IRVINE, Calif. – Despite Callie Nunes having allowed just one hit through six innings, Concordia needed to come back from behind, and Michelle Lieng delivered with a two-run go-ahead home run to lead the Eagles to a 5-3 win over San Francisco State on Friday at the Concordia Softball Field.
 
The Eagles (46-6) got four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, starting with Lieng’s shot to left field before Nunes closed the door on her 32nd win of the season. San Francisco State (39-19) will play again on Friday, needing a win to advance to the Saturday final against Concordia.
 
“It was a really good game. San Francisco State played really well as you would expect at this time of the year,” Concordia head coach Crystal Rosenthal said. “I thought Callie threw a great game. Something that we are used to this year is staying in the game and battling back. What resiliency from my team and for Callie to keep us in that game and keep grinding.”
 
The Eagles got on the board first on Sarah Kretschmar’s RBI single to left field in the second inning. After Amanda Gjertsen reached on an error, she advanced to second base on a deep fly out to leftfield. Then Kretschmar hit a sharp ground ball on the left side, and as soon as the ball tipped off the third baseman’s glove, Rosenthal waved Gjertsen home for the first run of the game.
 
Nunes was working on a no-hitter in the fourth inning with two strikeouts already, when Nina Revoir broke up the no-hitter with a long home run to left-center field for a 2-1 lead for the Gators. Nunes got a strikeout and then got the next batter to foul out on the first pitch to get out of the inning quickly.
 
Emily Mitchell had put three zeroes on the board in a row and had two outs with nobody on in the sixth inning as the Eagles were just four outs away from taking out the tournament’s No. 1 seed. Gjertsen worked a walk to keep the inning alive before Lieng delivered the go-ahead homer on a 1-1 pitch to take a 3-2 lead.
 
“I thought that in my previous at-bats, I was on the ball,” Lieng said. “I was really excited for this opportunity for a third chance to face this pitcher. She brought it inside, and I just turned on it.”
 
The two-out rally continued with Kretschmar’s bunt single and stolen base. Then back-to-back doubles by McKinsey Thorpe and Lauren Lopez drove in two more runs for a more comfortable 5-2 lead. In total, the bottom four spots in the Concordia lineup went a combined 7 for 12 with five RBIs.
 
“There were two big things that don’t jump out on the stat sheet,” Ronenthal said. “The first was Amanda’s walk before the home run. The second was Sarah’s steal after she bunted to get on when then created a chance for us to get some more runs. Like I told them, in the playoffs, every out and every run is super important.”
 
In the top of the seventh inning, Katelyn Strum hit the Gators’ second home run of the day and then a double by Lehua Deleon brought the potential tying run to the plate. Nunes got the next batter to pop up to third base for the second out of the inning. Then for the second game in a row, Concordia finished it with a strikeout as Nunes retired the final batter swinging to secure the 5-3 win. Nunes is now just two wins away from the PacWest single-season wins record.