Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers head to Palm Springs for Cathedral Classic Tournament
2/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Feb. 22, 2011
Complete Release in PDF Format 
LONG BEACH STATE TO PLAY FIVE GAMES, THREE AGAINST RANKED TEAMS, AT CATHEDRAL CITY CLASSIC IN PALM SPRINGS: Long Beach State will get its biggest test of the young softball season when the 49ers travel to Palm Springs for a tournament starting Thursday and ending late Saturday night. The 49ers will face three nationally-ranked teams, No. 6 Oklahoma, No. 18 Oklahoma State, and No. 21 Texas A&M, as well as Utah and Florida State. LBSU opens the tournament Thursday with a pair of games. The 49ers will look to avenge last Sunday's 3-2 loss at the hands of Utah at 1 p.m., before facing Texas A&M at 6 p.m. On Friday, LBSU meets Oklahoma at 10:30 a.m., before tangling with Florida State (6 p.m.) and Oklahoma State (8:30 p.m.) Saturday.
49ERS WIN THREE OF FIVE AT LAS VEGAS TOURNAMENT: Long Beach State picked up three wins at last weekend's Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas. The 49ers opened the tournament with a 10-4 loss to No. 9 Hawaii before running off three straight wins against Southern Illinois Edwardsville (13-5), Arkansas (11-0) and Boise State (7-5 in eight innings). Long Beach State dropped its final game against Utah despite leading most of the game. The Utes scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning with two outs to hand LBSU its second loss of the weekend. Long Beach State and Utah will meet in the first game of this weekend's tournament.
DENIO NAMED BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior Megan Denio was named the Big West Conference Player of the Week after leading Long Beach State to a 3-2 record in last weekend's Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada. Denio (Tustin, Calif./Beckman HS) hit .467 with her first career homerun, six RBI and a stolen base in LBSU's five games. The 49er leftfielder tied a school record with six RBI in a game when she went 2-for-3 with a grand slam in an 11-0 win against Arkansas. Denio opened the tournament going 1-for-3 in a loss to No. 9 Hawaii, then went 2-for-3 in an 13-5 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville before having the big game against Arkansas. She wrapped up the tournament with a 2-for-4 effort in a 7-5 extra inning win over Boise State where she scored two runs, and a 0-for-2 game in a 3-2 loss to Utah. Denio is the second Long Beach State player to earn weekly honors this season. Freshman Erin Jones-Westley earned conference pitcher of the week honors on Feb. 14 after throwing back-to-back shutouts against Boise State.
TURNER CLIMBING RECORD BOOKS: Senior Brooke Turner enters this weekend's games ranked among Long Beach State's career leaders in six pitching categories. The Buena Park product is already second in strikeouts and needs just 106 more to pass Meredith Cervenka (2002-05) for the all-time lead. Turner has had at least 127 Ks in each of her first three seasons at LBSU. She also ranks fifth in wins and shutouts, seventh in complete games and eighth in innings pitched and appearances. Turner didn't play in the 49ers' first four games after sitting out the fall, but returned to pitch in two of Long Beach State's games in Las Vegas.
PETTY RANKS AMONG ALL-TIME LEADERS IN TWO CATEGORIES, CLOSING IN ON OTHERS: Junior Taylor Petty also is among the school's all-time leaders in two categories and is closing in on the top 10 in a number of others. Petty heads to Palm Springs ninth in both strikeouts and saves. She also needs just nine more wins this year to move into sole possession of 10th all-time in wins at LBSU. Petty is 3-2 on the season with a 3.30 ERA and 27 strike outs.
SCHALLIG AND DENIO TIE SCHOOL RECORD FOR RBI IN A GAME: It's been more than 11 years since Jessica Smith drove in a school-record six runs in a game twice in less than a month. Since that time, six players had put up five RBI in a game but nobody had been able to tie or break Smith's record. That changed in Las Vegas when, not one, but two Long Beach State players tied the record with six RBI in a game. Christina Schallig was the first to tie the record when she had a pair of 3-run homeruns in LBSU's 13-5 win over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. One day later, Megan Denio joined Schallig and Jones as the only three players in school history with six RBI in a game. Denio did it in an 11-0 win over Arkansas, which she capped with a grand slam, her first career homerun. Smith originally set the record with six RBI at UC Santa Barbara on April 10, 1999, and then she tied it less than a month later with six RBI vs. New Mexico State on May 2, 1999.
FOUR 49ERS IN TOP 10 IN BATTING AVERAGE AS LBSU LEADS LEAGUE IN HITTING: Long Beach State leads the Big West Conference in hitting with a .325 team batting average after two weekends of play. The 49ers have done it with a balanced offensive attack. Four LBSU players rank in the top 10 in batting average with junior Megan Denio leading the way with a .455 average, good enough for fourth. Caitrin DeBaun is fifth (.444), Nalani St. Germain (.400) is eighth and Liz Javier is 10th (.385).
Erin Jones-Wesley NAMED BIG WEST PITCHER OF THE WEEK AFTER OPENING WEEKEND: Freshman Erin Jones-Wesley was named the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week after picking up two wins in the Long Beach State Kick-Off Tournament on Feb. 12-13. Jones-Wesley (Alta Loma, Calif./Los Osos HS) beat Boise State 2-0 on both Saturday and Sunday. The true freshman blanked the Broncos on Saturday throwing a complete-game three-hitter, while striking out eight. On Sunday she went the distance holding BSU to just five hits while fanning eight.
