Long Beach State University
Pacific
49er softball downs Pacific, 6-1, in regular season finale
5/9/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
May 9, 2009
STOCKTON, Calif. - The Long Beach State softball team closed out the regular season by completing a series sweep of Pacific with a 6-1 win Saturday afternoon at Bill Simoni Field.
The 49ers, who have won five straight and eight of its last 10 games, improved to 34-19 overall and 15-6 in conference play. LBSU remained in third place in the league standings, however, as Cal Poly and Cal State Fullerton also swept their weekend series.
Freshman Taylor Petty (15-4) continued to shine in the circle as she earned her 15th win, allowing one run on five hits and three walks, while registering seven strikeouts.
The Beach erupted for 11 hits on the day and was led by senior Danielle Linke, who went 3-for-4 with a home run. Classmate Brianna Goad chipped in a pair of singles, while senior Jennifer Griffin drove in two.
LBSU jumped out to an early lead, putting up five runs in the top of the third. Linke and junior Bridgette Pagano drew back-to-back walks to start the inning and quickly came around to score as Griffin drove a 1-1 offering to the gap in left center for her team-leading 17th double. Senior Jonae Perez followed with a single, and an error on the same play by Pacific leftfielder Lauren Weyman, allowed Griffin to cross the plate. Perez eventually scored on an RBI single by Goad.
Long Beach State tacked on one more in the sixth frame as Linke led off with her 11th career home run.
The Tigers (18-34, 3-18 BWC) scored their lone run in the bottom of the sixth when Briana Santos drove in Paige Emerson, who had opened the inning with a triple, on a sacrifice fly.
Long Beach State finds out if it will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the selection show airs Sunday at 7 p.m. (PDT) on ESPNU.
