The Long Beach State softball team will forego ranked teams for the first time this season at the San Diego State Classic I this weekend but not before getting a taste of foreign softball.
LBSU (7-6) will host an exhibition game against a Japanese professional team at the 49er Softball Complex at 2 p.m today.
The Toyota Professional Team won the Japanese Pro League championship in November and became the first team in league history to win three straight titles. The reigning Japanese champions are led by former Olympians Monica Abbott and Natasha Watley, both of whom played for Team USA at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
LBSU head coach Kim Sowder feels that the game will be a good opportunity for the team to practice in a competitive setting while keeping the players fresh and ready.
“Everybody’s going to get to play,” Sowder said. “We’re going to try to get everybody some work and use it to get better and work on things.”
Most of the ‘Niners will be working on making appropriate adjustments and fine-tuning their skills in preparation for this weekend’s tournament. For second baseman Nalani St. Germain and right fielder Darian Tautalafua, the focus will be on maintaining their hot streak at bat.
St. Germain was named Big West Player of the Week after hitting .471 with three multi-hit games at last weekend’s Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic. Tautalafua homered in a loss to No. 17 Arizona. She then had three solid hits to help The Beach rally back from down five runs in a 7-6 walk-off win over Syracuse.
“It was an emotional weekend,” Sowder said. “I was really proud with how our team responded to that tough loss [to Arizona], and I think it made them stronger.”
Despite opening last weekend’s tournament with two discouraging losses, the 49ers picked themselves up to win their next three games.
“I definitely felt we outplayed Arizona, which is a ranked team” Sowder said. “I think even though we lost that game, we had played better as a team and gained confidence from that game.”
As St. Germain has discovered her swing’s sweet spot, she also reunited with her natural field position at second base.
LBSU’s coaching staff decided to disable starting second baseman Cya Neal for the rest of the season due to a torn labrum in her throwing arm. Neal, who’s a senior, will be redshirted for the season and return next year, according to Sowder.
Sowder feels more confident about this team, because this weekend showed that the players believe in each other. She highlighted Ashley Holmes’ walk-off grand slam against Syracuse on a final out as the sign of her team’s never-say-die attitude.
“The last one was probably one of the most exciting comebacks I’ve ever been a part of here – ever,” Sowder said.
The 49ers will open the San Diego Classic I against Boise State on Friday. They will then play more Mountain West Conference foes in San Diego State, New Mexico and Fresno State over the next three days before concluding the tournament against Brigham Young.