LAKEWOOD – The bats of the Long Beach State softball team came alive during the final game of the Long Beach State Invitational at Mayfair Park on Sunday afternoon.
The 49ers (10-12) pushed five runs across the plate in the eighth inning en route to a 6-1 triumph over the University of San Diego.
“It was nice to get a little cushion finally,” Beach head coach Kim Sowder said. “We keep struggling with runners on, early on in the game but our pitchers are doing a great job of keeping us in the game, and were making plays and coming through at the end.”
Down 1-0 to the Toreros (5-13), the 49ers were able to even the score in the top of the sixth inning.
Jodi Nakawatase singled past the diving USD third baseman and later advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Nakawatase scored to tie the game, 1-1, on a San Diego throwing error following a slap bunt by Casey Burba.
Both teams failed to score in the seventh inning, sending the game into extra innings using the international tiebreaker rule.
Senior catcher Brandy Reyes fell behind in the count, 0-2, before smacking an RBI-single up the middle to plate Megan Denio, who started the inning on second base.
Nakawatase and Jennifer Madigan each singled, loading the bases for The Beach with no outs.
Freshman Nalani St. Germain cleared the bases after she ripped a triple down the right field line. St. Germain also scored after the incoming throw from Torero second baseman Cathy Wineinger was off the mark at home plate.
“She’s a great athlete and obviously has a lot of power at the plate,” Sowder said of St. Germain. “She has a lot of confidence and is certainly not playing like a freshman.”
St. Germain collected three RBIs as The Beach racked up a season-high 11 hits, including two apiece from Nakawatase, Reyes and Liz Javier.
Junior pitcher Brooke Turner (5-4), who replaced Taylor Petty in the seventh, retired the side in the bottom of the eighth to pick up the win. Petty struck out six and allowed one run on nine hits.
“I came in not feeling well, but I just made sure to hit my spots and do the best that I could,” Petty said.
Long Beach State 1, Idaho State 0
After being walked in her first two at-bats, St. Germain said she really wanted to hit the ball.
The freshman sent a shot over the left field fence to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning, giving LBSU its only run in a 1-0 victory over Idaho State.
“I was really just focusing on the ball and trying to find a pitch I could drive,” St. Germain said.
Turner, who Sowder said did an outstanding job on the mound, went the distance, striking out a season-high 13 batters in seven innings. She also recorded her first shutout of the season.
“I just try to go out there and be on my A-game, and get ahead of the batters,” Turner said, “I just went right at them to get the out.”
With the two wins on Sunday, the 49ers finished the three-day invitational grabbing four of five games, including an 8-4 decision over Purdue on Friday and a 2-0 victory over Buffalo on Saturday.
Their lone setback came in a 4-2 loss to Notre Dame.
LBSU wraps up its tournament schedule next weekend at the San Diego Classic II, from March 19-21. The 49ers kick off the tourney against No. 21 Texas A&M on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
Sowder said, “It feels really good to get two wins. We needed that, and we need to build some momentum going into conference.”