The No. 3-ranked Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) Sea Lions softball team played its last home game ever at Sunset Cliffs Park on Tuesday in a split with No. 1-ranked Cal Baptist. The split improves the Sea Lions’ record to 36-5 overall and 16-4 in Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) play. The victory over Cal Baptist also gives PLNU a home record of 26-1 on the season as the team hits the road against GSAC rivals for the remainder of the regular season. PLNU enters the remainder of the season in relatively good physical and psychological shape. “We have a couple of nagging injuries but nothing that will force us to make any major changes,” said PLNU head softball coach Dave Williams. “The girls are also fired up and motivated as we get towards the playoffs,” he said. PLNU is off to another strong season, but Williams said he realizes the most important game is the final game. “Every time we have lost the last game it has been disappointing,” Williams said. PLNU posted a 50-12 record in 2008 but lost in the nationals after qualifying for its eighth straight National Association of Interscholastic Athletics (NAIA) appearance. The Sea Lions have been playing some of their best ball of late and do not appear to be losing any steam down the stretch. Last week, PLNU picked up both GSAC Pitcher of the Week honors (Tyler Lent) and Player of the Week (Melissa Gomez) honors. Lent won all three of her starts to improve her record on the season to 15-2, while Gomez won both of her starts to run her overall record to 12-0 and batted .579 with 9 RBI. While PLNU softball has dominated on the field, the off-season will bring a major change with the closure of the Sea Lions’ home field of Sunset Cliffs Park. The city of San Diego has decided to return the area to its roots as part of Sunset Cliffs Trail. The major reason given for its closure is cliff erosion, and the PLNU softball team does not have an alternative home field on campus for the 2010 season and beyond. “I wish I knew the answer,” said PLNU athletic director Carroll B. Land. “The city indicated that we can play at Robb Field on weekdays and somewhere else on the weekends, which is really not satisfactory.” Land added that Robb Field is also host to other sports such as soccer and rugby. “The fencing does not meet specific standards and the field gets tore up every time it is used. Each has its own set of problems,” Land said. The moving of the home field for PLNU could potentially disrupt what is now a tremendous home-field advantage for Sea Lions softball. Williams’ teams have won GSAC tittles in 2001, 2003 and 2004 and Region II titles in 2001, 2003 and 2004 with Sunset Cliffs Park as their home field. Sunset Cliffs Park was built by the previous tenant of the present-day PLNU campus, Cal Western (Alliant University), in the early 1970s. PLNU moved from its Pasadena campus in 1972, but the park was vacant until the Sea Lions fielded their first softball teams from 1977 to 1981. The park was vacant again until PLNU brought back its softball team in 1991, and the team has used the field continuously since then. “We are trying hard to find something, but right now we don’t have an answer,” Land said. The university confirms the plan to play at Robb Field next year. “We are thankful for the city to offer us Robb Field as a two-year transitional plan, but we are still looking into every possible option to find a permanent home that has not yet been identified,” said Caye Smith, PLNU vice president of student development.