Long Beach State University
UC Santa Barbara
Beach Sweeps Doubleheader At UC Santa Barbara
4/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 19, 2008
Santa Barbara, Calif. - Flipping what had been the usual script for the 49ers, Long Beach State outslugged UC Santa Barbara 8-6 in game one on Saturday before leaning on Bridgette Pagano in a 5-2 win in game two. Pagano threw six scoreless innings and allowed one earned run while sparking a five-run Long Beach State rally in the seventh with two hits to take the lead.
Taking advantage of a very rough start from UC Santa Barbara starter Lindsey Correa, the 49ers grabbed a lead in the first inning of game one and never looked back in a messy, offensive contest. Correa walked leadoff hitter Jessica Beaver on four pitches, allowed a sacrifice bunt from Jonae Perez, and her third strike went sailing out of the park off of Brooke LeSage's bat to put the 49ers ahead 2-0. Bringing in MeLinda Matsumoto, Jennifer Griffin hit another home run for the 49ers as the Beach moved ahead 3-0.
A leadoff double by Lacy Tyler led to two more runs in the fourth inning, as the 49ers took a 5-0 lead. UC Santa Barbara's hitters finally reached Brooke Turner however, as Jessica Ziegler led off the fourth inning with the Gaucho's first hit, and then Tisha Duran homered to put UC Santa Barbara on the board.
Both teams would continue to pile up both runs and errors, combining for seven errors and 14 runs in the first game, but Long Beach State never surrendered the lead in the opener.
As much as the offense powered the first game, the second game between the two teams developed into a pitcher's duel between Pagano and Gaucho starter Tami Watson. Moving through six scoreless innings, both pitchers were tested but were able to get out of jams due to the infield play of Jessica Beaver and Christine Ramos respectively.
After pitching six strong innings, Pagano was called in to lead off the seventh inning and responded with just the fourth hit of the game for Long Beach State, kickstarting a big rally for the 49ers. With a runner on, Beaver homered to center to break the tie, and the 49ers batted all the way around, finishing with an RBI single from the player who started the inning in Pagano to make the score 5-0.
UC Santa Barbara would put across two runs in the bottom half of the seventh after an error from Brianna Goad, but the 49ers had plenty of cushion to hold on to the win.
As much as Pagano helped with the defense, Griffin was the star at the play. Between the two games, Griffin was 6-for-8 with four RBI and three runs scored. She hit her second home run of the season in the opener, and hit her team-high 15th double in the second game.
No. 14 Long Beach State will try to finish off a series sweep of UC Santa Barbara tomorrow. The final game of the three-game series between the league leaders begins at Noon at the Campus Diamond at UCSB.
