot of waiting around at the hotel on Saturday morning until they were able to identify they were set for a rematch with the NightHawks of North Georgia. UNG defeated Saint Anselm in an elimination game earlier in the day to earn a shot at undefeated BU.
Paige Austin got the call for the third-straight day and had the UNG hitters once again dumbfounded. For the most part, Austin's movement was equating to big misses, check swing foul balls and can of corn pop ups as she worked five scoreless innings to extend her run to 19-straight scoreless on this national stage.
"Something I'm not sure that we've said is that that Biola represents the Bible Institute of Los Angeles," said
Paige Austin. "So, I don't think it's an accident that we're here. I just wanted to thank Him for this opportunity, and it's just really cool to see in the team."
Biola's hitters had to deal with a different look in this one as UNG opted to go with their No. 2 starter Laken Chambers, rather than their starter from two days ago. Chambers came into the game with a 14-0 overall record and a 0.66 ERA and ended the day with a 14-1 record and a 0.89 ERA.
The Eagles offense was seeing the ball big from the very first pitch against Chambers, getting good contact even on their outs with three balls put in play in the top of the first. The groove continued into the second inning as Kayla Neff and Brie Nowak recorded back-to-back singles to lead off the inning.
Biola couldn't get a run across in the second, but the two strikeouts from Austin in the bottom half of the inning sent BU back to the bat rack feeling fired up.Â
Madison Blossey continues to be a part of most of the scoring at this Softball Championship. The junior center fielder led off Biola's third with a triple to right field and got BU started in a big inning, similar to the first matchup between these two sides.
Blossey's triple was followed by an Allie Beck infield single, a productive Ruth Munoz RBI groundout before Abie Nowak was hit by a pitch in the back of the shoulder to set up two runners on and two outs for Kayla Neff.
Neff made the most of the thin air for the second-straight day, leaving the yard quickly with a no-doubt-about-it three-run shot to put Biola firmly in the lead at 4-0. The third inning Saturday matched the fifth inning of the Eagles' 4-0 Thursday victory.Â
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"Yeah. It was a big moment, but like the past couple of days, I haven't been trying to do anything big. Just see ball hit ball and not really thinking about mechanics," said Neff. "I'm so blessed to be a part of this program. Just like we've been saying the last couple of days, like these are my last couple of games. I remember, like coach said in the beginning of the season, writing down on that board we want to be national champions. And the past couple of weeks, that's just been running through my head and I have no doubt that this team can do that."
Austin immediately responded with a 1-2-3 bottom half of the third to keep momentum firmly in favor of the Eagles over the Hawks. Biola went down in order in the fourth inning and UNG managed to get runners to scoring position in the fourth and fifth but the BU defense held strong to record its 18th and 19th scoreless frames of the tournament.
With the big advantage, Udria took the sixth inning to turn to her ace-in-waiting Raylene Roybal. It was a big moment for Roybal to come in and get a bit of postseason experience in advance of their hopeful berth into the three-game championship series where Roybal would most definitely be needed.
The redshirt freshman set aside any and all nerves and was making really good pitches throughout one and two-thirds innings of work. She had to deal with a tightening strike zone, but didn't let it get to her even as North Georgia began making a bit of noise.
The NightHawks loaded the bases in the sixth, but back-to-back plays from Ruth Munoz kept UNG off the board. She first made a play on a ground ball and got the lead runner at the plate. Then, she followed up by ranging to her left to snag a line drive and keep the score at 4-0.Â
"My defense has been stellar behind our pitching staff and obviously making the big plays when they need to," said Udria. "I try to teach my girls on the infield and in the outfield. We made some great plays out there, cutting off balls and you know, play big when the moment in the game is on the line. I think our girls are thriving in those situations and wanting the balls hit to them, wanting to make big plays."
In the top of the seventh, Udria had a chance to make some substitutions and get some players their first action of the tournament. It turned out to be the best decision as the super subs combined to make an insurance run.
A lead-off walk from Haley Martinez was followed by a fielder's choice that allowed birthday girl Kaitlyn Hawkins to reach. Hawkins used some heads-up baserunning to go first to third on a Jennifer Morinishi single and later scored as Kiana Meriales got herself a pinch-hit RBI single.
That extra run turned out to be pretty important, if for no other reason than the relief that comes with a little wiggle room. UNG found a bit of a groove in the bottom of the seventh to really put the pressure on the Biola defense.Â
The scored two two-out runs to cause Udria to go back to the starter Paige Austin with the bases loaded and the Biola lead cut to three. Austin did what she's done all tournament long, took a deep breath, dug in and got the job done. She set down the UNG DP by way of a swinging strikeout to end the game and send Biola to its chance at a national title.
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"Paige is the backbone of this team and she leads us and keeps us in close ball games," said Udria. "There's nobody I have more confidence in than Paige to put the ball in her hands. I know the type of competitor that she is. We've been talking about it all week. And when she came back in the game I had all the confidence in her to get the job done with three runs to go, I knew that page only needed a batter to get it done."
"After the first couple balls I kind of looked to Ruth and I said, you know what? 'I got you.' And I kind of looked up and I said, you know what? 'God's got me.'" said Austin. "And that's when I knew, and I looked at coach Nikki, she looked at me and I said, 'okay, this is it.'"
For the third time in as many games, Biola out-hit its opponents en route to a win. This time, the Eagles had nine hits to the NightHawks' eight, helped out by two from Morinishi, two from Neff and two from Brie Nowak.
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"All the blessings that God has allowed to come to team 28 is just phenomenal," said Udria. "We are excited for our University. We're hoping to represent them well here, and I believe that we have. Also our Pacwest conference and representing them well and all that means."
Biola will begin the three-game national championship series against
West Texas A&M (41-11) at 10:30 a.m. PT on Sunday. The two teams will play one game Sunday and close out the championship series with an 11 a.m. PT start on Monday.
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