Hawaii Pacific won two huge games against island rival Chaminade, moving them up a slot to third place in the race for PacWest tournament qualification (top four teams). The Sharks are the Team of the Week. Holy Names’ Olivia Lee help lead her team to similar status with two wins over Academy of Art, keeping her team in contention. She is the Player of the Week. The Pitcher of the Week in Concordia’s Daniela Alvarez, who added two more wins for her conference-leading Golden Eagles, allowing just one earned run in 14 innings of work.

2023 Results/Schedule
2023 Standings
2023 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Holy Names’ Olivia Lee, OF, Jr., Concord, Calif.                                                                        
Junior outfielder Olivia Lee swung a hot bat for Holy Names as HNU swept Academy of Art. Lee drove in five runs in two games, in fact she did that in one game with a double and a triple during a 14-5 over the Urban Knights. For the twinbill, the left-handed hitter was 3-for-8 with three runs scored. The five RBI equaled the season high for one game by any player in the PacWest this season. Lee’s Hawks have now won three straight games (including a victory over conference-leading Concordia) to move to 8-9 and sixth place in the standings.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Concordia’s Daniela Alvarez, RHP, Gr., Santa Ana, Calif.                                                        
Concordia’s Daniela Alvarez wins her second Pitcher of the Week award this season after tossing her Golden Eagle team to a pair of wins. She shutout Biola (4-0) on two hits without allowing a walk or a hit batter, and also shut down Azusa Pacific during a 6-1 victory. Against the Cougars, she allowed only three hits and struck out six, giving her a line for the week that looked like this—14 innings, five hits, one earned run, no walks and nine strikeouts. For the season, the Providence (D-I) grad transfer is 8-2 with a 0.81 ERA and has four saves.

SHARKS BITE SILVERSWORDS TO CLIMB LADDER: The PacWest Team of the Week is the HAWAII PACIFIC SHARKS. Hawaii Pacific was one of only two teams this week to go unbeaten (Holy Names was the other) as they grabbed a pair of games from Chaminade. The Sharks won 4-3 and 7-3 contests to improve to 14-12 in PacWest play, good for third place. HPU walked it off in the first game, breaking a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the seventh after two walks and a looping single by Noel Saunders. The Sharks had 13 singles in the second game to provide enough offense for a 7-3 victory. Tiara Hernandez was 4-for-6 in the doubleheader, scoring four times and driving in a pair of runs. Saunders and Brandi Leong hit .500 in the two games for HPU, while Taylor Thompson and Hailey Yoshida pitched a pair of complete game victories, each allowing just three runs.

RACE FOR TOURNAMENT SLOTS UP IN THE AIR: The countdown is near, with just a little less than a month until the first-ever Pacific West Conference Championships in La Mirada (May 3-5). The top four teams in the final regular season standings qualify for the double-elimination tournament, with the winner of the championship earning the conference’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament. Here is how the standings look right now (through April 9), with PacWest records listed for each team. (1) Concordia 18-4, (2) Dominican 10-5, (3) Hawaii Pacific 14-12, (4) Azusa Pacific 10-10, (5) Biola 9-9, (6) Holy Names 8-9 (7) Chaminade 11-14, (8) Hawaii Hilo 7-12 (9) Academy of Art 3-15.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Holy Names hit .426 as a team in their games with Academy of Art…The Hawks also stole nine bases in nine attempts…In four games last week, Concordia had a team ERA of 1.21…Holy Names and Chaminade were both perfect in the field without an error in their doubleheaders…Azusa Pacific’s Katie Korstrom threw blanks at Concordia, shutting out the Golden Eagles 1-0 in eight innings. Korstrom gave up just five hits and improved to 14-4 on the season with a 1.56 ERA…Concordia’s Jocelyn Pino and HNU’s Giana Quintanar and Isabella Scozzola each went 4-for-8 last week (.500) in their twinbills. Pino also had a double and a home run.

THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: Every game is critical now in the PacWest as we head to the middle of April. Friday-Saturday four-game series include Holy Names at Biola, Academy of Art at Concordia and Dominican at Azusa Pacific. Hawaii Hilo is at Chaminade on Saturday and at Hawaii Pacific on Sunday. APU steps outside of conference play to host Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday.