Azusa Pacific went 4-0 to kick off the 2025 Pacific West Conference season to earn Team of the Week. Hawai`i Hilo's Kanoe Piltz went 10-for-14 as the Vulcans swept rival Chaminade in three games and Dominican's Taylor Rodriguez earned two wins in the pitcher's circle against Vanguard, including a one-hit shutout of the Lions.

2025 Results/Schedule
2025 Standings
2025 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Hilo's Kanoe Piltz, C, Jr., 5-4, R/R, Kailua-Kona, Hawai`i                                
Hawai`i Hilo's Kanoe Piltz was tough to get out during the Vulcans' three-game sweep of Chaminade. The junior catcher went 10-for-14 (.714), drove in five runs, scored four times, had a triple and walked once. The Big Island native had four hits in each of the last two games of the series on Oahu as Hilo won the set by the scores of 12-1 (five innings), 4-3 (nine innings) and 17-7. The third-year starter is hitting a robust .600 on the season, with just two strikeouts in 31 trips to the plate.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Dominican's Taylor Rodriguez, RHP, Jr., 5-4, R/R, Livermore, Calif.                           
Dominican's Taylor Rodriguez picked up both of the Penguins' wins during a split of four games against Vanguard last week. The junior righthander tossed two complete games during 2-0 and 7-4 victories over the Lions, allowing a total of six hits in 14 innings of work and three earned runs. In the 2-0 win, the third-year Penguin was brilliant, allowing just one hit, a walk and she struck out two. She retired the first ten batters that she faced in improving to 5-0 on the season. Rodriguez has a 1.45 ERA and opponents are hitting just .198 against her in six games.

TEAM OF THE WEEK: The PacWest Team of the Week is the Azusa Pacific Cougars. APU began PacWest play with a vengence, topping Menlo by the scores of 5-4, 6-0, 8-0, and 3-0. Pitching was the name of the game for the Cougars, with Mia Castillo and Ava Hernandez tossing complete game shutouts and Castillo adding a save. Overall, Castillo pitched 9.2 innings and gave up just four hits, no runs and struck out five. Included in those numbers was a two-hit shutout. Hernandez threw a 5-inning shutout on five hits and five strikeouts and Maddy Debs allowed just one hit in 4.1 innings for another Cougar win. APU's team ERA in the series was 1.28, and their 4-0 start in PacWest play is the best for the program since 2017.

THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: Conference play continues today with Concordia facing Menlo and Jessup takes on Biola. Hawaii Pacific and Hawaii Hilo will play on Wednesday, and action continues into the weekend with Azusa Pacific traveling to Chaminade, Academy of Art is at Dominican and Jessup travels to Vanguard. Concordia begins a series on Saturday matching the top pitching team in the conference (CUI) against the topping hitting team (UHH).  Note: Most alll PacWest series will be 3-game slates this year.  For the complete 2025 PacWest schedule, click here. 

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Biola will open conference play this week but got a good warm up last week with a doubleheader sweep of Stanislaus State. DJ Symons pitched four innings and didn't allow a run in the 13-2 win, giving up two hits and she allowed no walks. Maddie Granados picked the win in relief in the 4-2 verdict, pitching five innings without allowing a runner to cross the plate...Hawaii Pacific won two of three against Chaminade, with Taryn Hirano, Makayla Pagampao and Jewel Larson leading the way on offense. Pagampao had a pair of home runs and was 5-for-10, Hirano hit .583 (7-for-12) and Larson was 5-for-9 and drove in four runs...In two games, Jessup's Maddy Ybarra drove in four runs and stole six bases during the Warriors' non-conference split with Simpson...Concordia's Kayla Rodgers went 4-for-5 in a twinbill sweep of Menlo on Monday, driving in six runs with a pair of homers.