One high-profile school after another will await the Long Beach State softball team at Mayfair Park for the Long Beach Louisville Slugger Invitational, which starts Thursday night.
Head coach Kim Sowder said she is confident in the 49ers (7-8), who lost four of their last five games, and believes her team can regroup when it takes on UCLA (13-4) and Stanford (9-8), among other teams.
“My focus with the team is to play one game at a time,” Sowder said. “We’re only as good as we are at this current moment.”
The 49ers’ difficult slate of matches is nothing new as LBSU has played one of the toughest schedules in the country. LBSU lost both games against the Bruins last year at Mayfair Park.
“[UCLA and Stanford] are very good ball clubs,” junior utility player Haley Tobler said. “They both have very good coaching, they’re known for softball and so our team just really has to focus on seeing the strikes and being more disciplined at the plate.”
The Bruins are throwing for a combined 2.40 earned run average, led by senior right-hander and member of the USA Softball National Team Ally Carda.
Tobler, who transferred from Tennessee, said playing against the top players in the country is nothing new.
“I’m kind of used to seeing those big name players; the All-Americans, the USA players,” Tobler said. “It’s still going to be a challenge, but I like to challenge myself.”
Carda is 6-2 this season with a 2.25 ERA, including a no-hitter against Boise State. UCLA is also hitting a team average of .377 and average 7.8 runs a game.
LBSU senior right-hander Amanda Hansen is struggling to put up the same numbers from last season. She is 2-5 on the season with a team-worst 4.55 earned run average. Sowder said she has not lost faith in Hansen.
“I have all the confidence in the world that [Hansen] will figure things out,” Sowder said. “She works very hard.”
Sophomore right-hander Christina Clermont has emerged as the team’s ace as Hansen’s struggled to gain consistency. Clermont has a 2.90 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 31.1 innings pitched.
The 49ers begin the Long Beach Louisville Slugger Invitational at Mayfair Park against Seattle University (5-9) at 6:30 p.m., and then against UCLA at 7 p.m. on Friday.
The tournament will continue with a doubleheader against Stanford and Weber State (5-5) on Saturday before the team heads back to the 49er Softball Complex for a game against Southern Utah (2-7) on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
“Every team we play we look at as great competition,” Clermont said. “That’s our mindset going in.”