Thursday, May 20, 2021

IRVINE, Calif. – As luck would have it, a former GNAC player knocked the conference’s top team out of the postseason.

Marisa Stockton, a former Concordia (Ore.) standout, finished with three hits and three RBI Thursday to lead her current team, No. 1 seeded Concordia Irvine, to a 9-0, five-inning win over No. 3 seeded Northwest Nazarene to eliminate the Nighthawks from the NCAA Division II West Regional at Eagles Field.

Stockton’s ledger included two hits in a six-run second inning, including a two-run single in her second at-bat of the frame, and a solo home run in the fourth. The offensive performance back up a strong pitching performance by Kelsea Sweeney, who allowed just three hits and a walk in three innings to improve to 10-4 on the season.

Freshman Abigail Gagnon finished with two of the Nighthawks’ four hits, singling in the third and fifth innings.

With the loss, the GNAC regular-season champions conclude the season with a 31-14 record. Concordia Irvine (31-12) moves on to face No. 6 seeded Central Washington in another elimination game on Friday at 2:30 p.m.

After pitching her way out of trouble in the first inning, the Eagle broke through against junior starter Tori Hensley with six runs in the second. Stockton hit a leadoff single, Lauren Lopez reached on a fielder’s choice and Megan Massa drew a one-out walk to load the bases. Two batters later, Sydney Sprinkle drew another walk to score Lopez and Massa scored when Missy Nemeth was hit by a pitch.

Freshman relief pitcher Gina Skinner proceeded to walk the first two batters she faced, bring home two more runs, before Stockton hit her second single of the inning, a two-run shot up the middle, to close out the frame.

The Eagles manufactured a pair of runs in the third with Massa plating on Nemeth’s sacrifice fly and McKinsey Thorpe coming home on a wild pitch. Stockton closed out the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with her third home run of the season.

Hensley took the loss for Northwest Nazarene, allowing five runs on three hits with three walks over 1.2 innings. She fell to 8-5 on the season.