Long Beach State University
11-10
Minnesota
13-8
Softball Falls In Extra Innings Against No. 18 Minnesota In Home Opener
3/6/2020 7:08:00 PM | Softball
Emily Salazar was 3-for-3 and played sparkling defense in the loss.
Kellie White limited Minnesota (13-8) to just three hits over eight innings pitched, but two of the three brought in runs as the Golden Gophers did their damage just when they needed it.
It was Long Beach State (11-10) that struck first however as the middle of the lineup came through in a big way in the second inning. Abby Lockman led off the inning with a single, followed by a hit from Taylor Rowland to put two on in front of Emily Salazar, who had the first of three hits on the day to put the Beach on the board.
Emily Salazar delivers! RBI single for the first run of the season at home and the Beach is on top of No. 18 Minnesota 1-0! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/maaeRcZItw
— LBSU Softball (@LBSUSoftball) March 6, 2020
Minnesota took the lead in the top of the next inning. White walked Brooke Vander Heide with one out and then made one of her frew mistakes, as Natalie DenHartog cracked a two-run homer to right to put Minnesota on top.
LBSU had an answer with a rally in the fifth, as Breezy Wise singled and Alyssa Gonzalez followed with a double to tie the game, all with two outs. The momentum would continue to turn as Long Beach State escaped a big threat from Minnesota after two straight errors to start the inning. Salazar made a leaping stab at third base to nearly double off the lead runner and get the first out, and White responded by getting a popup on a squeeze attempt and a strikeout of Kianna Jones to close out the inning.
Alyssa Gonzalez ties it up! Wise motors around from first and we're square at 2-2 on the two-out hit! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/ZtUVS79PcC
— LBSU Softball (@LBSUSoftball) March 7, 2020
With no further scoring in the final inning, the tiebreaker rule played a key part in the win for Minnesota. The Golden Gophers successfully pushed their runner over and then a single from Emily Hansen, the third over eight innings allowed by White brought in the go-ahead run.
Aggressive running helped Long Beach State put their runner onto third with a stolen base, but it cost them one play later as pitcher Amber Fiser was able to get a glove on a hard comebacker and catch Rylie Seip at the plate. A groundout double play then ended the game as the Beach were unable to cash in that run.
Long Beach State is back in action tomorrow against UCF at 12:30 p.m., part of two games in the Louisville Slugger Invitational Saturday at the LBSU Softball Complex.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Amber Fiser (8-7)
L: White, Kellie (5-5)
Batting:
HR: Natalie DenHartog 1
RBI: Natalie DenHartog 2 ; Emily Hansen 1
SH: Natalie DenHartog 1 ; Sydney Strelow 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brooke Vander Heide 2 ; Natalie DenHartog 1
CS: Sydney Strelow 1
HBP: Sydney Strelow 1
Batting:
2B: Gonzalez, Alyssa 2
RBI: Gonzalez, Alyssa 1 ; Salazar, Emily 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wise, Breezy 1 ; Lockman, Abby 1
SB: Seip, Rylie 1
HBP: Snyder, Kyra 1
