Azusa Pacific secured second place with a doubleheader sweep with Aly Montesino leading the way at the plate. ART U's Vaughan pitched a gem in her final appearance of the season.

2024 Results/Schedule
2024 Standings
2024 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Azusa Pacific's Aly Montesino, Sr., DP/P, L/L, 5-6, Murrieta, Calif.                        
Azusa Pacific's Aly Montesino is listed as a pitcher on the Cougar roster but it was her bat that did the talking last week during a doubleheader sweep of Biola. The lefty designated player went 3-for-5 in the twinbill with two home runs, including a grand slam. She drove in six runs during the doubleheader, including five in the grand slam game, a 7-4 victory. The five RBI in one game was a career best for the fourth-year Cougar, who now has eight home runs on the season and 30 RBI.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Academy of Art's Kayla Vaughan, Fr., RHP, 5-6, San Diego, Calif.                        
Academy of Art's Kayla Vaughan saved the best performance of her freshman season for the last game of the year. The rookie righthander went a full seven innings, didn't allow a run, gave up just three hits and fanned eight as the Urban Knights shut out Dominican, 1-0. The San Diego native gave up just one extra base hit (double) and worked around three walks for the first complete game shutout of her career. She dotted the i and crossed the t with a strikeout to end the game. 

COUGARS CORNER EAGLES FOR DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP: The PacWest Team of the Week is the AZUSA PACIFIC COUGARS. The Cougars secured the #2 seed in the conference tournament with twinbill wins over Biola, 7-4 and 5-1. APU also won the softball Cornerstone Cup with the wins by taking three of four games against the Eagles this season. The Cougars are hot coming into the conference tournament having won six of their last seven games to improve to 28-17 on the season, and they finished 19-9 in the PacWest Conference. 

WE HAVE OUR FOUR: The field is set for the 2024 Pacific West Conference Softball Championships, May 1-3 at Penguin Field in San Rafael, Calif. After 28 regular season games, this is the slate for this coming Wednesday
Noon--#1 Concordia (36-12) vs. #4 Biola (18-24)
3 pm--#2 Azusa Pacific (28-17) vs. #3 Hawaii Hilo (24-15)
It's a double-elimination affair, with two games on Wednesday, three games on Thursday and a title game on Friday, two if needed. For more information, including how to purchase tickets, click on the Championship Page here.
Tournament Bracket

NCAA RANKINGS FEATURE CUI AT #3, APU AT #9: The first official NCAA West Region rankings of 2024 came out last Wednesday, with the next listing set for this coming Wednesday, May 1. The qualifiers for the west region tournament (eight total) will come from this final list next week, which must also include the conference champions from the PacWest, CCAA and the GNAC. Here s last week's list, with records at that time noted. 1. Western Washington (34-6), 2. Northwest Nazarene (35-8), 3. Concordia (35-11), 4. CS Dominguez Hills (31-15), 5. CS San Marcos (28-19), 6. CS East Bay (23-18), 7. Saint Martin's (21-18), 8. Sonoma State (27-15), 9. Azusa Pacific (26-17), 10. CS San Bernardino (25-18).