Biola’s softball team matched up against the Azusa Pacific Cougars, an out-of-conference team, in a doubleheader on April 2, looking to go into Easter break on a positive note. APU spoiled those hopes, taking the series 2-0, winning the first game 2-1 and the second 8-1. Biola came back after break ready to fight, and Hope International found themselves in the Eagles’ crosshairs. Biola ended up getting the 2-0 series sweep and the series shutout, only their second in the season. The first game ended 8-0 in Biola’s favor and the second ended 4-0 for the Eagles. With those four games, the Eagles sit at second in the Golden State Athletic Conference at 12-4 and an overall record of 28-12.
The first game of the APU series started out slowly, with the first run coming in the fourth inning. Freshman Selina Sherlin claimed that honor for Biola, smashing a home run over the left center field wall, her seventh for the season. Senior Reba Depriest started on the mound for Biola and shut down the Cougars’ offense in five innings.
It was the sixth and seventh innings where APU did the damage, scoring a run in the sixth to tie. Biola could not score a go-ahead run in the top of the seventh, so it all came down to the bottom of the seventh. Depriest got the first two batters to ground out, but then the Cougars’ Renae Chappelle stepped up to the plate and hit a walk-off homer on a 1-2 count to give the Cougars the victory.
Game two of the series turned out to be one the Eagles will hope to forget, as they committed 10 defensive errors and only scored one run despite seven hits in an 8-1 blowout loss. APU only earned two of their runs, with the other six coming off uncharacteristic errors by Biola.
Biola got on the board after a single from junior Heather Hall brought home senior Brooke Madrid. That was all they would get, stranding a total of 10 base runners throughout the game. APU took advantage of Biola’s wavering defense, and scored two in the first, one in the second, four in the third and one in the fourth to give them their total of eight runs.
The Eagles came back from break and demolished the Hope International Royals on April 13. The first game was only five innings long, with Biola leading by eight to call into effect the run-rule. Sherlin led off the scoring again with her eighth homer of the season, putting her into a tie with Hall for the lead on the team. Sophomore Sarah Stromwall got four RBIs and crossed the plate once. All offense, plus a few more runs, translated into a decisive 8-0 victory.
The second game was closer, but still resulted in a shutout by Biola. Senior Ashley Spadt knocked home sophomore Kasey Hormel to start the scoring in the top of the second. They would not score again until the sixth inning, when Stromwall again came up big with a two-run double, then was knocked home off a single from junior Iliana Morales. HIU could not come up with an answer offensively and the game ended 4-0.
“We did really well with hitting runners in when they were in scoring position,” said Morales. “We have been practicing a lot on pressure situations and saw that it paid off.”
The Eagles’ next opponent is the William Jessup Warriors, a team ranked second-to-last on the GSAC leaderboards. Jessup is on a four game winning streak and will see if they can keep it alive when they travel to Biola’s Freedom Field on Friday at 2 p.m. for the first game of a doubleheader.
