After being shut out by Cal Poly in the first game of a doubleheader, Long Beach State bounced back to take the nightcap, 4-0, in front of 362 spectators on Saturday at the 49er Softball Complex.
LBSU (21-21, 5-6 Big West Conference) scored all of its runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a scoreless contest.
“We played defense, we made pitches and we kept ourselves in the game until we were able to find a way to score some runs,” Beach head coach Kim Sowder said.
Freshman Caitrin DeBaun moved Bree Stephan and Ashley Weber to second and third base on an infield groundball. Stephen and Weber each reached the bag on fielding errors to open up the inning.
Designated player Christina Schallig’s grounder was juggled by Mustangs third baseman Kendal Hennings, allowing Stephens to score the first run of the game.
Weber and Alisha Rosen, who pinch ran for Schallig, both crossed the plate after Henning fielded a grounder by Nalani St. Germain and her throw to home was wide.
Cal Poly (19-18, 8-3 Big West) committed four errors in the game, with Henning accounting for three of them in the sixth inning.
The Beach tacked on its final run when Jodi Nakawatase hit a blooper down the left field line to plate St. Germain.
Sophomore pitcher Taylor Petty (9-11) picked up the win for the ‘Niners. Petty allowed four hits and struck out six.
Cal Poly 5, Long Beach State 0
Beach hurler Brooke Turner is still struggling to adjust to the umpires’ crackdown on illegal pitches.
Turner (9-9) took the loss for Long Beach after facing just four batters in the first inning. The junior gave up four runs, issued one walk and committed two errors, before she was replaced by Bridgette Pagano.
“The illegal pitch situation, we keep trying to work through it,” Sowder said. “The bottom line is that we’ve got to find a way.”
Sowder said the 49ers need to keep the score down due to the fact that they aren’t scoring a lot of runs right now.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case as the Mustangs took a commanding 4-0 lead after their first time up to bat and added an additional run in the fifth.
The Beach threatened to score in the bottom of the fourth when Weber led off with a single through the right side and DeBaun smacked a line drive that dropped in front of Mustangs left fielder Nora Sobczak.
Winning pitcher Rebecca Patton (7-4) retired LBSU’s next three batters to get out of the inning.
Weber went 2-for-3 at the plate in the loss, while Stephan, DeBaun and junior Liz Javier each had a hit.
Pagano gave up one run and seven hits in seven innings of relief.
The 49ers close out the series against the conference-leading Mustangs on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We needed to win both today, but we just have to battle one game at a time,” Sowder said. “Every game is huge for us and we have to come ready to go tomorrow. We know what we are capable of doing, but we just have to put a good performance together all the way around.”
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