Saturday, April 29
Honolulu, Hawaii
5 p.m. PT
Long Beach State University
24-21, 14-6
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Hawai'i
29-17, 12-8
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Long Beach State
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Hawai'i
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Photo by: Diego Devia @Devia.Img
Clutch First Game Turnaround Sparks Series Win At Hawai’i
4/29/2023 9:41:00 PM | Softball
No-hit through five, the Beach exploded for a game-one win and then rolled to a run-rule win in the series finale.
HONOLULU, Hawaii – Showing off their perseverance, Long Beach State was no-hit through five innings, but Sara Olson's solo home run and a critical mistake from Hawai'i allowed the Beach to come storming back for a doubleheader sweep Saturday.
Both pitchers were in total command of the early stages of the opening game. Sophia Fernandez worked around minor jams for three innings for Long Beach State, (25-21, 15-6 Big West) while Brianna Lopez was dominant, holding the Beach without a hit for the first five innings for Hawai'i (29-18, 12-9 Big West).
Hawai'i struck first, with Maycen Gibbs hitting a solo home run in the fourth, her first hit of the season to give the Rainbow Wahine a 1-0 lead. UH then added one more in the fifth inning, as a one-out walk was pushed around to score on a sacrifice fly from Izabella Martinez.
When the crack came, though, Long Beach State burst through it. Sara Olson ended both Lopez' no-hitter and shutout with the first pitch of the sixth inning, sending a ball to left field to cut the lead in half at 2-1.
Jacquelyn Bickar doubled, and a walk to Makayla Medellin put two on in front of Makayla Ceballos for what would be the key play of the opening game. Ceballos smacked a comebacker to new pitcher McKenna Kostyszyn who knocked it down but sailed the throw to first. Aggressive baserunning helped Bickar come home, and then trying to throw out Medellin at third, the Rainbow Wahine made another error to score another run and the Beach quickly took the lead 3-2.
With that start, the Beach pushed their advantage. Singles from Emily Salazar and Lilyanna Martinez scored a fourth run, and then with the bases loaded, back-to-back walks drawn by Cam Cecil and Teah Thies scored two more as the Beach took a 6-2 lead.
Fernandez, who despite the two runs had been excellent, smoothly finished off the game through the sixth and seventh innings for her sixth win of the year and her third complete game of the season.
Long Beach State again leapt on a Hawai'i mistake in the second game. After a scoreless first, Emily Salazar got the action started with a one-out single, and Lilyanna Martinez followed with a double down the line to put two runners in scoring position.
Key-an Campbell-Pua got a second out, but Carly Robbins singled to score one, and an overthrow allowed Martinez to score as well making it 2-0. A bloop single by Selena Perez brought home Robbins, and then Perez scored on an RBI single to second after beating out a close play at second for a four-run inning for the Beach.
Olson hit her second home run of the day to open the fifth inning, starting off another inning similar to the first game's sixth. Bickar followed with a single, and after a walk to Medellin, a single from Ceballos loaded the bases. After getting the first out, an error brought in one more, followed by a passed ball to make the score 7-0. A final error allowed one additional run to score, putting the Beach up 8-0.
Eryka Gonzales set down the Rainbow Wahine in order in the fifth to close out the complete game shutout as the Beach grabbed their second run-rule win of the season to grab out the series win.
Long Beach State will close out their road slate next weekend, traveling to face CSU Bakersfield for a three-game series.
Both pitchers were in total command of the early stages of the opening game. Sophia Fernandez worked around minor jams for three innings for Long Beach State, (25-21, 15-6 Big West) while Brianna Lopez was dominant, holding the Beach without a hit for the first five innings for Hawai'i (29-18, 12-9 Big West).
Hawai'i struck first, with Maycen Gibbs hitting a solo home run in the fourth, her first hit of the season to give the Rainbow Wahine a 1-0 lead. UH then added one more in the fifth inning, as a one-out walk was pushed around to score on a sacrifice fly from Izabella Martinez.
When the crack came, though, Long Beach State burst through it. Sara Olson ended both Lopez' no-hitter and shutout with the first pitch of the sixth inning, sending a ball to left field to cut the lead in half at 2-1.
Jacquelyn Bickar doubled, and a walk to Makayla Medellin put two on in front of Makayla Ceballos for what would be the key play of the opening game. Ceballos smacked a comebacker to new pitcher McKenna Kostyszyn who knocked it down but sailed the throw to first. Aggressive baserunning helped Bickar come home, and then trying to throw out Medellin at third, the Rainbow Wahine made another error to score another run and the Beach quickly took the lead 3-2.
With that start, the Beach pushed their advantage. Singles from Emily Salazar and Lilyanna Martinez scored a fourth run, and then with the bases loaded, back-to-back walks drawn by Cam Cecil and Teah Thies scored two more as the Beach took a 6-2 lead.
Fernandez, who despite the two runs had been excellent, smoothly finished off the game through the sixth and seventh innings for her sixth win of the year and her third complete game of the season.
Long Beach State again leapt on a Hawai'i mistake in the second game. After a scoreless first, Emily Salazar got the action started with a one-out single, and Lilyanna Martinez followed with a double down the line to put two runners in scoring position.
Key-an Campbell-Pua got a second out, but Carly Robbins singled to score one, and an overthrow allowed Martinez to score as well making it 2-0. A bloop single by Selena Perez brought home Robbins, and then Perez scored on an RBI single to second after beating out a close play at second for a four-run inning for the Beach.
Olson hit her second home run of the day to open the fifth inning, starting off another inning similar to the first game's sixth. Bickar followed with a single, and after a walk to Medellin, a single from Ceballos loaded the bases. After getting the first out, an error brought in one more, followed by a passed ball to make the score 7-0. A final error allowed one additional run to score, putting the Beach up 8-0.
Eryka Gonzales set down the Rainbow Wahine in order in the fifth to close out the complete game shutout as the Beach grabbed their second run-rule win of the season to grab out the series win.
Long Beach State will close out their road slate next weekend, traveling to face CSU Bakersfield for a three-game series.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fernandez, Sophia (6-4)
L: Lopez, Brianna (15-9)
Batting:
2B: Bickar, Jacquelyn 1
HR: Olson, Sara 1
RBI: Olson, Sara 1 ; Martinez, Lilyanna 1 ; Cecil, Cam 1 ; Thies, Teah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Olson, Sara 1 ; Bickar, Jacquelyn 1 ; Medellin, Makayla 1 ; Camou, Cassie 1 ; Salazar, Emily 1 ; Martinez, Lilyanna 1
Batting:
2B: Johnson, Haley 1 ; Martinez, Izabella 1
HR: Gibbs, Maycen 1
RBI: Martinez, Izabella 1 ; Gibbs, Maycen 1
SF: Martinez, Izabella 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nakamura, Maya 1 ; Gibbs, Maycen 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
INF
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OF
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C
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