Softball Title Showdown With Cal State Fullerton This Weekend On ESPN3

Friday, May 14

Long Beach, Calif.

1 p.m.

Long Beach State University

Cal State Fullerton

Photo by: John Fajardo

Softball Title Showdown With Cal State Fullerton This Weekend On ESPN3

5/11/2021 12:52:00 PM | Softball

Game Notes - Cal State Fullerton

Long Beach State wins a ninth Big West title with a sweep of the Titans.

By: Roger Kirk, Assistant Athletics Director, Athletic Communications

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- It all comes down to this. The best two teams in the Big West by a large margin will face off head-to-head to claim the Big West title this weekend, with all four games broadcast live on ESPN3. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Friday and Saturday for both doubleheaders.

LEADING OFF
• Only the first three games will count towards the conference standings; Long Beach State needs to win all three to earn a ninth Big West title. Cal State Fullerton meanwhile is trying for a third straight championship.

• With the series marking the end of the regular season, Long Beach State is honoring its departing players on Saturday and throughout the week. Seniors Kellie White and Breezy Wise returned for another season following a shortened campaign in 2020, while senior Suzy Brookshire finishes her eligibility with the Beach as well. Fifth-year junior Alyssa Gonzalez has also announced her intentions to move on after graduation this May.

• In an effort to shore up the team's RPI, Long Beach State played four games against Pac-12 opposition last week in No. 2 UCLA and Cal. Samantha Fowler pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts over nine innings, as Long Beach State rallied to walk-off Cal, scoring two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a Naomi Hernandez double and a walkoff hit from Kyra Snyder.

• In league play, Long Beach State is coming off of a dominant four-game sweep at Hawai'i. The Beach scored 50 runs in the series, and hit .444 as a team, with 14 players hitting .300 or better. The Beach hit 11 home runs including grand slams from Justine Briones and Naomi Hernandez, and perhaps most impressively, did not strike out once in 117 at-bats against the Rainbow Wahine.

• Long Beach State's stars have been shining in 2021. Kellie White and Shannon Haddad in the circle, along with Naomi Hernandez, Alyssa Gonzalez, Suzy Brookshire and Breezy Wise are all having huge years in 2021, with five of those six having claimed Big West Weekly honors already this season after Wise won the honor after hitting 3 home runs and .615 at UH.

• Alyssa Gonzalez has been having an incredible season. The junior is 30th in the nation with a .434 batting average, and has hit five doubles and seven home runs while walking 12 times and striking out just twice. She continues to lead the Big West in hitting, and is batting .493 in conference play.

• Naomi Hernandez, who burst onto the national scene as a freshman, is having a return to the form that caught national attention 2018. Hernandez is batting .423 has reached base in 28 straight games while leading the Beach with 21 walks. At the top of the lineup, Hernandez has an on-base percentage of .523 which ranks 42nd nationally.

Senior Breezy Wise returned after leading the Beach in batting in 2020, and is having another outstanding year, batting .365 with 10 doubles, five triples and four home runs while driving in 35 RBI. Wise ranks second on the team in the RBI and is in the nation's top 10 in triples.

PLAYER NOTES
• Suzy Brookshire is also hitting over .400 this season at .402, and leads Long Beach State and the Big West with 48 RBI and has hit 10 home runs. Brookshire ranks nationally in both of those categories, as well as in slugging at .785 this season.

• In the series finale against UC Riverside, Suzy Brookshire etched her name in the Long Beach State record books, going 3-for-3 with a trio of home runs, the first player in the 41-year history of Beach Softball to hit three home runs in a game.

• In the circle, Long Beach State has gone three deep with Kellie White, Shannon Haddad and Samantha Fowler. The trio rank in the top five in ERA in the Big West, and all three are in the top ten in opposing batting average and strikeouts.

• Kellie White is third in the Big West with a 1.71 ERA in conference play, and has posted a 13-6 overall record with one save. Her 94 strikeouts also lead the team, as do her 109.0 innings pitched.

• Meanwhile, as a freshman, Shannon Haddad has posted an unbeaten 8-0 record in 11 starts, and had 56 strikeouts in ten league appearances. With 64 strikeouts on the year and just 10 walks, Haddad ranks 20th in K/BB ratio nationally and has played a part in four shutouts this season.

• Samantha Fowler has stepped up in the absence of Haddad for the last three weeks. Making five starts, Fowler is now 4-2 with a 2.45 ERA and has 51 strikeouts on the year which ranks 8th in the Big West in limited innings. The sophomore has set two season highs for the Beach, striking out 12 in a win at Hawai'i while throwing a nine inning complete game victory against Cal with eight strikeouts.

• Junior Emily Salazar has also had a solid season. Starting 28 games in the middle infield, Salazar is hitting .309 with seven doubles and a home run and has driven in 17 RBI on the year.

• Gonzalez, Hernandez and Emily Salazar have all had extended hitting streaks which have landed in the LBSU Top 10. Alyssa Gonzalez was one away from the school record with a 17 game streak, while Salazar had a 12-game hitting streak broken earlier this year. Hernandez also had a 16-game hitting streak end against UCLA.

• Cam Cecil has played every game in Big West play at shortstop, making 33 starts in total on the year. Hitting .300 with 18 RBI and a pair of home runs, Cecil has also been excellent defensively, making just five errors on the year.

• Two juniors have split the duties behind the plate this season, returner Justine Briones and transfer Ashley Machado. Briones is hitting .279 now with three home runs and three doubles in 16 starts, while Machado is hitting .226 with 8 RBI, including a critical three-run home run against Loyola Marymount.

• Lilyanna Martinez has been a bright spot among the true freshman who have joined the program this season. Martinez has made 20 starts and is hitting .351 as well as showcasing her speed on the basepaths, a perfect 9-for-9 in stolen base attempts. Sophia Fernandez has also had a strong start at the plate, hitting .300 with a pair of walks in 13 plate appearances.