Christina Schallig hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lead the Long Beach State softball team to a 3-2 win over UC Santa Barbara on Sunday at the 49er Softball Complex.
Schallig’s fifth blast of the season helped the 49ers (33-14, 11-4 Big West) sweep their three-game series with the Gauchos and moved them into a first-place tie with the University of Pacific in the Big West Conference standings.
Freshman starting pitcher Erin Jones-Wesley (19-5) earned her third consecutive win of the weekend over the Gauchos. Jones-Wesley, who pitched her second complete game in two days, allowed just two runs on seven hits over eight innings. It was her 16th complete game of the season.
During the three-game series, Jones-Wesley allowed just three runs on 14 hits in 20 innings pitched. She also struck out 16 and held the Gauchos (24-23, 8-7 Big West) to a .184 batting average.
Meanwhile, Krista Cobb (12-12) was charged with her third straight loss of the weekend for the Gauchos.
LBSU jumped on Cobb with two runs in the first inning on four hits. Freshman Hannah De Gaetano opened the inning with a single and moved to second on a throwing error by Cobb thanks to a comebacker by Caitrin DeBaun.
Emily Gregorio pinch ran for De Gaetano at second, and moved to third on a wild pitch before Nalani St. Germain drove De Gaetano home on a sacrifice fly to left field with DeBaun moving to third on the throw to the plate.
Freshman Sarah Carrasco then singled to right center to score DeBaun, giving The Beach a 2-0 lead. Liz Javier added a base hit off third baseman Amanda Ziegler’s glove and Schallig singled to right field loading the bases with one out.
Cobb eventually escaped the inning without the 49ers scoring any more runs by inducing a pop fly from Karli Sandoval and foul out to from Alisha Rosen.
UCSB cut the lead to one in the top of the second on an RBI double by Brooke Putich before tying the game with a run on an RBI single by Kathryn Pilpil in the fourth.
Jones-Wesley and Cobb battled over the next three innings without either team scoring. Jones-Wesley allowed just three runners on base the rest of the way, while Cobb stranded four LBSU batters, including three in scoring position before allowing a home run to Schallig
Both teams stranded nine runners, with LBSU leaving a total of six in scoring position while UCSB left five in scoring position.
The 49ers moved into a first-place tie with Pacific in the Big West Conference. The Tigers lost at Cal State Fullerton on Sunday, but swept the Titans in a doubleheader on Saturday.
The 49ers and Titans will square off in a three-game series next Saturday and Sunday at the 49er Softball Complex. Saturday’s doubleheader will start at 12 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU. Sunday’s single game will gets underway at 1 p.m. CSUF (21-20, 10-5 Big West) trails LBSU and UOP by one game in the conference standings.
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