May 20, 2006
San Diego State 3, Long Beach State 1
San Diego State 1, Missouri State 0
LOS ANGELES - The San Diego State softball advanced to the NCAA Los Angeles Regional championship game after defeating Long Beach State, 3-1, and Missouri State, 1-0, on Saturday at Easton Stadium on the campus of UCLA. The Aztecs (34-14) will play the No. 1 overall seed Bruins (45-7) at 2:05 p.m. and will have to beat the 10-time NCAA national champions twice to make it to their first-ever NCAA Super Regionals. The game(s) will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
SDSU has never beaten nationally second-ranked UCLA, losing all 44 previous meetings, including a 2-1 decision on Feb. 12 at the Campbell-Cartier Classic at SDSU Softball Stadium. Should the Aztecs win the first game, they will meet the Bruins again at approximately 4:35 p.m.
In its final game of the day, SDSU avenged a 1-0 Friday loss to the 49ers (31-22) by scoring all three of its runs in the top of the sixth inning for the 3-1 victory. Two Long Beach State errors led to all three runs.
Senior Meagan Hartung, who led off the big inning for the Aztecs, reached first on a fielding error by second baseman Tiffanie Wedell and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Tamani Wells. Freshman Erin Floros followed and ripped a double down the left field line to score Hartung. Senior Jamie Burton, who replaced Floros at second base, scored two batters later off a double to left-center field by freshman Monica Alnes. Alnes would score from second when the 49ers shortstop Jessica Beaver was unable to field a hard groundball by sophomore Taryin Casillas.
Casillas, sophomore Chrissie Markham, sophomore Megan McDonald and freshman Melissa Owens also singled for SDSU.
Sophomore Christina Ross (17-9), the 2006 Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year, struck out eight for the complete game win. She allowed only one run on two hits and two walks. In two games in the regional, Ross is 1-1 with a 0.50 ERA in 14.0 innings. She has struck out 17, given up two walks, and has allowed only five hits, limiting her opponents to a .106 batting average.
In its first game of the day, a 1-0 win over Missouri State (40-17), Aztec senior pitcher Celena Velasquez (10-5) went 6 2/3 innings without allowing a hit before the Bears' (40-17) Shannon Buslepp hit a two-strike, two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning. Velasquez struck out five batters in the complete game shutout and walked two.
Floros got SDSU's only run with a two-out solo homer in the first inning. She finished the game 2-for-2 with a walk, while McDonald had the Aztecs' other hit. In the three regional games, Floros has four of SDSU's 11 hits and is batting .500 with a home run and two RBI.
NCAA Division I Softball Tournament
Los Angeles Regional (Double-Elimination)
Easton Stadium at UCLA
Second Game
San Diego State 3, Long Beach State 1
San Diego State (34-14) - 000 000 0 - 3 6 1
Long Beach State (31-22) - 000 100 0 - 1 2 2
Ross and Floros; Turner and LeSage
WP: Ross (17-9); LP: Turner (26-11)
First Game
San Diego State 1, Missouri State 0
San Diego State (34-14) - 100 000 0 - 1 3 0
Missouri State (40-17) - 000 000 0 - 0 1 0
Velasquez and Floros; Porche and Ballard
WP: Velasquez (10-5); LP: Porche (17-8)
HR: Floros (4) (none on, two out)