IRVINE, Calif. – All great things come to an end, and while Northwest Nazarene softball's season concluded before the Nighthawks hoped, it was a fantastic ride from start to finish that will go down as the best year in the program's history.
Playing in the NCAA DII West Region final for the first time on Saturday, the Nighthawks needed two wins over top seed and national No. 11 Concordia University Irvine to advance to Super Regionals.
NNU came up big in the opener, receiving a stellar performance in the circle from
Sidney Booth before
Clarissa Moreno hit a walk-off home run to force a final winner-take-all contest between the Nighthawks and Golden Eagles.
NNU got off to a great start in the final game, scoring in the top of the first inning.
Tori Hensley and
Sidney Booth each got on base with singles before
Abigail Gagnon came through with a two-out double to score Hensley.
The score would remain 1-0 in favor of the Nighthawks until the bottom of the fourth. Through 3.2 innings, NNU starter Hensley had allowed just two hits, but with two outs Concordia's Rylie Rohr hit a two-run homer to center to put CUI up.
The Golden Eagles added another run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 3-1 game. NNU had a few chances to come back in the final frames, getting runners on second and third with two outs in the sixth and
Jami Obringer drawing a one-out walk in the seventh, but Concordia was able to hold off any potential rally.
The Nighthawks finish the 2023 season with an overall record of 39-17 along with a GNAC mark of 21-3. NNU won both the GNAC regular season and tournament titles, advancing to NCAA Regionals for the fourth time in the last five full seasons.
The 39 wins are a new program record, surpassing last years' total of 35. The Nighthawks were as good as anyone in the West over the last month and a half, going 20-4 since April 2.
