Long Beach State University
Florida
Softball Hands No. 5 Florida First Loss Of Season
2/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 27, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - With one of the best pitching matchups so far this season in the entire country, one mistake was all it took for Long Beach State to upset No. 5 Florida 2-1. Brooke Turner broke her own school record for strikeouts with 16, and was matched by Florida's Stacey Nelson, who also struck out 16 batters.
Pitching dominated the matchup between the Gators and the 49ers, who found both pitchers in complete control, and matched up eerily evenly. Both teams finished with five hits, both had one earned run and both pitchers struck out 16 over 9+ innings. The 32 combined strikeouts tied for the seventh-most in NCAA history.
A first and final error would give Long Beach State (8-6) the game in the 10th, giving both Florida (19-1) and Nelson (11-1) their first losses of the year.
Florida scored the first run of the contest in the fourth inning. Mary Ratliff started a rally for the Gators with a single up the middle, and after being bunted over to second, scored on an RBI single from Corrie Brooks. However, the 49ers got out of the inning as Turner got her one up on the major thorn in her side, Kim Waleszonia. The junior leadoff hitter for the Gators was three for four, but struck out in the fourth to end the rally.
The Beach answered in the next inning, as Franciska Morlet singled down the left field line to begin the inning. Jessica Beaver followed with her second single of the game to get Morlet into scoring position, and two walks sandwiched between three outs would give Long Beach State the tying run.
Those mistakes would be pretty much the only ones the two pitchers would make for the rest of the game. Both pitchers easily made their way through seven, and really survived any threats until runners began being placed in the tenth. The batter that would eventually end the 49ers drought came up with a big play for the Beach in the top of the tenth. Advancing the runner to third with a bunt, Brooks lofted a hit to left field with a chance to score Danyell Hines, but a perfect catch and throw from Tyler held Hines at third. With two outs, Turner bore down and struck out pinch-hitter Kelsey Bruder to end the inning with her 16th strikeout.
Matching the top half, the 49ers put Morlet on second and pushed her to third with a perfect bunt by Jessica Beaver. Florida got Bridgette Pagano to pop up to second for a second out, setting up a chance to keep the game going. However, Lacy Tyler's grounder to second base easily scored Morlet, and the throw from Aja Paculba pulled first-baseman Ali Gardiner off the bag in a close play, and the 49ers took a 2-1 walkoff win.
Offensively, Beaver was perfect on the day with two hits, two walks and a sacrifice hit, and Morlet scored twice on one hit. Waleszonia had three of the Gators' five hits.
The 49ers play five more games this week, travelling to the Eller Media Stadium Classic in UNLV this weekend. The first game for the Beach is on Friday, Feb. 29 when the 49ers have a rematch with Hawai'i at 10:15 a.m.
