The Biola softball team came within one win of capturing the NCAA Division II national championship this spring, falling just short in the final game of a best-of-three championship series against No. 12 West Texas A&M on June 1 in Denver, Colorado. The Biola team ended its season as the national runner-up 鈥 an impressive and seemingly unlikely finish to its first-ever season of eligibility for NCAA Division II postseason competition.

鈥淚鈥檓 obviously proud of my team for making history,鈥 said head coach Nikki Udria. 鈥淢aking it this far in the season is an accomplishment in and of itself. So I think it鈥檚 a blessing for these seniors to sit to the left and to the right of me and to finish their careers in the national championship game. I don鈥檛 think a lot of people can say that they鈥檝e done that.鈥

Udria鈥檚 squad made a run that hadn鈥檛 been seen in a long time from a PacWest institution; it had been over a decade since one of the conference鈥檚 teams finished as high as national runner-up. Biola did it all while riding in with a No. 24 national ranking and no one giving them much of a chance to stay past the second day.

The team鈥檚 playoff run began in May when it claimed the first regional championship among any program in Biola鈥檚 NCAA Division II era 鈥 earning the title of NCAA Division II West Region Champions with a tournament victory over No. 11 Concordia Irvine.

The regional championship earned them a spot in the eight-team national tournament, where they moved past the two top-ranked teams in the nation 鈥 earning a victory over the No. 1 Augustana Vikings and two victories over the No. 2 North Georgia NightHawks 鈥 to become one of the final two teams standing. Biola started its best-of-three national championship series against West Texas A&M with a 5鈥0 victory, but fell short in the next two games, 7鈥4 and 4鈥1.

The tournament featured impressive performances from Biola鈥檚 student-athletes, including pitcher Paige Austin, who at one point pitched 34.1 straight scoreless innings. Austin, Ruth Munoz, Kayla Neff and Jennifer Morinishi were all named to the all-tournament team for helping lead the Eagles to a 4鈥2 mark in the tournament. Earlier, Udria finished the season with the honor of being named PacWest Coach of the Year and she and her staff were named NCAA Division II West Region Coaching Staff of the year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.