LA MIRADA, Calif. —- Elation turned to heartbreak during game two at Freedom Field on Saturday. Biola Softball took four straight walks to begin the first inning and managed to push five across in that frame alone. The Eagles extended the lead to 6-0, but then nine unanswered runs from Azusa Pacific allows the visiting Cougars to sweep the day with a 9-6 win.
It was a similar bunch of anti-heroes in game two as both Julia Doan and Caitlin Decanio left the yard for APU in their surprise come-from-behind effort.
Doan, the APU shortstop, was key in the Cougars' effort as she went 3-for-4 and factored in six of the nine APU runs. After three games against the Biola staff, it was clear that the Cougars got the timing down during this one. The visitors managed 13 hits to pile on nine runs from the third through seventh innings, erasing the Eagles' lead and a lot of smiles from the BU side.
All of the BU offense came in the first and second innings off big run-producing hits from
Kamryn Guthrie,
Mikala Huskey and yet another home run for freshman sensation
Kendall Nakano.
Unfortunately, after the second inning the BU side could no longer find success in moving its base runners all the way around to home plate.
It looked like BU may manufacture a run in the third inning, following a 4-piece from APU in the top half.
Kennadie Tsue led off the Eagles' inning with a base knock. She was retired on a fielder's choice off the bat of
Ariana Banos. Banos would move to third by the time the second out of the frame was made, but would get stuck there.
Between the fourth and seventh innings BU would manage five more runners into scoring position but never managed to push them across.
The biggest opportunity came in the bottom of the fifth inning, right after took the lead for the first time (8-6) with two runs of their own in the top half.
A Tsue single, Guthrie single and
Alexa Medley walk loaded the bases for Nakano with two outs in the inning. The trouble had forced APU Head Coach Carrie Weber to go back to the game one winner, Mia Carrillo. Carrillo dealt with the immense pressure of facing Nakano, retiring her to end the threat.
Biola would not be able to solve her for the rest of the game. APU picked up and insurance run in the top of the seventh and that was that.
The Cougars completely flipped the script from a disappointing Friday at their place, leaving the Eagles as the team disappointed today.
Biola drops to 23-12 overall and 15-4 in conference play following this pair of upsets. It was a sour end to what was otherwise a phenomenal week for BU, going 6-2.
The Eagles will have a chance to shake this day off when they travel to CSU San Bernardino (15-17) for a pair of non-conference contests on Tuesday.
