Long Beach State University
19-22, 6-6
UC Santa Barbara
8-35, 2-10
Beach Rallies From Five Down For 6-5 Walkoff Win
4/20/2019 5:08:00 PM | Softball
Long Beach State battled out of a big hole to win with a four-run seventh inning.
Devyn Magnett cruised through an easy first inning, retiring UC Santa Barbara (8-35, 2-10 Big West) in order in the first inning, but ran into trouble in the second. Devan Sperry reached on an error in left, but Long Beach State (19-22, 6-6 Big West) responded by picking up the next two outs and looked to be out of the inning.
Melanie Menor extended the threat with an RBI single, and after a walk put two on, three straight hits from the Gauchos gave UCSB at 4-0 lead after two innings.
Ashley Coleman came on in the second to end the rally, and had a slow time settling in but continued to compete, working out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning with no damage. In the fourth, three UCSB hits led to a fifth run scored, but Nichole Fry was able to come up with the final out on a nice fielder's choice to end the inning.
The Beach started to turn things around in the fifth. Ruffin's second hit of the day got the action started, and after moving to second on a groundout, the freshman came home to score on a pinch hit RBI single from Breezy Wise, cutting the lead to 5-1.
Breezy Wise with a pinch hit RBI single! LBSU is on the board in the fifth! #ComebackTime #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/NWkxhQpL3b
— LBSU Softball (@LBSUSoftball) April 20, 2019
In the sixth, Sydney McCollum led off the inning with a base hit, and after Lauren Lombardi walked, Alyssa Gonzalez singled cut the lead to 5-2. A walk to Taylor Rowland loaded the bases with no outs as the Beach looked to put together a big inning, but a liner ripped to third by Ruffin was snared for a double play, and then a controversial interference call wiped out a wild pitch to Hanson that would have kept the bases loaded.
The momentum had clearly shifted at that point. Coleman worked through another quiet inning, a third without a hit in relief and the Beach went to work in the bottom half. Naomi Hernandez drew a leadoff walk as a pinch hitter, bringing up the top of the order. Nichole Fry was plunked to put two on, and McCollum hit an infield single, with the attempt to catch the speedy junior wide bringing home the first run of the inning.
Lombardi followed with a walk, loading the bases for Gonzalez, who hit a deep sacrifice fly to bring home Fry but also leave the Beach with just one more out to finish off the comeback. Rowland walked to load the bases in front of Ruffin, who delivered with her third hit of the game, bringing home McCollum and pinch runner Jessica Nogosek to cap off the walkoff win.
Maddy Ruffin wins it! The Beach rallies for a walk-off win over UCSB in the series finale, 6-5!! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/HNxtWMbuuv
— LBSU Softball (@LBSUSoftball) April 20, 2019
Long Beach State will play their final road games of the season at Cal Poly on April 27 and 28 in the next action for the Beach before returning home for a pair of series to close the regular season against UC Davis and CSUN.
Nothing but smiles as we catch today's hero @MaddyRuffin after the walkoff win! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/wz4vjtXIGv
— LBSU Softball (@LBSUSoftball) April 20, 2019
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Coleman, Ashley (10-10)
L: Noriega, Felisha (6-15)
Batting:
2B: Fines, Maci 1
RBI: Fines, Maci 2 ; Fabian, Sammy 1 ; Cohen, Rayna 1 ; Menor, Melanie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Thies, Teah 1 ; Lazatin, Alyssa 1 ; Menor, Melanie 1 ; Goldstein, Tyler 1 ; Krantz, Kayla 1
SB: Fabian, Sammy 1
Batting:
RBI: Gonzalez, Alyssa 2 ; Ruffin, Maddy 2 ; Wise, Breezy 1
SF: Gonzalez, Alyssa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Fry, Nichole 1 ; McCollum, Sydney 2 ; Nogosek, Jessica 1 ; Ruffin, Maddy 1 ; Hernandez, Naomi 1
SB: McCollum, Sydney 1
HBP: Fry, Nichole 2 ; McCollum, Sydney 1
