NINERS AVOID ELIMINATION; DEFEAT COLGATE, 1-0 FRESNO, CA – The No. 5 seeded Long Beach State softball team (30-18) avoided post-season elimination with a 1-0 victory over Colgate University, Thursday night in the 2003 NCAA Softball Regional at the Bulldog Diamond. With the victory, LBSU will face the loser of game eight between Michigan State and Georgia on Friday at 5:30 p.m. Long Beach State would generate the game's only run in the top of the eighth inning, after Lindsey Knoff led off with a single to left-center field. Cassie Preece would then enter the game as a pinch runner for Knoff. The Beach kept the offense moving, after a Lindsay Marksbury single to left field advanced Preece to second base. Tiffanie Wedell would then successfully sacrifice bunt the runners to third and second base. A Colleen Burdick single drove home Preece to make it 1-0. The 49ers would not be able to score Marksbury from third base. Knoff would remain calm after Caitlin Thistle reached base for Colgate in the bottom of the eighth, as she retired the last two batters on groundouts. Knoff pitched a complete game, two-hit shutout to earn her 15th victory of the season. It was her eighth shutout of the season. Burdick, Lauren Johnson, Melanie McCauley, Knoff, and Marksbury all connected for base hits for The Beach.
LBSU would drop a 3-0 decision to the No. 4 seeded Fresno State Bulldogs in the first game of the NCAA Softball Regionals at the Bulldog Diamond on Thursday morning. Fresno State would score two runs in the bottom of the first inning, courtesy of a Jamie Southern home run, that would also plate Christina Clark, off LBSU starting pitcher, Meredith Cervenka. Cervenka would manage to settle down over the next four innings, allowing just two hits.
The Bulldogs would however strike again in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Clark hit a leadoff home run, to make the score 3-0. The Beach would make things interesting in the top of the seventh after Arleigh Thorp led off with a double. A Jamie Farnworth single, one batter later, would advance Thorp to third base. Cervenka, would however, groundout to the third baseman to end the game. Cervenka (15-9) suffered her first loss in 14 games, after giving up three runs on five hits, and four strikeouts. FSU starting pitcher Jamie Southern threw a complete game shutout for her 23rd win of the season. Jamie Farnworth went 2-for-3 in the losing effort for The Beach.
Box Score - Game 1 (Fresno State)
Box Score - Game 2 (Colgate)
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