Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
Louisiana Tech
Softball Opens Season With 2-1 Win Over Louisiana Tech
2/8/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Long Beach State softball opened the season with a 2-1 win over Louisiana Tech, riding some timely hitting and a dominant pitching performance from Cielo Meza.
Meza struck out 12 batters on the game and allowed one unearned run on two hits to collect her first win of the season.
Louisiana Tech (0-2) opened the scoring in the bottom of the first. After a leadoff walk by Jazlyn Crowder, the Techsters pushed her over to third base, and then a bunt attempt by Ali Galaz was popped into the air, but Cielo Meza came up just short on a diving attempt at the catch, clipping off of her glove and allowing the first run of the game to score.
Long Beach State (1-0) bounced back in the fourth inning, scoring two crucial runs. Lauren MacLeod kicked off the inning with a single, and Tierra Falo followed with another base hit to put two runners on. Taylor Rowland drove home the tying run with an RBI single, and then Grayce Majam brought home another run with an RBI ground ball to give the Beach the lead.
Louisiana Tech would only have two more baserunners in the game. After getting one hit in the fifth inning, a late LBSU error gave the Techsters an extra opportunity with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Meza struck out Berkley Calapp on three pitches to close out her first win of the year in a complete game.
Freshman Naomi Hernandez made her first start of the season and had a pair of hits, while five other 49ers hit safely, with three of those key hits coming in the go-ahead fourth.
Long Beach State continues tournament play at the Puerto Vallarta Collegiate Challenge tomorrow with a pair of games. First, the Beach will take on Nevada at 9 a.m., followed by a Noon game against No. 23 James Madison. Links to the live streams and stats can be found at www.longbeachstate.com.
