Box Score
DENVER, Colo. --- Due to rain, it took two dates on the calendar, but Biola got it done. The Eagles made another big statement in game one of the NCAA Division II Championship Series scoring runs in the first, second, third and fourth innings to defeat West Texas A&M 5-0.

Paige Austin extended her unparalleled dominance out to 26.1 scoreless innings at the NCAA Division II Softball Championships. She's now thrown 29.1 scoreless innings in a row dating back to her final start at the Irvine regional.

Head Coach Nikki Udria's Eagles struck first by manufacturing one run in the bottom of the first inning late Sunday evening, before the game was suspended due to inclement weather. 

In Sunday's pouring rain, WTAMU's no. 1 starter struggled against Biola in that first inning. She plunked Ruth Munoz, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on an Abie Nowak groundout.

After a night at the hotel and some more waiting around Monday morning, Biola found a way to strike first once by jumping right back on Kyra Lair. Kylie Velasco hit a screaming line drive down the left-field line to lead the second inning off with a double. Similar to last night, it was a sacrifice bunt which set up a quick one-out runner on third for BU. A Madison Blossey sacrifice fly doubled the BU lead and got the dugout locked right back in quickly.

Austin set the Lady Buffs down in order in the top of the third to bring the Biola bats up to the plate for what turned into another big inning. Biola cracked four hits, forced a West Texas A&M error and drove in two more runs in their third inning to take firm control of the game. A two-out RBI single by Rilee Ruvalcaba was the latest addition to the clutch hitting BU's found all tournament long.

The Lady Buffs got their first hit of the game in the top of the fourth, but it was a single with two outs that amounted to no threat as Madison Johnson struck out swinging to move things into the bottom half.

Austin definitely had her strikeout stuff working in this one against some aggressively-swinging Lady Buffs. She had a tournament-high six strikeouts when all was said and done, two of which were inning-enders. Conversely, Biola's hitters only struck out once (against three different pitchers) while racking up nine hits to push across their four runs.

The Lady Buffs, which came into the day with a team batting average over .333, were limited to four singles in this one. Some fantastic outfield play from Jennifer Morinishi in left and Allie Beck in right were a big reason for the lack of luck for the Lady Buffs.

Beck had a highlight play to end the sixth inning, diving with full extension to rob Gabriella Valforte, the Buffs' hottest hitter of the last few games. Morinishi put up a highlight of her own to end the game by ranging far to her left and making a backhanded snag of a hotly-hit liner.

The Eagles are now just one victory away from the school's first-ever NCAA Division II National Championship. The second game of this series is scheduled for just after 2:30 p.m. PT on Monday. If necessary, a third game would be played early on Tuesday.

Follow the game two action live at NCAA.com.