Beach Softball Earns Another Split After Defeating NC State

Friday, February 10

Tucson, Ariz.

Noon

Long Beach State University

2-1

North Carolina State

0-2

Long Beach State

NC State

Photo by: Scott Quintard

2/10/2023 7:23:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

In the day’s other game, the Beach once again fell at the hosts, No. 12 Arizona.

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

TUCSON, Ariz. – Samantha Fowler struck out nine over six strong innings against NC State, and the Beach picked up another win over a Power 5 opponent to earn a second-straight split on Friday at the Arizona Candrea Classic.

                Long Beach State (2-2) opened the day's action against NC State (0-2). Senior Samantha Fowler got the start in the circle, and allowed just two hits over six innings as the Beach jumped out to an early lead.

                Sophomore Jacquelyn got the action started with a leadoff single in the third inning, and scored on a triple to the right field wall from Sara Olson. Olson then scored on an RBI single from Carly Robbins as the Beach took a 2-0 lead.

                Bickar was again the sparkplug the following inning with a two-out single, and after stealing second, scored on a single from Selena Perez for another run. The Beach tacked on one more in the fourth as Corissa Sweet led off the inning a double, and after advancing on a wild pitch, scored on an RBI groundout from senior Teah Thies.

                Fowler cruised through two more innings but got into a jam in the seventh inning. Fowler walked the bases loaded before turning the ball over to new transfer Eryka Gonzales who made her Beach debut. The sophomore struck out Nadia Sykes for a crucial first out, and two additional groundouts around a double from MaKayla Marbury finished off the save, her first of the year as the Beach took a 4-2 win.

                The day's second game for LBSU featured a rematch with No. 12 Arizona (3-0), but the final tally ended up in a similar place from Friday's game against the Wildcats. Mo Quinlan made her first start of the season, and had trouble getting going with three straight walks to begin the bottom of the first. The junior rallied with a pair of strikeouts, but Arizona was able to push a pair across to take a quick lead.

                Arizona added five runs in the second to come close to the run-rule early. The Beach rallied for a run in the fourth inning, as Robbins was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Sweet and Emily Salazar followed with singles, and sacrifice fly from Cassie Camou got the Beach on the board. The Wildcats plated a pair in the bottom of the fifth inning to close out the contest with a 9-1 victory.

                On the day, Corissa Sweet was a perfect 5-for-5 at the plate against the Wolfpack and the Wildcats.

                Long Beach State will close out the opening weekend with an early contest on Saturday morning, facing Kansas for the second time after LBSU beat the Jayhawks 6-5 in the opening game of the season.