Softball

Rain Wins, But So Do Eagles and Golden Eagles

Weather cancels games throughout southern California, but there still is a start to the 2024 season with Biola and Concordia winning the first weekly awards

Unseasonable and unreasonable weather in southern California created havoc on the opening weekend for softball, but PacWest teams worked around the challenges and got some games in. Biola came away with a 2-1 record and a win over a nationally ranked team to earn Team of the Week and Pitcher of the Week. Concordia's Missy Nemeth swatted her way to the first Player of the Week award. 

2024 Results/Schedule
2024 Standings
2024 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Concordia's Missy Nemeth, 1B, Gr., 6-1, L/R, Glendora, Calif.                                                                        
Missy Nemeth looked to be in midseason form during a wet opening weekend in Irvine. The Concordia slugger hit .353 (6-for-17) in five games with a robust nine RBI and two home runs, including a walk-off against San Francisco State. A chunk of that offense came during a 6-1 win over Western Oregon when the 6-foot-1 first baseman went 3-for-3 with the home run and five runs batted in. The sixth-year Golden Eagle had an on-base percentage of .476 with two walks and two hit by pitch. To begin 2024, the southern California native has more than twice the number of RBI than anyone else in the PacWest. 

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Biola’s Raylene Roybal, RHP, Sr., 5-3, Pico Rivera, Calif.                                                                            
Biola’s Raylene Roybal picked up where she left off in 2023 with a good weekend in the pitcher's circle and the batter's box. She pitched the Eagles to victory during a 5-0 shutout of San Francisco State, tossing 6.2 innings and allowing only four hits, three walks and she fanned six Gators. SFSU hit just .167 against the righthander and Roybal did not allow an extra base hit. Offensively, she hit .500 in two games (3-for-6) with a home run against Oklahoma Christian to help the Eagles to a 3-2 win. Last spring, the Pico Rivera native was a First Team All-PacWest outfielder and a Second Team pitcher. She was also a NFCA/Rawlings Gold Glove award winner. 

EAGLES TOP EAGLES TO EARN TEAM OF THE WEEK: The PacWest Team of the Week is the BIOLA EAGLES. Biola went 2-1 on the week, working around rain outs, and that included a 3-2 victory over the No. 16 ranked Oklahoma Christian Eagles. Biola also shut down San Francisco State 5-0, before losing to Western Oregon 4-0. Raylene Roybal tossed a shutout against the Gators (see Pitcher of the Week) while also hitting the go-ahead home run in the fifth inning against OCU. DJ Simmons picked up the win in relief against the other Eagles with three strong innings, allowing only two hits and no runs.  

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: No. 14 nationally ranked Concordia went 3-2 on the week, with both of their losses coming by one run. The Golden Eagles beat San Francisco State (5-2), Western Oregn (6-1) and Stanislaus State (4-2) and lost to Oklahoma Christian (4-3) and Western Washington (3-2). The battle with GNAC power WWU went 12 innings, the longest game in the D-II era of Concordia history...Azusa Pacific lost a trio of games but Katie Korstrom was sharp in the pitcher's circle. In an extra inning loss to CS Monterey Bay, the senior pitched eight innings, did not allow an earned run and scattered seven hits. She also fanned seven...Academy of Art split four games with future PacWest member Menlo, with three Urban Knights getting off to a fast start offensively. Alexis Folks was 7-for-12, Haley Randall went 6-for-13 and Audrey Allen went 7-for-16...Dominican played three one-run games, losing to CS San Bernardino (2-1) and Northwest Nazarene (3-2), while defeating CS Dominguez Hills, 5-4...Hawai`i Pacific went 1-3 in southern California but upset Oklahoma Christian, 3-1.

THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: Rain, rain, go away. Some games this week have already been cancelled or postponed (Monday and Tuesday), with hopes that things will dry out in California by Wednesday. Hawai`i Hilo will be in Tucson to open their season at the Cactus Classic, while Sonoma State will host Academy of Art and Dominican at a tournament in northern California. Meanwhile in SoCal, Biola, Azusa Pacific and Concordia will try and play Montana State Billings, Western Oregon, CS Dominguez Hills and CS San Bernardino--not in that order. To stay up to date, visit the PacWest schedule page by clicking here.