{"id":243939,"date":"2026-03-30T21:33:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:33:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243939\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:33:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:33:24","slug":"softball-finishes-road-series-sweep-at-uc-san-diego","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/243939\/","title":{"rendered":"Softball Finishes Road Series Sweep at UC San Diego"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LA JOLLA, Calif. \u2013 After a dominating performance in game one of Saturday&#8217;s doubleheader, Long Beach State rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh to finish off a sweep of UC San Diego in La Jolla with a 4-2 victory.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nLong Beach State (21-13, 9-3 Big West) got started right away in the opening game. <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/lina-apodaca\/8587\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8587\" target=\"_blank\">Lina Apodaca<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/nina-sepulveda\/9495\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"9495\" target=\"_blank\">Nina Sepulveda<\/a> started the game with back-to-back hits, and while the lead runner was thrown out on a fielder&#8217;s choice, a walk to <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/avery-weisbrook\/8599\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8599\" target=\"_blank\">Avery Weisbrook<\/a> loaded the bases.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nAn incredible diving catch from Triton shortstop Marley Espiau robbed <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/brooklyn-lee\/8596\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8596\" target=\"_blank\">Brooklyn Lee<\/a> of a hit, but quick-witted baserunning from Sepulveda scored the freshman on the play for a sacrifice fly, which put the Beach on top 1-0. Back-to-back doubles from Zara Wasserman and Espiau in the bottom half of the first then evened up the score for UC San Diego (12-21, 2-10 Big West).<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nThe Beach offense went back to work in the third inning. <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/priscilla-iniguez\/8594\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8594\" target=\"_blank\">Priscilla Iniguez<\/a> and Weisbrook hit two straight singles with one out, and then an RBI single from Lee put the Beach back in front. A walk to <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/emily-dowden\/8590\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8590\" target=\"_blank\">Emily Dowden<\/a> loaded the bases, and then <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/audree-mendoza\/9500\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"9500\" target=\"_blank\">Audree Mendoza<\/a> added to the lead with a station-to-station single.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nPinch hitter <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/elissa-guerrero\/9494\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"9494\" target=\"_blank\">Elissa Guerrero<\/a> scored two more with a single to make the lead 5-1, and then another run came home on a ground ball from <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/miranda-gonzalez\/8593\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8593\" target=\"_blank\">Miranda Gonzalez<\/a> that was misplayed by Espiau, leaving two runners in scoring position. That rolled the lineup over to the top of the order, and Apodaca delivered with a double that scored two more runs. A base hit from Iniguez then added one more as the Beach batted around in the third, scoring eight runs and taking a 9-1 lead.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nLong Beach State loaded the bases in the fifth, and added two more insurance runs on a single from Weisbrook and an RBI walk to Lee. <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/isabella-alonso\/9497\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"9497\" target=\"_blank\">Isabella Alonso<\/a> then finished off the contest to pick up her 10th win of the season and her second complete game.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nThe Tritons struck first in game two. Loading the bases with one out, a hit batter scored the first run, and then UCSD scored a second on an RBI groundout before reliever <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/jailynn-banda\/9498\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"9498\" target=\"_blank\">Jailynn Banda<\/a> wrapped the inning with a strikeout.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nLong Beach State loaded the bases in the second inning, but couldn&#8217;t get any runs across against Zoe Rutherford in what would become a theme for the game, leaving 10 on base through the first six innings against the Triton freshman.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nThe Beach finally broke through in the top of the seventh. Sepulveda singled to start the inning, followed by a double from Iniguez to cut the lead to 2-1. Lee hit a double off the top of the wall that was inches away from being a home run, putting runners on second and third while tying the game. An RBI single from <a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/emily-dowden\/8590\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8590\" target=\"_blank\">Emily Dowden<\/a> kept the rally going and put the Beach in front for the first time, and a sacrifice fly from Mendoza scored Lee to make the score 4-2.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/longbeachstate.com\/sports\/softball\/roster\/kate-barnett\/8588\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"8588\" target=\"_blank\">Kate Barnett<\/a>, who had followed Banda in another outstanding relief performance, finished off the game to collect her first win of the season.<br \/>\n\u00a0<br \/>\nLong Beach State returns to the LBSU Softball Complex for a seven-game homestand, which will start when the Beach hosts UC Davis for a three-game series beginning on Friday, April 3.<br \/>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LA JOLLA, Calif. \u2013 After a dominating performance in game one of Saturday&#8217;s doubleheader, Long Beach State rallied&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-243939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}