Seniors Deliver On Senior Day To Complete Sweep Of CSU Bakersfield

Saturday, May 7

Long Beach, Calif.

1 p.m.

Long Beach State University

27-20, 17-6

CSU Bakersfield

8-33, 3-20

CSU Bakersfield

Long Beach State

Seniors Deliver On Senior Day To Complete Sweep Of CSU Bakersfield

5/7/2022 7:37:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

For the second year in a row, the title will come down to the Beach and the Titans in the final week of the season.

By: Roger Kirk, Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Broadcast

LONG BEACH, Calif. – Long Beach State's senior class had a big day on Senior Day, helping close out a series sweep over CSU Bakersfield with a pair of wins on Saturday and set up another clash for the Big West championship next weekend against Cal State Fullerton.

                Long Beach State (28-20, 18-6 Big West) got the day off to a strong start with their second straight complete game shutout of CSU Bakersfield (8-34, 3-21 Big West) behind a strong start from Sophia Fernandez.

                Fernandez matched her career high with seven strikeouts and held the Roadrunners to four hits without seeing a baserunner hit third base in the opening game.

                Offensively, all five of Long Beach State's active seniors got a start and had a hit in the win. In particular, Rylie Seip had a day of a note hitting a solo home run in the second inning to give the Beach the lead.

                After a leadoff single from Kyra Snyder, Seip scored the fellow senior on her second hit of the game, a single up the middle, and after stealing third, scored on a sacrifice fly from Lilyanna Martinez to make the score 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth. Fernandez closed out the win in the seventh to improve to 8-4 on the season.

                For the third and final time in the series, Long Beach State scored first in the late game. Sara Olson led off the third inning with a leadoff single, and came around to score on an error from Shaylene Fuimaono to give the Beach a 1-0 lead.

                Samantha Fowler finished with eight strikeouts on the way to her 13th win of the season, but the Roadrunners were able to scratch across their first run of the series in the top of the fourth. Fuimaono hit a one-out single, and after a walk moved her into scoring position, a wild throw from Seip allowed the CSUB third baseman to tie the game at 1-1.

                The Beach bounced right back with back-to-back walks to start the fourth inning, putting two on in front of senior Naomi Hernandez with both in scoring position after a wild pitch. Hernandez then followed with a critical hit, a single to score a pair of runs and put Long Beach State back in front.

                Singles from Samantha Martinez and Jordan Head led to a second run in the sixth inning, but Fowler picked up her eighth and final strikeout to close the inning, and an awesome strike out, throw out double play from senior Justine Briones picked up a pair of key outs for Mo Quinlan, who finished off the save for the Beach.

                In her efforts Saturday, Hernandez became the second player in Long Beach State history to walk 100 times, and is also just the eighth player to have 100 RBI in her career.

                For the second year running, the Big West title will come down to a final weekend matchup between Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. In 2021, Long Beach State swept the Titans at home to secure the outright championship, and will have to do the same on the road this season to guarantee a trip home as champions.

                All three games will be televised live on ESPN+, with the first game scheduled at 5 p.m. on Friday, May 13 before a doubleheader on Saturday, May 14 beginning at 3 p.m.