Atherton, CA- After winning the regular season crown, Arizona Christian went 3-0 in the GSAC Tournament to win the school's first ever GSAC Tournament Championship.  On Saturday, the second seeded Firestorm held off fourth seeded San Diego Christian 7-6 to wrap up the crown.

The Hawks (35-18), who knocked off top seed Menlo 2-1 to begin the day, wasted little time finding the scoreboard against ACU as they turned a lead-off single by Victoria Harris into a 1-0 lead.

But the Firestorm (37-14-1) countered right away with a four spot in the bottom of the first.  Junior Sianna Gomez singled on the first pitch of the half inning.  Senior Alyssa Vanderdrink was trying to sacrifice Gomez to second but everyone was safe.  Gomez and Vanderdrink both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.  Senior Abby Beasley sent a single back up the middle to drive in Gomez and Vanderdrink.  An error and wild pitch scored Beasley.  Junior Meaghen Nelson who reached on the error came around to score following a single by Junior Taylor Fabing and sacrifice fly by Senior Jackie Aguilar.

SDCC kept ACU off the board for the next four innings and tacked on two runs in the fifth after their first two hitters reached on a walk and single to make the game a 4-3 affair.

Arizona Christian pushed across three runs in the sixth.  Freshman Jenna Castilleja beat out a single to shortstop to ignite the scoring.  Gomez was hit by a pitch before Vanderdrink doubled to left to cash in Castilleja and Gomez.  Junior Kylie Christman singled to center allowing Vanderdrink to bring home the mail for the all-important seventh run.

Aguilar went to the circle in the seventh with a 7-3 lead looking to close the deal.  A single and then fielder's choice accounted for one out.  But San Diego Christian was not ready to go quietly as a double from Jordan Neal and consecutive RBI singles closed the gap to 7-5.  The sixth run came in on an error and setup the tying run at third and the winning run at first with just one out.  Junior Destinee Spencer was called to escape the jam.  Two pitches were fouled off before a line drive down to Nelson at second turned into a double play after the runner at first was doubled up to end the game.

ACU rushed the field and celebrated their first championship on the first base line.

With the win, Aguilar improved to 18-5 and Spencer used her three pitches to record the first save of the season for the Firestorm.

Head Coach Trisha Thurston simply stated, "It is amazing to see this team celebrate all of their hard work and dedication this season.  This has been a memorable year for this program and I am so blessed to be a part of it.  These girls are resilient and determined!!! Power Up!!!"

The Firestorm will now wait until May 10 to figure out where they will to travel for the opening round of the NAIA National Championship which will start at ten different locations on May 16.  Simpson University in Redding, CA, is the only host site west of Oklahoma.  The ultimate goal is to advance to the NAIA World Series in Sioux City, Iowa, on May 27 through June 2.