While the 49ers got three wins in their return to the San Diego Classic this weekend, the powerful offense they had last time didn’t join them.
The team’s offense, what head coach Kim Sowder thought was their greatest strength coming into the weekend, staggered for much of the tournament after a six-run seventh inning in game one on Friday, when they won 9-1 over Massachusetts (2-15).
“We have a lot of confidence in our offense,” Sowder said. “Our offense has been winning a lot of games and I think we just didn’t do that this weekend.”
Sowder credited the weakened offense with the absence of Hannah DeGaetano and Sarah Carrasco. DeGaetano, the Big West leader in batting average, missed the entire weekend due to an injured hip that occurred while sliding into home plate in last week’s win over Buffalo. Carrasco has a bruised forearm that Sowder said is still healing.
LBSU got a chance to practice for their tournament with a doubleheader last Wednesday against Buffalo, but a win in game one could have contributed to less energetic game two loss.
“It was all mental,” third baseman Hannah DeGaetano said. “We could have gotten it done, but our mental game was just a little bit off.”
Friday’s game went without the big hit until their final inning, when starting pitcher Erin Jones-Wesley helped her own cause with a double down the leftfield line to that scored Leilani Tupua-Tautalatasi and Emily Gregorio.
Two singles followed before Shayna Kimbrough promptly tripled in two more runs, capping off the win for Long Beach State.
The 49ers followed their 13-hit game against the Minutemen with 12-hit outing in a 4-2 win over Miami (4-18).
Selene Pola started the game for the ‘Niners but only pitched enough to get out of the first inning, where she gave up two runs and four hits. Those numbers were all the Redhawks were good for, as Amanda Hansen pitched the remaining six innings without allowing a hit.
The Beach won its third straight game on Saturday with a 3-2 victory over Harvard (5-9), but a three-run first inning transitioned into an offensive drought that followed the team throughout the rest of the tournament.
“The fact that we were struggling and that we didn’t have any depth this weekend made it tough to take the pressure off the people who were struggling,” Sowder said.
Jones-Wesley may have been more responsible for the win than the offense’s first inning effort after throwing another complete game with 11 strikeouts.
After getting shut out 2-0 by Fairfield (8-9) on Saturday and dropping a 2-1 game to San Jose State (19-10) on Sunday, LBSU’s anemic offense was held scoreless in over 16 innings.
Sowder thought that the 49ers’ positive consistencies over the weekend were strong pitching and the bat of Nalani St. Germain, who hit .500 and was nominated for Big West Player of the Week.
Long Beach State will return to the 49er Complex on Tuesday for a game against Colorado State (12-14) before opening conference play in San Luis Obispo Saturday with a three game series against Cal Poly.
“We have been on the road quite a bit in a lot of games,” Sowder said. “We’re just trying to get rested up a little bit this week. We’ll use tomorrow to get back on track and get us ready for conference.”