IRVINE, Calif. -- Concordia and Academy of Art both won five games last week to move into first place in their respective pods, including splits for both teams against Northwest Nazarene, which had the most overall wins of any GNAC team going into the week.
 
Some of the top West Region teams from the GNAC, the PacWest’s NorCal Pod and SoCal Pod were all in the Bay Area this week for what might be a preview of matchups in the NCAA West Regional in May. For Concordia, it was a dominant performance among some of the region’s best teams. After sweeping a doubleheader at Azusa Pacific on Tuesday, Concordia went on to win three of four games against Dominican and Northwest Nazarene. The Eagles scored seven runs in the third inning of the final game to conclude the week with an 11-2 win against Northwest Nazarene.
 
Academy of Art also split its two games against Northwest Nazarene in a pair of one-run games. The Urban Knights surrendered a 3-0 lead in the top of the seventh inning, but then came back with three runs in the bottom of the seventh and won 6-5 on a walk-off RBI-single up the middle by Haley Randall to score Lauryn Henderson.
 
Today, Academy of Art and Concordia will face each other for the first time in a doubleheader. The Urban Knights enter the pair of games with a five-game winning streak, while Concordia has a league-best 17 overall wins.
 
In Hawai`i, the Vulcans remain comfortably in the lead after winning three of four against Chaminade to extend their lead to 4.5 games. Leah Gonzales helped Hawai`i Hilo win both games on Sunday in shutouts to improve to 10-1 on the season.
 
Weekly awards for the week of April 5-11
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Lauryn Henderson, Academy of Art
C, Jr., 5-9 -- Gilbert, Ariz.
Henderson reached base safely in 16 of 22 plate appearances last week with eight hits and eight walks. In four-consecutive games, she reached base safely at least three times in each game. She finished the week 8 for 14 with a home run, triple, three doubles, nine RBIs and 10 runs scored. In the series opener against Holy Names, Henderson went 3 for 4 with three runs, three RBIs, two doubles, a home run and a walk. In the third game, she walked in all four of her plate appearances, including a bases-loaded walk.
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Leah Gonzales, Hawai`i Hilo
RHP, Sr., 5-7 -- Wilmington, Calif.
Gonzales made her second and third appearances of the season on Sunday and threw 12 scoreless innings to lead the Vulcans to a pair of wins against Chaminade. They were Gonzales’ first two wins of the season and they brought her ERA down to 0.82 for the year. She threw a 3-hit shutout with five strikeouts and no walks in the first game of the doubleheader. Then she came back in the nightcap to throw five more shutout innings with just two hits allowed and four strikeouts with no walks.
 
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Haley Randall, Academy of Art
INF, Fr., 5-6 -- Walnut Creek, Calif.
Randall helped Academy of Art win five games in a row last week and extended her hitting streak to 13 games. In the series opener against Holy Names, Randall finished a triple away from the cycle, going 4 for 5 with three RBIs and two runs. On the week, she went 9 for 19 with 10 RBIs, leading the conference in RBIs for the week. She has now recorded at least one RBI in eight-consecutive games. She is now batting .426 on the season with four home runs and 20 RBIs.