Softball
sweep earns team conference crown
By
Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State women’s softball
team ended its 2004 regular season the way
it started, winning. The 49ers defeated
Cal State Northridge over the weekend for
the sweep enroute to a first place finish
in the Big West Conference and the team’s
first Big West Conference crown in five
years.
The
No. 18-ranked 49ers beat Cal State Northridge
Saturday afternoon 3-2 at the Matador Diamond
to secure its spot as the conference champions.
The
win gave the 49ers its best record in school
history. The 49ers finished with a 48-11
overall record and 18 wins and only three
losses in conference play. The 48 wins is
a school record and the 11 losses through
59 games are the fewest in the programs
history.
Junior
Marcel Torres broke the game open for The
Beach when her solo home run over the left
field wall in the top of the fourth inning
gave the 49ers a 1-0 lead. The Matadors
responded with a pair of runs in the bottom
half of the inning to put Northridge up
2-1. The one run lead would not prove to
be enough as the 49ers came from behind
and regained the lead thanks to its senior
leadership.
Senior
Cassie Preece got things going with a lead-off
single in the top of the fifth. Preece moved
to third after a bad throw to second by
the Matadors’ Jen Dishner following
Lauren Johnson’s grounder. Senior
Arleigh Thorp followed with a sacrifice
fly to right to tie the game, plating Preece
and moving Johnson to third. Senior Jamie
Farnworth followed with a single to left
to score Johnson for the eventual game-winning
run.
The
49ers took both games in the double header
Friday in similar fashion. The Matadors
took an early lead in game one when Jan
Moshier went yard in the second inning for
her fourth home run of the year to give
CSUN the early 1-0 advantage. But the lead
didn’t last for long. The 49ers scored
runs in the sixth and seventh inning courtesy
of Arleigh Thorp’s sacrifice fly that
brought in Tiffanie Wendell in the sixth
and Wendell’s double to left field
in the seventh which allowed Preece to plate
for the game winner, 2-1.
The
Beach would take the second contest by a
margin of 5-4. The 49ers put themselves
on the scoreboard first with a lead off
home run from senior Colleen Burdick. The
Matadors didn’t sit idly by as they
recorded two scores in the bottom half of
the first. The Matadors extended their lead
to 4-1 in the second thanks to a couple
of errors by the 49ers.
The
49ers came back in the third and another
homer by Burdick tied the game at four in
the fourth inning. With her second homer
Burdick became the eighth player in 49er
history to hit two home runs in one game.
Farnworth drove in the game winner in the
seventh inning to give The Beach a 5-4 win
and the conference title.
The
49ers Lindsey Knoff (15-3), Meredith Cervenka
(19-5) and Torres (14-3) each picked up
a win over the weekend. The 49ers have the
best pitching staff in the conference. Torres,
Knoff and Cervenka are 1-2-3 respectively
in the conference in lowest ERA (as of May
11). The Beach leads the league with an
overall staff ERA of 1.08.
Cervenka,
the 2003 Big West Pitcher of the Year, is
currently the schools all-time strikeout
leader with 420. She broke the previous
record held by Stacy Van Essen who tallied
408 strikeouts from 1991-1994 after striking
out six batters May 7th against UCSB. She
has 143 strikeout this season.
As
the conference champions the 49ers automatically
receive a berth in the NCAA Regional.
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