LBSU 7, No. 21 Baylor 1
SAN DIEGO — Freshman pitcher Erin Jones-Wesley delivered her first career no-hitter for the Long Beach State softball team in a 7-1 victory against 21st-ranked Baylor on Saturday in the Campbell/Cartier Tournament.
Jones-Wesley (6-2) struck out six and gave up two walks, quieting a strong Baylor (17-2) team that had just come off a victory against No. 6-ranked UCLA.
“I knew that going into the seventh [inning], I didn’t have any hits yet, but I’m trying not to think about it,” Jones-Wesley said. “One pitch at a time; that’s what’s important, one pitch at a time.”
It was the 21st no-hitter thrown in LBSU history, and first since Bridgette Pagano tossed a no-hitter in a 7-0 win over Brown on March 27, 2007.
LBSU head coach Kim Sowder praised the 5-8 pitcher’s command of the game.
“Erin’s proved it really early in her career that she’s got poise,” Sowder said. “She’s always going to be in the right place as far as mentally.”
LBSU (13-6) put the first run on the board with freshman Karli Sandoval’s solo home run in the third, but the team’s second multi-error game of the day could have broken Jones-Wesley’s focus. Two errors in the bottom of the third allowed an unearned run to score, but Jones-Wesley didn’t let the errors affect her game.
“You just gotta know that the defense will have my back the next time and I’ll have their back to help try to pick them up,” Jones-Wesley said.
Sowder noted that Jones-Wesley kept hitting her location despite the problems faced.
“We made some mistakes and she just never let it shake her or change her game or anything,” Sowder said.
The 49ers did pick Jones-Wesley up, re-taking the lead in the sixth on an RBI double by freshman Sarah Carrasco.
The Beach then broke the game open in seventh, scoring five runs on five hits, including a two-run double by sophomore Caitrin DeBaun and a two-run triple by senior Liz Javier.
LBSU was aided by Baylor’s five errors, which Baylor head coach Glenn Moore said was part of a game where everything that could go wrong did.
“It snowballed and we weren’t able to stop it,” Moore said. “But we faced an outstanding freshman pitcher who’s going to win a lot of games.”
Sowder noted LBSU’s own fielding miscues — seven errors in Saturday’s two games — and said, “We know that we need to clean that up, but the good thing is that today we found a way and we didn’t let it put us away.”
Courtney Repka (6-1) took her first loss of the season for the Bears, giving up five earned runs on 10 hits while striking out two in 6 2/3 innings.
The 49ers will return to the area next weekend for the three-day Long Beach Marriott Invitational in Lakewood. LBSU will face BYU at 3:30 p.m. and No. 6-ranked UCLA at 6 p.m. on Friday.
LBSU 6, No. 23 Fresno State 5
The 49ers rallied for a 6-5, come-from-behind victory against No. 23-ranked Fresno State in Saturday’s first game at the Campbell/Cartier Tournament.
Down 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh, with a good portion of the crowd at the SDSU Softball Stadium on LBSU’s side, Caitrin DeBaun led off with a double to the right field wall.
Pinch-runner Brooke Bell took over for DeBaun and scored on the next play when freshman Sarah Carrasco added her third RBI and third hit on a single to right field. Carrasco scored to tie the game at 5 after a Nalani St. Germain single — also her third hit — made it to the right field wall on a Fresno State error. St. Germain advanced to third on the error with no outs.
Two outs and walk to senior Liz Javier later, St. Germain was still at third base. But freshman Dana Garcia hit a ball to Fresno State second baseman Rebecca Walker, who fumbled the ball as Javier passed her on the way to second base, allowing the winning run to score on the error.
“We found a way to believe in ourselves in that seventh inning and Caitrin did a really great job in leading off with that shot and that gave us the momentum,” LBSU head coach Kim Sowder said.
The win came despite four LBSU errors, three of which came in the fifth inning to allow the Bulldogs (8-3) to go ahead 5-3.
“It wasn’t a pretty game at all,” Sowder said. “But when you can beat a ranked team and make four errors and still find a way to win the game, you’re believing in yourselves and we’re doing some things right.”
Doing things right included coming back twice in the game. Down 3-0 after the top of the first, LBSU battled back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two runs on RBI singles Carrasco and St. Germain. Carrasco the tied up the game on an RBI chop single in the second.
Sowder also noted the poise of senior pitcher Brooke Turner (4-1), who settled down after a rough first inning to record the win. She had five strikeouts and gave up six hits in the complete-game victory.
“I would just say it was a total team effort,” Sowder said. “It definitely starts in the circle and we got a great performance out of Brooke.”
Mackenzie Oakes (5-2), who allowed two unearned runs, took the loss for the Bulldogs after coming in to relieve Nicole Angene in the seventh.
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