The 49ers are out of excuses.
When the Long Beach State softball team takes the field on Friday against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, it will be doing so with a completely healthy team for the first time this year.
While injuries and illnesses can shoulder much of the blame for a 13-20 start to the season, several key players have returned to the lineup at full strength and as head coach Kim Sowder says, there is no more room for excuses.
“It’s good to have everybody healthy and back on track,” she said. “There’s no more time to say ‘maybe next weekend,’ or ‘maybe this week.’ It’s time to go.”
Perhaps the biggest return is that of senior pitcher Taylor Petty, who made her season debut last weekend against UC Santa Barbara.
After battling a bout with pneumonia throughout nonconference play, Petty threw a two-hit shutout at the Gauchos in her first game back.
“Taylor Petty’s back and she looked really, really good,” Sowder said. “She looked as good as she’s ever been and really kept the hitters off balance.”
Petty started the series finale with four scoreless innings as well, but gave up a game-deciding three-run homerun in the fifth and was immediately pulled.
“We wanted to use her as much as we could but we should have pulled her two batters earlier because when she’s tired, she’s done.”
The good news is, when Petty is tired, Sowder can still bring in reigning Big West Pitcher of the Year sophomore Erin Jones-Wesley.
The return of Petty will also mean fewer innings for Christian Carbajal and Amanda Hansen, who are a combined 0-9 with a 5.14 ERA this season.
“It obviously makes us a better, stronger staff,” Sowder said. “[Petty] and Erin [Jones-Wesley] will do the majority of the pitching and if we need the others to step up, they’re ready.
She added: “They’ve been throwing in practice and staying ready for whatever we need from them, whether it’s a couple innings here or there or more.”
Sophomore catcher Karli Sandoval also returned to action last week, going 3-for-8 with a double. She had been splitting time with junior Dana Garcia before losing time due to injury.
The 49ers will need all the contributions they can get during Big West play, however, as they need to win the conference if they want to play in the NCAA tournament.
In order to do that, they will surely have to improve upon their 1-2 showing at Santa Barbara. 8-22 Cal Poly may be the perfect team to start a hot streak against, but Sowder won’t take any team lightly.
“I certainly think this conference is wide open and whichever team can get hot right now and be consistent down the stretch is going to be the one that wins,” she said. “We’re going to take one team at a time and I don’t look at [Cal Poly] any differently.
Sowder added: “Our focus is on our team and what we need to do to be successful. Because when you start looking ahead, that’s when it comes back to bite you.”
Sophomore infielder Kim Westlund leads the Mustangs on the offensive side with a .341 batting average, including two homeruns and 19 RBI. Sophomore infielder provides the power for Cal Poly with a team-high three homeruns while batting .259 with 10 RBI.
The Mustangs pitching staff is anchored by junior right-hander Rebecca Patton. Patton has started 11 games with a 5-6 overall record with a 4.75 earned run average while striking out 47 batters in 66 1/3 innings pitched. The Cal Poly staff has a lackluster 6.13 ERA on the season.
Long Beach State will host Cal Poly in a doubleheader on Friday with games at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and will close out the series with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.