Long Beach State University Athletics
Softball Opens Postseason Play Friday
5/13/2008 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 13, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Postseason Release in PDF Format 
This Week: NCAA Regionals
Iowa City Regional
First Round
No. 14 Long Beach State 49ers (39-15) vs.
Creighton Bluejays (43-15)
Date: Friday May 16
Time: 5 p.m. CT
Location: Iowa City, Iowa
Postseason Journeys
Long Beach State traded in its automatic bid for a trip to Iowa, as the 49ers make their 18th trip to the NCAA Regionals. The 49ers make their return to the postseason after missing the tournament last year, and have now earned a trip in five of the last six years. The 49ers also won their first Big West Championship since 2005, outdistancing the rest of the conference by two games.
Iowa City Capsule
Named by ESPN.com's Graham Hayes as the toughest region in the country, Long Beach State has its work cut out for themselves as the No. 14 seed in the country. The 49ers are the only team in the group to not reach 40 wins, and no team has more than 18 losses. Creighton, the 49ers first-round opponent, was the Missouri Valley Conference's regular season champ with a 21-3 record, and boasts a win over Arizona along with a 1-0 loss in nine innnings to Arizona State to top its non-conference resume. The host Hawkeyes finished third in the Big 10 with an overall record of 40-18, and Missouri also finished third in the Big 12, compiling a 44-15 overall record.
Creighton has leaned on the arm of Tara Oltman, a sophomore with a 31-7 record and an 0.94 ERA, the only pitcher with a sub-1.00 ERA in the field except for LBSU's Brooke Turner. Iowa has also relied on pitching, as Brittany Weil and Amanda Zust have split time all sesason, with Weil just edging Zust with a 1.14 ERA to 1.24. Missouri, while bringing three pitchers with 10 wins or more, has instead brought the bats, led by Rhea Taylor who is hitting .405 on the season, but is far from the only threat on the team. Five players are batting over .300, and the Tigers have hit 63 home runs on the season, led by Amanda Renth's 19, the fifth-highest total in the nation.
Long Beach State vs. The Regional Field
Long Beach State holds a winning record against all three opponents in the Iowa City Regional, but has not faced any of them very often. The 49ers' most common opponent is also their first this weekend. Long Beach State has a 4-2 record against Creighton, last playing the Bluejays in 2003, splitting two games. Against Missouri and Iowa, the 49ers hang on to a 2-1 lead in the all-time ledger. The most recent game between those teams was a 2004 meeting between Long Beach State and Iowa, which resulted in a 3-0 win for the Beach. The 49ers last played Mizzou in 1999, in the same tournament the Beach matched up with Creighton in Fresno, Calif. The 49ers have never played any of the three teams in the postseason.
Road Warriors
Even though this is the 49ers 18th appearance in the NCAA Regionals, the ninth-most in NCAA history, the 49ers have never hosted, travelling for all 18 trips. However, the 49ers have made five Women's College World Series appearances through their road trips, among the most in NCAA history (T13th - Oklahoma). The 49ers are one of just four top-seeds not to host this year. ACC champ North Carolina is hosting No. 15 Georgia, and two other western teams were shipped to eastern sites, with No. 12 Stanford headed to UMass and No. 7 Arizona going to Hofstra.
40 Or More
Entering the tournament with a 39-15 record, Long Beach State has a chance to become the Big West's first 40-win team in three years, a mark that is tough to reach due to the conference's parity year-in and year-out. LBSU was the last team to get 40 wins, in the 2004 season when Pete Manarino's 49ers posted a 51-13 record. The Big West has had just five other teams get to 40 wins since 2000.
Conference Champions
Finishing Big West play with a 15-6 record, the 49ers took the conference title by a comfortable two games. The 49ers won all but one series during that time, losing a 2-1 series on the road to fellow tournament team Cal State Fullerton. Brooke Turner finished conference play with a perfect 12-0 record, and third baseman Jennifer Griffin hit .435 with three homeruns to lead the lineup in conference play.
Terrific Turner
One of the bright spots for Long Beach State in 2008 has been the play of pitcher Brooke Turner. The sister of Michelle Turner, a former 49er and Big West Pitcher of the Year, Brooke has wasted no time rewriting the 49er record books. This past weekend Turner added 15 Ks in two shutouts against Pacific, giving her 226 on the season to continue to add to the Long Beach State single-season mark. In her first start against San Diego, Turner set a school record with 15 strikeouts, and topped that record against No. 5 Florida, giving the 19-0 Gators their first loss with 16 punchouts. Named the National Player of the Week on March 4, Turner has been named the Big West Pitcher of the Week eight times this season, setting the conference record previously held by Michelle Turner.
The Record Books
Senior Jessica Beaver's attack a number of records highlights the career accomplishments for a group of seniors that are climbing up the career lists. This year, Beaver became the all-time leader in RBI with 115, and also hit her 21st home run of her career, closing in on the top spot there as well. Beaver also ranks in the top ten in stolen bases, doubles, and runs scored in what has been an impressive four-year career. Lacy Tyler joins Beaver in the doubles list along with joining Brooke LeSage in the top 10 in walks. Rounding out the list, Brooke Turner continues build on the school's single-season shutout and strikeout records, and can set the single-season wins record with one win in the tournament.
This And That
The 49ers have two players ranked in the top five statistically in the NCAA stats going into the last week of the year ... Turner still ranks in the top five in ERA at 0.71, and outfielder Danielle Linke is fourth in the country with eight triples ... Jennifer Griffin also knocked off a LBSU single-season mark against Pacific, drawing her 32nd walk of the year ... Griffin is still the only 49er to be intentionally walked, earning seven free passes on the season ... the Iowa Regional is the second-furthest that the 49ers have travelled in the postseason; Iowa City is 50 miles closer than Baton Rouge, La., the site of LBSU's 1999 posteason appearance.
