Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State Continues Tournament Play At Cal State Fullerton
3/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Long Beach, Calif. - 
Complete Long Beach State Softball Game Notes 
LEADING OFF
• Tournament play continues for Long Beach State in a busy weekend that features six games for the Beach as part of the Judi Garman Classic. The week starts on Thursday as the Beach plays a pair of ranked opponents in Arizona State and Michigan, and will run through Sunday as the 49ers host Wisconsin for the first home game of the season at 9 a.m. at the LBSU Softball Complex.
• Pitching has led the way for Long Beach State as both junior Christina Clermont and freshman Cielo Meza are off to great starts this season. Both players rank in the top six in the Big West in ERA, and currently sit No. 2 and No. 3 in strikeouts, having combined for 97 through 14 games.
• Christina Clermont was named the Big West Co-Pitcher of the Year in her first season at the Beach, and has quickly returned to top form. Throwing a one-hitter against St. Mary's, Clermont has opened the season 5-2 and has struck out 48 batters while walking just 9 on the year.
• Cielo Meza has been an excellent complement in the circle, striking out more than ten in a game twice already this season - 11 against North Dakota State and a season-high 13 against Syracuse. Her 2.67 ERA is fourth in the Big West this season, and her 8.7 strikeouts per seven innings ranks in the nation's Top 50.
• Sophomore Lauren MacLeod has stepped up for Long Beach State in the early portion of the season. With 2015 first-team All-Big West selection Lauren Lombardi out for the year, MacLeod has become the team's primary catcher and is also having a great season at the plate, leading the Beach in hitting with a .387 batting average in 12 games started.
• Long Beach State was chosen as the favorite to claim the 2016 Big West crown as the league's coaches voted in the preseason coaches poll. The Beach picked up six first place votes to take the top spot in front of Cal State Fullerton and Hawai'i, who each took a first-place vote. Last season's champs CSUN were picked fourth, with UC Riverside, Cal Poly, UCSB and UC Davis rounding out the list.
WHAT'S THE SCORE
• All games played at the LBSU Softball Complex can be followed via Gametracker at www.longbeachstate.com, the home of Long Beach State athletics. FloSoftball is also offering streaming of every game of the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton as a paid service.
POWER SURGE
• Long Beach State features two players who rank in the Top 10 in career home runs in this year's squad. Leading the way is senior Darian Tautalafua, who is the school record holder with 41 home runs and counting in her senior season. She is joined by Lauren Lombardi, who has 17 home runs over two seasons, ranking 7th in LBSU history.
RECORD WATCH
• Darian Tautalafua owns another career record at the Beach as the senior continues to own the power marks. Along with home runs, Tautalafua has driven in 129 RBI, passing Jessica Beaver as a junior to hold the top spot.
• Two other records are within reach for Tautalafua. The senior currently ranks fourth in career runs scored with 112, trailing new record holder Shayna Kimbrough by 19 runs, a mark set last season in 2015. Tautalafua also ranks fifth in career walks with 84, and can set a new LBSU record with six more walks this season.
PLAYER NOTES
• Sophomore LT Torres walked 27 times as a freshman, and is already off to a quick pace in 2016, walking eight times this season, a team high. Torres is reaching base at a .431 mark, and is hitting .333 this season, third on the team.
• Haley Tobler hit .286 a season ago, fifth on the team, while starting all 52 games, joining Lauren Lombardi and Darian Tautalafua as the three returning players who started every game in 2015. Tobler has conitnued to be a key part of the LBSU offense, with a team-high four doubles and a pair of home runs while hitting .273.
• Long Beach State adds one Division I transfer in senior Alley Perkins, who returns to California after playing one season at Tennessee. Perkins starred at Santa Ana College before transferring to Tennessee, where she played in 2014 with current teammate Haley Tobler. The pair are reunited at the Beach as seniors in 2016. Perkins has been a big part of the offense early, hitting .282 and leading the team in stolen bases while starting each game.
• Fresh off an All-Freshman team campaign last season, Julia Lombardi is hitting .279 as a sophomore, with three doubles and a home run against St. Mary's. Fellow sophomore Hannah Cookson is also off to a quick start, hitting .325 with 13 hits and 11 RBI, second-most on the team.
• Three more freshmen players have made early impacts in Kelli Finan, Tierra Falo and Nichole Fry. Fry had a good weekend at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, hitting three doubles and a triple, and has made just one error while starting every game at shortstop. Finan and Falo have split duties as the designated player in 2016, with Falo hitting .263 with a pair of home runs, while Finan is hitting .304.
THIS AND THAT
• Five Long Beach State players are hitting over .300, and the team is hitting .297 as a whole, ranking 86th in the nation. The Beach is also in the country's Top 100 in ERA (3.00, 88th) and in fielding percentage (.970, 49th) showcasing a solid all-around effort through three weeks.
• Head Coach Kim Sowder earned career win No. 300 in the final game of the season in 2015, a 5-4 victory over UC Santa Barbara. Sowder is the leader among all eight coaches in the Big West in wins as a member of the Big West, and is just the 8th coach to reach 300 wins in conference history. Twice named Big West Coach of the Year, Sowder enters her 10th season as head coach at Long Beach State, her Alma Mater, where she was an All-American shortstop.
• Long Beach State has reached 20 wins for 32 straight seasons, and has never finished under .500 in Kim Sowder's tenure.
