Long Beach State University Athletics
Softball To Host Three Home Games Before Final Tournament
3/13/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Long Beach State Game Notes 
LEADING OFF
• Long Beach State remains at home to start the week, hosting three games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday will feature three games as No. 5 Arizona, No. 9 Oklahoma and Long Beach State will each face off against each other. The Beach will take on Arizona at 12:30 and Oklahoma at 3 p.m. after the Wildcats and Sooners start the day at 10 a.m. The Beach then hosts Texas on Wednesday at 2 p.m.
• Sophomore Nichole Fry has been the key hitter for Long Beach State thus far in 2017. The shortstop has started all 21 games and his hitting .362 while leading the team with a .586 slugging percentage and reaching at a .486 rate. Fry leads the team in doubles, triples, walks and HBP and has scored 15 runs this season. Fry was named the Big West Player of the Week after the opening weekend.
• Freshman Aniesa Maulupe has delivered at the plate in 2017, leading the team with 13 RBI on the year. Walking four times, Maulupe has driven in multiple RBI a team high four times this season, including four in Long Beach State's win over Oregon State.
• Long Beach State has gotten an lift from Iowa transfer Sammi Gyerman. The senior graduate transfer has played in all 21 games for Long Beach State, starting 20 and is hitting .356, second on the team in batting this season. Her 21 hits this season are tied with Fry for the team lead.
• Returning pitching is also a strength for the Beach. Christina Clermont returns for her third season with Long Beach State after earning first-team All-Big West honors in each of her first two seasons at LBSU. The 2015 Big West Co-Pitcher of the Year, Clermont went 23-12 one season ago and struck out 205 batters in 230.1 innings pitched. In 2017, Clermont leads the team with 60.1 innings pitched, and has a 4-5 record with a 3.48 ERA.
• Clermont is within striking distance of a number of career records as Long Beach State. Last week, she reached the top 5 in strikeouts at LBSU, and is climbing the career charts in both wins and complete games as well.
WHAT'S THE SCORE
• All games played at the LBSU Softball Complex can be followed through StatBroadcast at www.beachlivestats.com. The majority of LBSU home games will also have live audio through KBEACH at www.kbeach.org or through the KBEACH app based on student availability.
PLAYER NOTES
• Christina Clermont and Cielo Meza shared one mark in 2016, as each pitcher recorded 15 strikeouts in a game. Clermont reached the mark for the second time in her 49er career against Colorado State, while Meza struck out 15 less than one week later against San Jose State. The 15 strikeouts tied Brooke Turner for the most in a regulation game; Turner also struck out 16 in a 10-inning victory over Florida in 2008.
• Long Beach State is still waiting for the return of Meza, who missed the second half of 2016. Meza struck out 85 batters in 67.2 innings pitched before missing the remainder of the season, and her recovery has stretched into the beginning of the 2017 campaign.
• Claiming the majority of those innings in the early going of 2017 has been freshman Devyn Magnett. Making three early relief appearances before making her first start against Utah, Magnett combined in a no-hitter on opening day with Clermont, and has pitched 40.1 innings this year. She made two starts last weekend, allowing just three runs in two complete games.
• Another newcomer making an impact in 2017 is Jessica Flores, a transfer from Arizona Western CC who is living up to her Utility position designation. Flores was a two-way star for Arizona Western, and has done both for the Beach, throwing 26.0 innings in the circle with four starts and also starting six games in the outfield.
• Junior Hannah Cookson is once again off to a quick start. After hitting .375 through the first ten games of the season in 2016, Cookson is batting .327 with a triple and two runs scored in 18 starts.
• With ten hits over the last two weeks, junior LT Torres has raiser her batting average to .246, and has started every game for the Beach over the last three seasons at second base. Another junior, Lauren MacLeod, has stepped up in the absence of Lauren Lombardi, starting 16 games behind the plate and hitting .222 on the year.
• Tierra Falo returned to the starting lineup, and hit her second home run of the season, a three-run shot that lifted Long Beach State to a 5-4 win over Indiana. The sophomore leads the team with two home runs and is second on the team lead with seven walks.
• Both Lombardi sisters are climbing the power ranks at Long Beach State. Having each played two seasons, Lauren ranks seventh all-time with 17 home runs in her career, while Julia Lombardi is one away from joining the Top 10, after hitting a solo home run against Weber State. Additionally, Lauren joined the top 10 in RBI, and now ranks 10th with 82 in her career.
• Mattie Scheele and Kelli Finan have split time at third base this season, with Scheele getting the majority of time lately, including against Indiana where she drove in the game-winning run.
THIS AND THAT
• Twice named Big West Coach of the Year, Kim Sowder completed her 10th season in 2016 as head coach at Long Beach State, her Alma Mater, where she was an All-American shortstop. Sowder passed Kathy Strahan of Sacramento State and San Jose State for seventh place in the career coaching wins as a member of the Big West, as the 11th year coach now has 340 wins at the helm of the Beach.
• Long Beach State reached 20 wins for 33 straight seasons after getting there in 2016 on March 30 against LMU, and has never finished under .500 in Kim Sowder's tenure. With 33 wins in 2016, the Beach has reached 30 wins in 6 of 10 seasons under Sowder.
• Once again Long Beach State will play one of the best schedules in the country. The 49ers will play 11 teams ranked in the USA Today preseason poll, and an additional six teams receiving votes in the same poll. The team will also play at home for a record 29 games, all at the LBSU Softball Complex.
• Among the games of note at home in 2017 are a single game against #8 Washington on Valentine's Day, which the Huskies took in seven innings, Long Beach State's annual tilt with #10 UCLA on March 11, and a three-way round-robin contest between Long Beach State, #5 Arizona and defending national champions #9 Oklahoma.
