EUGENE, Ore. – Sophomore Brooke Davis struck out four and gave up just two hits as the Northwest Christian University softball team defeated No. 11 Concordia-Irvine (Calif.), 2-0, in the first game of the Southern Oregon University tournament on Thursday evening. The Beacons dropped game two to Biola, 6-3.

Playing their third game of the season against a team ranked in the NAIA Top-25, the Beacons finally broke through with a victory. Brittany Robles powered NCU to victory, picking up RBI's on both runs. She had an RBI-single in the first inning and picked up on RBI on a bases-loaded Hit-By-Pitch in the fifth. The senior also added a double in the fourth. Davis picked up her second victory of the season.

Game two was a different story, and one that focused on extreme weather that picked up as the night went on. The game took nearly three hours to complete with forceful winds, strong enough to blow over the outfield fence at one point. The Beacons also played on an extremely deep outfield, which came into play twice in the game. For NCU, Cassie Bishop continued to flex her muscles, hitting a double to deep center field that was measured to be 235 feet, a home run in most parks. For Biola, Krista Johnson hit a two-run inside-the-park home run that proved to be the difference in the game.

Kalyssa Koontz (2-1) started and threw three innings, leaving the game down 3-2. The Beacons came back to tie the game at 3-3, but a trio of unearned runs spelled the end for NCU in a 6-3 loss. Becca Lillegard went the final four innings without surrendering an earned run and #Emma Armstrong added two hits for Northwest Christian. 

Also of note, Bishop recorded three walks on Friday, making her NCU's all-time leader in the category with 36 career walks.

The Beacons (5-7) will be back in action on Friday morning as they face another team from the Golden State Athletic Conference, Hope International, at 11:00 am. That will be followed by a third game this season against William Jessup, who swept NCU during opening weekend.