49ers Travel to Pacific For Key Big West Series
Beach in Fourth Place After Sweeping UC Riverside
April 25, 2007
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| 2007 Long Beach State Softball | | Overall Record: 23-21 | | Big West Record: 7-5 | This Week:
Saturday, April 28 at Pacific (2) 12 pm
Sunday, April 29 at Pacific 12 pm |
FIRST PITCH: Long Beach State (23-21, 7-5 Big West) will travel up to Stockton, Calif. for a key three-game Big West Conference series with the University of the Pacific this weekend ... both teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader on Saturday, with the first game beginning at noon and game two beginning at approximately 2 p.m. ... the final game is scheduled for a noon start on Sunday.
SCOUTING THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PACIFIC: The Tigers are now 32-15 overall, 7-2 in the Big West and are in second place in the conference standings after taking one game from Cal State Fullerton last weekend ... Pacific dropped a pair of games to the Titans on Saturday by scores of 2-0 and 5-1, but rebounded on Sunday with a 5-4 win ... As a team, Pacific is batting .305 and seven Tigers are hitting .300 or better, led by Gina Carbonatto (.408) ... Carbanatto, who ranks second in the Big West in batting average, has racked up a team-leading 62 hits to go along with 37 RBI ... not far behind is Jennifer Curtier who is batting .386 with 34 hits, including six homeruns ... the pitching staff has a 3.33 ERA and is anchored by Chelsea Engle (18-10) who holds a 2.80 ERA with 129 strikeouts in 167.1 innings pitched.
SERIES RECORDS: Long Beach State leads in its series with Pacific by a 55-22 count ... the 49ers swept the Tigers last season by scores of 1-0, 1-0 and 7-4 in Long Beach ... the last time the Tigers won the series between the two teams was in 2002 when Pacific swept The Beach at the 49er Softball Complex ... the 49ers are 25-11 on the road against Pacific.
THE COACHES: Long Beach State Head Coach Kim Sowder begins her first year as a head collegiate coach ... she previously served as an assistant coach for the past 12 seasons under Pete Manarino ... Sowder also played at LBSU for four years (1989-92) as a shortstop, garnering All-America and All-Big West honors ... during her playing career, Sowder helped the 49ers to three (1990-92) of their five trips to the NCAA College World Series in Oklahoma City, OK. ... Head Coach Brian Kolze enters his 15th season at the helm of the Pacific softball program ... Kolze, a three-time Big West Coach of the Year enters the 2007 campaign with a 440-344-1 (.532) overall mark.
LAST WEEK'S RECAP: The 49ers swept all three games from host UC Riverside to remain in fourth place in the Big West Conference ... with the sweep of the Highlanders, The Beach has won five games in a row and improved to two games above the .500 mark ... the 49ers offense came alive last weekend as they scored 31 runs in the series ... in game one, Bridgette Pagano went the distance allowing two runs on five hits while Whitney Radcliff (2-3, 2 RBI) and Brianna Goad (2-3, HR) sparked the offense as the 49ers went on to an 8-2 victory ... The Beach had to come from behind in game two, but pulled out the 8-7 win ... trailing 7-6 in the top of the seventh, Jessica Beaver hit her second homerun of the game to tie it up and Brooke LeSage scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch ... Pagano came in to close out the game picking up her first save of the season and Melissa DeMarco (1-0) earned the victory ... in the final game of the series the 49ers offense exploded for 15 runs on 15 hits ... Pagano (15-9) picked up her second victory of the weekend and also helped herself out at the plate going 2-for-3 with a homerun and four RBI.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS: With nine games left in the regular season, a couple of 49ers have already found themselves in the school's single-season record books ... Jessica Beaver is currently second in batting average (.386), fifth in RBI (37) and tied for fourth in homeruns (8), while Brianna Goad is tied for eighth in stolen bases (11) ... on the career charts, Jonae Perez who is currently inactive still sits atop the leaders in batting average (.321) ... Beaver is tied for fourth in career homeruns (13) and is ninth with 69 RBI ... Lacy Tyler is tied for 10th with 23 doubles, 10 of those coming in the 2007 season and in only two seasons with the 49ers, Goad is already tied for eighth with 21 career stolen bases.
OFFENSIVE NUMBERS: The Beach has a .276 batting average and has scored 191 runs on the season ... the 49ers are nine runs away from the 200 mark, which has been reached only five times in school history ... four 49ers are batting over .300, led by Jessica Beaver (.386) ... Beaver has registered 44 hits and leads the team with eight homeruns and 37 RBI, while Whitney Radcliff has a team-leading 45 hits.
ON THE DEFENSIVE END: The 49er pitching staff has an ERA of 3.35 and are led by Bridgette Pagano who checks in with a 15-9 record and a 2.09 ERA ... Kelly Cross (6-6) is second on the staff with a 4.10 ERA ... The Beach has a .960 fielding percentage.
IN THE BIG WEST: Jessica Beaver ranks in the top-five among the Big West leaders in four categories including slugging percentage (.658, third), homeruns (eight, T-third), batting average (.386, T-fourth) and on base percentage (.458, T-fourth) ... Lacy Tyler curently ranks seventh with a .367 batting average and Whitney Radcliff is tied for eighth with 45 hits ... with three stolen bases last weekend, Brianna Goad is now tied for the conference lead with 11 steals on the season ... Bridgette Pagano ranks third in wins (15), seventh in ERA (2.09) and fourth in strikeouts (75).
BEAVER STREAKING: Junior Jessica Beaver has been on an offensive tear of late as she brings a 10-game hitting streak into the weekend ... during that span, Beaver has batted .500 (15-30) and drove in 10 runs.
THANATHARN EXCELS ON AND OFF THE FIELD: Senior Panita Thanatharn was named one of 20 finalists for softball's Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for her acheivements on and off the field ... Thanatharn enters the week fourth on the team in hitting (.313) after being told she may never play again after a collision at the plate during the start of her sophomore season ... she received the school's Todd Hart Courage Award in October 2003 ... an academic all-star and academic all-conference selection, Thanatharn received her degree in Kinesiology and is now working towards her Master's.
PAGANO NOTCHES SPOT IN 49ER HISTORY: Freshman Bridgette Pagano became the 20th pitcher in Long Beach State history to throw a no-hitter as she led the 49ers to a 7-0 game one victory over non-conference foe Brown University (Mar. 27)... Pagano was selected Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week (Mar. 12) for her performance at the Long Beach Invitational (Mar. 9-11) as she went 3-0 on the weekend, picking up wins over Canisius, Southern Utah and Eastern Kentucky ... against the Canisius Golden Griffins she gave up three hits and struck out five in a complete game shutout win, then followed that up with another three-hit gem to go along with a career-high seven strikeouts in the 2-1 win over the Southern Utah Thunderbirds ... after pitching 1.1 innings of scoreless relief against No.12-ranked UCLA, Pagano wrapped up her week with another complete game shutout against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels ... she scattered five hits to go along with three strikeouts for her eighth win of the season.
HOME SWEET HOME: The 49ers made their on-campus debut on Mar. 13, at the 49er Softball Complex with a victory against Miami (OH) as it marked the sixth consecutive home opening win for The Beach ... 49ers last lost their home opener was back in 2001 as Loyola Marymount defeated LBSU, 3-0 ... the 49ers opened the 2007 campaign with 19 games on the road before coming home to their former home, Mayfair Park in Lakewood, CA, to host the Long Beach Invitational ... Mayfair Park served as the home field for the 49ers for 13 seasons (1981-94) before the team moved to their permanent on campus field.
THE BEACH PICKED THIRD IN BIG WEST: Long Beach State was picked to finish third in the the annual preseason Big West Conference coaches poll conducted on Jan. 24 ... the 49ers received 33 points as Cal Poly was selected second with 35 points and conference favorite Cal State Fullerton received 48 points and six first place votes.
POST-SEASON SUCCESS: Since 1986, the 49ers have made 17 appearances in the NCAA Tournament and participated in five NCAA College World Series ... The Beach has compiled a record 21-28 in post-season play and a 5-10 record in their five trips to Oklahoma City.
LAST SEASON: The 49ers finished the 2006 campaign at 31-22 and a second place finish (13-5) in the Big West ... The Beach made its fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance as they received an at-large berth into the UCLA regional ... The Beach went 1-2 in regional play last year as they defeated San Diego State, 1-0 in the first game and went on to play host team UCLA, losing 5-0 ... the 49ers met SDSU again in the losers bracket and were eliminated by the Aztecs, 3-1 ... last season marked the fifth time that Long Beach State has played in a regional at UCLA , posting a 3-8 all-time record ... three 49ers were honored last year by the Big West Conference as Michelle Turner was selected as the 2006 Pitcher of the Year ... the honor marked the fourth straight season (five out of the last seven years) that a Pitcher of the Year has come from Long Beach State ... Turner was also a first-team all league selection ... Tiffanie Wedell and Sophomore Breezy Goad were both Honorable Mention selections as well.
MANARINO RIDES INTO THE SUNSET: After guiding the Long Beach State Softball program for 23 years, long time Head Coach Pete Manarino announced his retirement following the 2006 campaign ... he finishes with an all-time record of 843-508, making him the all-time winningest head coach in Long Beach State Athletic history ... guided the 49ers to 151 victories the last four seasons ... named Big West Conference Coach of the Year (1986, 1997, 1999) five times, including back-to-back accolades in 2002 and 2003 ... finished with conference record of 403-225 as he claimed five Big West championships ... participated in 17 NCAA Regionals and five trips to the NCAA College World Series.
ON DECK: The Beach will return home next weekend for a non-conference series with future Big West member UC Davis ... the two teams will meet on Saturday, April 28 for a doubleheader beginning at 1 pm and will conclude the series with a single game on Sunday, April 29 at 1 pm.
2007 Roster
2007 Schedule
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