Softball Goes The Distance In Both But Falls Twice Against Two Top 10 Foes

Saturday, February 10

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

11 a.m. PT

Long Beach State University

0-2

Oklahoma

4-0

Oklahoma

Long Beach State

Photo by: John Fajardo

Softball Goes The Distance In Both But Falls Twice Against Two Top 10 Foes

2/10/2024 7:43:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Long Beach State closes their time in Mexico with an early morning game against Iowa State Sunday.

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

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Long Beach State pushed two Top 10 opponents, but No. 1 Oklahoma pulled away late and No. 10 Duke won 2-0 in a great pitcher's matchup in the two games Saturday for the Beach at the Puerto Vallarta Collegiate Challenge.

                Long Beach State (0-3) had a strong start to the day, pushing No. 1 Oklahoma (4-0) in a game that was close through the first five innings. A three-run Alyssa Brito homer gave the Sooners a 3-0 lead after the first inning, but the Beach bounced right back.

                Corissa Sweet got the rally started with a one-out single in the bottom of the second inning for Long Beach State, and Lilyanna Martinez followed with a walk. Savannah Magadan, who had already made a spectacular defensive play, continued her outstanding day with a two-run double as the Beach cut the lead to 3-2. Magadan would then score on an RBI single from Jacquelyn Bickar as Long Beach State tied up the contest with the Sooners at 3-3.

                Freshman Kate Barnett entered in relief and pitched three innings, and helped keep the Beach close, but a pair of solo home runs kept Oklahoma in the lead. Latching onto that momentum in the sixth inning, the Sooners scored six runs in the top of that inning and went on to win 11-3.

                In the night game against No. 10 Duke (3-1), Eryka Gonzales and Sophia Fernandez combined to surrender just one unearned run, but the Blue Devils one-upped the Beach as three pitchers combined to hold the Beach to just one hit and work around trouble, stranding seven LBSU runners.

                Duke (3-1) took advantage of a Beach miscue to take an early lead. D'Auna Jennings reached on a leadoff error. Gonzales would grab the next two outs, but an RBI single scored Jennings and gave Duke a 1-0 lead after the first inning.

                Long Beach State would get the leadoff batter on base in each of the first five innings, but the Blue Devils were able to work around the trouble. Corissa Sweet had a leadoff single in the second inning, but was left at third in the frame, and two straight walks to start the fifth were undone by a double play to end the inning.

                Duke added an insurance run in the top of the fifth inning as Jennings came around to score a second time, and Jala Wright shut the door on the Beach with 2.2 innings of hitless relief.

                Long Beach State will close their time in Puerto Vallarta with one final game, taking on Iowa State in their first game against an opponent outside of the Top 25. Get up early and watch the contest on FloSoftball at 7:30 a.m. PT.