SAN MARCOS, Calif. — Biola's season came to an end in gut-wrenching fashion, falling 6–3 to Cal State San Marcos in 11 innings at CSUSM Softball Field in Game 2 of the NCAA Division II West Super Regional. It was a heavyweight fight from start to finish as both teams left it all on the field in this winner-take-all battle.
DJ Symons had her A+ stuff working as she got the call to start this championship match. She put zeros on the board in each of the first four innings, helping Biola maintain a lead late into regulation.
Biola took that lead in their half of the second inning when
Mikala Huskey scored after singling, moving forward on a sacrifice, stealing third and taking home on an error.
Overall, Symons would toss eight innings in this one, throwing the first seven innings and then coming back to get all three outs in the 11th.
The senior had the strikeout stuff going, which injected so much energy into the Biola bench early on. She struck out three batters in the first inning — working around a double by Jillian Albayati — before settling into a rhythm and keeping the Cougars off the scoreboard through those first four frames.
The Cougars tied it in the fifth off a walk, a sacrifice, and then an RBI base hit.
Symons continued to work out of trouble. In the seventh, an early runner reached on a throwing error, got bunted to second, but Symons got a flyout and another flyout to strand the runner at third.
This shifted the game into the bottom half of the seventh and gave BU its first of what would be quite a few chances to walk the game off.
Biola loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh when Lillianna Garcia doubled to center field, Huskey walked, and Lizzie Byer singled through the left side. But the Cougars escaped without damage as Tsue popped up to shortstop and Cami Lara hit into a deflating and improbable double play - a lineout to center field that doubled off Huskey at second - to end the threat.
Kayla Bousquette came on in relief in the eighth. She worked around a leadoff single, retiring the next two batters on a foul out and a popout to keep Biola's deficit at zero. She then worked around a leadoff single in the ninth, inducing a sacrifice bunt, a groundout, and a popout to keep it again tied at 1–1.
The Cougars took the lead in the top of the 10th. A leadoff hit-by-pitch made the difference in that frame. That runner was bunted to second, and scored on a two-out single up the middle by CSUSM's member of the Huskey family, Malaia Huskey. This made it 2–1 and shifted pressure back on BU.
Biola answered immediately in the bottom of the 10th. Tsue singled to right field, Ariana Banos reached on a fielder's choice to move Tsue to second, and Leilani Salgado laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners. With two outs, Alexa Medley Sheard's grounder to shortstop was bobbled, and Tsue scored on the error to tie it at 2–2.
After all the punches and counter-punches the 11th inning proved to be the final round.
Bousquette issued a leadoff walk, which was followed by a single up the middle to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Biola issued a fourth intentional walk to CSUSM's No. 3 batter to load the bases.
At that point, Symons re-entered the circle. A hard-hit ground ball was handled by
Kennadie Tsue, but the only out she could make was at third, which allowed the go-ahead run to score and make it 3–2. With two outs and runners on first and second, Siu tripled to left center field on a lazy fly ball that glanced off the edge of
Jackie Ibarra's glove and cleared the bases. That made it 6-2.
The Eagles didn't go quietly. Garcia walked to start the bottom of the 11th and Huskey followed with an infield single to second base. Byer grounded out to advance both runners. Then Tsue grounded out to shortstop, driving in a pinch runner to make it 6–3. Banos walked, but Salgado grounded out to second to end the game and the season.
Symons finished with eight innings of work, allowing two runs (one earned) on nine hits with eight strikeouts. Bousquette took the loss, going three innings and allowing four runs (all earned) on four hits with three walks.
Huskey and Kendall Nakano each finished 2-for-4 to lead Biola's offense, while Garcia went 1-for-4 with a double and a walk. Tsue had the Eagles' lone RBI. The Eagles finished with eight hits in the game.
Biola's season ends with a 42–23 record. The 2026 campaign was one for the record books, including a program-record 16-game winning streak and a run to the team's first NCAA Division II West Super Regional. Seniors Symons, Banos, Bousquette, Cami Lara, and team manager Paige Gonzalez leave behind a lasting legacy, and head coach Kristin Halte and her staff guided this group to new heights throughout the year.
