IRVINE, Calif. -- Concordia has done a lot of things well to finish the conference season with a 29-3 record, which is the fourth-best in PacWest history, but it has been the pitching for the Eagles that has stood out the most during their run to a third-consecutive PacWest title.
 
Concordia finished the regular season with a 1.01 earned run average as a team, crushing a 12-year old record set by Hawai`i Pacific at 1.14 in 2010 when the Sharks won the national title.
 
Going into the season, only one pitcher had ever recorded an ERA below 1.00 in PacWest history, and that was Callie Nunes at 0.74 in 2018. This year however, three pitchers currently have ERAs under 1.00, including Paige Austin who has tied Nunes’ record from 2018. The other two pitchers are Concordia’s Erika Morris at 0.92 and Cortney Koelmans at 0.99 for the Eagles. In fact, all four of the Eagles pitchers have ERAs that would rank in the top-10 in PacWest history with Katlin Entrup at 1.12 and Rae Flores at 1.22. All four of the Eagles’ pitchers have at least eight wins this season and 70 innings pitched.
 
Azusa Pacific split its doubleheader with Concordia on Saturday to become just the second PacWest team to have won against Concordia this year. The Cougars led the first game 1-0 when Sydney Sprinkle blasted a go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to win 2-1. In the second game, Sydnie Sahhar threw a four-hit shutout with four strikeouts for Azusa Pacific to earn her ninth win of the season.
 
Azusa Pacific is now in strong position to earn an at-large into the NCAA West Regional. Concordia has already secured the PacWest’s automatic berth and could also receive the right to host, while Biola remains on the bubble.
 
Weekly awards for the week of April 25-May 1
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Noel Saunders, Hawai`i Pacific
OF, Jr., 5-2 -- Pearl City, Hawaii
Saunders hit her first home run of the season last week and she made it count. Saunders launched a go-ahead two-run home run into rightfield in the top of the 10th inning to lead the Sharks to a 5-3 victory and doubleheader sweep against Hawai`i Hilo. Saunders also hit two doubles in that game to finish 3 for 5. The home run was her first of the season and she entered the game with just 11 extra-base hits all year before hitting three in one game. In the second game of the doubleheader, Saunders helped start a four-run inning in the fifth to help the Sharks come from behind. She hit a single into centerfield to load the bases and came around to score what ended up being the game-winning run. She also had an RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to add an insurance run to the 5-2 victory.
 
PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Paige Austin, Biola
RHP, Sr., 5-5 -- Los Alamitos, Calif.
Austin pitched what may have been the last outing of her decorated collegiate career as she retired four batters in a row on 14 pitches with two strikeouts in a relief appearance against Academy of Art. She pitched in all four games as the Eagles won three of them with Austin earning two wins and a save, pitching 16 shutout innings with 30 strikeouts, with just four walks and three hits allowed. She opened the week with an 11-strikeout no-hitter in five innings and then threw a two-hitter with 15 strikeouts in seven innings. This is her fifth PacWest Pitcher of the Week award this season and the 11th of her career, finishing in second place all-time. Austin has 205 strikeouts this season, which is the fifth-most in a single season in PacWest history. Austin will rank as one of the best pitchers in PacWest history with a career total of 71 wins with 776 strikeouts in 661 innings pitched. Her career earned run average is 1.36 with a 0.74 earned-run average this season, which ties the PacWest record.