Long Beach State University
9-9
BYU
7-11
Softball Falls In 11-6 Slugfest With BYU
3/7/2019 4:54:00 PM | Softball
Long Beach State had three doubles in the defeat.
BYU (9-9) struck first, taking advantage of a pair of Long Beach State (7-11) errors to bring across a run in the first inning. The Cougars then scored six in the second as Long Beach State struggled to get out of the inning. Freshman Presley Miraglia hit a batter and then an error behind her put two on. BYU followed with a pair of hits and another walk to force Miraglia out of the game, and then Devyn Magnett allowed two singles in her two batters faced as the rally continued.
Samantha Fowler came on and was able to limit the damage at that point, but the Cougars owned a 7-0 lead. A solo home run from Rylee Jensen made it 8-0, but Long Beach State answered back in the bottom of the third.
An error put a runner on with one out in front of the top of the lineup for the Beach, leading to a big inning. Nichole Fry and Naomi Hernandez hit back-to-back singles to load the bases starting the rally. An RBI groundout from Jamie Wren led to the first run, and back-to-back doubles from Alyssa Gonzalez and Tierra Falo cut the lead in half at 8-4.
It's a double party! Alyssa Gonzalez here and Tierra Falo as well and the Beach has cut the lead in half here in the third! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/7uXV8cl2j3
— LBSU Softball (@LBSUSoftball) March 7, 2019
The following inning, BYU picked up two singles to start the inning. Fowler would get the next two outs, but BYU would pick up important insurance runs on doubles from Jensen and Taylie Williams to make the lead even larger.
Sophomore Cindy Robles entered for her second career appearance at that point and pitched well, holding the Cougars scoreless the rest of the way over 3.1 innings.
A leadoff error in the seventh gave the Beach hope, as Katelyn Hanson doubled to drive in a second run. Hanson would advance to third on a deep fly from Fry and score on a groundout from Hernandez, but reliever Kerisa Viramontes was able to close out the game and hold onto the win for BYU.
Long Beach State continues to host the Louisville Slugger Invitational with three more games Friday. The Beach will take the field at 2 p.m. against Liberty in the final game tomorrow, with the tournament scheduled to run through Friday at the LBSU Softball Complex.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Wise, Breezy (4-4)
L: Miraglia, Presley (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Hernandez, Naomi 1 ; Salazar, Emily 1 ; Jaurique, Taylor 1
HR: Hernandez, Naomi 1
RBI: Hernandez, Naomi 4 ; Salazar, Emily 1 ; EPENESA, Martha 1 ; Jaurique, Taylor 1 ; White, Kellie 2 ; Fowler, Samantha 1
SH: Robles, Cindy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hernandez, Naomi 3 ; Salazar, Emily 1 ; EPENESA, Martha 2 ; TARROW, Lexi 1 ; Hutton, Kasey 1 ; Robles, Cindy 1 ; Fowler, Samantha 2
SB: Fowler, Samantha 1
HBP: Hutton, Kasey 2
Batting:
2B: Gonzalez, Alyssa 1 ; Falo, Tierra 1 ; Hanson, Katelyn 1
RBI: Hernandez, Naomi 1 ; Wren, Jamie 1 ; Gonzalez, Alyssa 2 ; Falo, Tierra 1 ; Hanson, Katelyn 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hernandez, Naomi 1 ; Wren, Jamie 1 ; Gonzalez, Alyssa 1 ; Ruffin, Maddy 1 ; Hanson, Katelyn 2
