By Long Beach State softball (18-16) endured a tough week with four straight losses including one to No. 23 Ohio State (30-9-1) and three to rivals Cal State Fullerton (24-14) this week at the LBSU Softball Complex.
Wednesday, April 2, OSU 8 – LBSU 0
Offensive powerhouse OSU dominated LBSU in the midweek game mercy-ruling The Beach 8-0 in five innings.
Senior pitcher Eryka Gonzales was one out away from escaping a bases-loaded jam in the second inning before throwing eight straight balls to walk in two runs, putting OSU up 2-0. Gonzales was pulled from the game for freshman Brynne Nally to try and limit the damage.
Nally gave up a two-run single up the middle to sophomore sensation catcher Jasmyn Burns, putting OSU up 4-0 in the second.
Back-to-back home runs in the fifth from senior infielder Kami Kortorax and Burns extended their lead to six and added to their NCAA-leading 89.
OSU handed Gonzales her first loss of the season after mercy ruling LBSU in the fifth inning, 8-0.
“They’re a good team. We’re disappointed because we know we can play with them, but we just didn’t come out ready to play, had some mistakes and just weren’t ready to go after that first inning,” LBSU assistant head coach Panita Thanatharn said.
Saturday, April 5, CSUF 5 – LBSU 4
The top two Big West Softball teams of 2024, the CSUF Titans and LBSU met for the first time this season for a scheduled doubleheader, and it lived up to the hype.
A four-walk second inning for LBSU gave them an early 2-0 lead to begin game one.
CSUF got its two runs back right away after defensive mishaps from LBSU, including a sophomore catcher Brooklyn Lee throwing error that tied the game at 2-2.
Titans’ sophomore shortstop Sarah Perez had defensive mishaps of her own, failing to field two ground balls which The Beach capitalized on and took a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning.
CSUF punched back once again with production from its freshmen in the fifth; a two-run double from right fielder Nataly Lozano and an RBI single from third baseman Sarah Coccillos gave CSUF a one-run lead.
Needing one run to force extra innings, The Beach failed to do so leaving runners on the corners and losing 5-4.
“It was frustrating, we had so many opportunities to win that ball game and we just couldn’t seem to get the big hit or the big pitch,” LBSU head coach Kim Sowder said. “Credit them, they answered every time we scored.”
Saturday, April 5, CSUF 11 – LBSU 0
Big West Pitcher of the Week, sophomore Kate Barnett entered the circle for game two, looking to continue her season of dominance.
CSUF figured Barnett out quickly, forcing her out of the game after just two innings and five earned runs on five hits to her name.
Freshman Maddy Martin entered the game but the Titans had no trouble adjusting to Martin, hitting their second triple of the inning to extend the lead to 8-0.
The Beach were outhit by CSUF 13-1, contributing to their second mercy rule loss in three games, losing 11-0 in five innings.
Freshman catcher Savannah Magadan runs to first in The Beach’s 8-0 loss to Ohio State. Magadan went hitless in Wednesday’s game at the LBSU Softball Complex. Photo credit: Mark Siquig.
“You’re gonna have days like this and games like this, but you gotta be able to flip the switch and make adjustments and focus on your game plan and be ready to try and execute that game plan,” Sowder said.
Sunday, April 6, CSUF 1 – LBSU 0
LBSU freshman pitcher Brynne Nally was tasked with turning the week around, but her complete game three-hitter was not enough as The Beach were still unable to get it going on offense.
“We got to be able to score runs in these series, and we just didn’t have quality at-bats,” Sowder said.
Titans’ senior outfielder Kristalyn Romulo walked in the third inning, advanced to second on a groundout and was gifted home plate by an errant throw to third on a stolen base attempt for the game’s first and only run.
The bottom half of the third saw The Beach’s best chance at a run with the bases loaded and two outs for Lee who grounded out to end the inning.
Neither team mustered up a run from that point on but the Titans’ lights-out pitching held on to keep the 1-0 lead and complete the sweep with a 1-0 victory.
“I think we’ll just kind of work on some live-hitting situations, try to get a little more confident, comfortable in those situations,” Sowder said.
The Beach will start their next series with more doubleheader action as they face off against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, April 12, at noon.
