IRVINE, Calif. -- The top-seeded Concordia softball team won its first game of the 2019 NCAA West Regional on Thursday, beating Concordia-Portland 3-2 as Erika Morris threw four shutout innings in relief to earn the win at the Concordia Softball Field.

The Eagles (45-6) got all three of their runs on one swing of the bat by McKinsey Thorpe, who hit a three-run shot for her first home run of the season. The hosts advance to the semifinal game in the winner's bracket, playing against No. 4 seed San Francisco State at 10 a.m. on Friday. The Cavaliers (31-23) will play Western Oregon to stay alive in the tournament at 1:30 p.m.

“We brought a lot of energy today, which I was happy with,” head coach Cyrstal Rosenthal said. “We’ve been off for a while. You never know how that will affect you, so we did a really good job coming out and playing our game.”

Courtney Somers got the Cavs on the board with a solo home run, taking an inside pitch from Callie Nunes over the left-field fence for an early 1-0 lead in the second inning. However, that didn't last long with Thorpe hitting her home run in the bottom half of that inning. A four-pitch walk and then a single up the middle put two runners on, and Thorpe cashed in to take a 3-2 lead.

In the third inning, the Cavaliers continued to hit the ball well against Nunes, who threw a no-hitter the last time she took on this lineup. A leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt put Macy Besuyen on second base. An infield single and a walk then loaded up the bases with just one out. Marissa Stockton took a 2-1 pitch out to deep centerfield, where Heather Nonora made a great play to record the out and only allow one run to score.

Morris entered the game in the fourth inning and pitched the rest of the way, allowing no runs to narrowly preserve the one-run lead. She allowed just one hit and struck out three of the 14 batters faced.
 
“The ball was up for Callie, and Erika throws the ball down, so I was really confident in her,” Rosenthal said of the decision to go with Morris for the final four innings of the game. “She’s thrown a lot of big games for us this year, and her pitches have a really different look from what Callie throws.”
 
The Cavaliers threatened in the sixth inning after a leadoff double by Stockton. Morris retired the next two batters with groundouts to have two outs and the tying run on third base. The first pitch that Morris threw was lined back up the middle by Chelsea Sligh, but Sarah Kretschmar moved to her left to make a shoestring catch that preserved the lead. In the seventh inning, Morris got some more help from her infield with Thorpe diving to her left to save a grounder from rolling into right field as she got up to make the throw in time for the out.
 
“I pitch to groundballs, and Sarah came up with an awesome line drive catch, and Thorpe had my back in the last inning,” Morris said. “It’s a big deal for me to have those two middle infielders there for me always.”

In the final out of the game, the All-West Region pitcher didn't need any help as she struck out the final batter looking for the 3-2 in. Friday's meeting with San Francisco State will be the second time Concordia has faced the Gators. The two teams met just over a month ago at the Tournament of Champions, where the Eagles won 7-1 as Nunes outpitched Emily Mitchell for her 20th win of the season.