Cal Poly softball took two out of three games in a series against Long Beach State on Saturday, Apr. 23 and Sunday, Apr. 24 inside Bob Janssen Stadium.

The Mustangs (16-23, 11-7 Big West) won their fourth straight conference series while Long Beach State (23-19, 13-5 Big West) fell out of first place in the Big West standings.

Saturday Game One

The Mustangs came out hot, jumping out to an early 10-0 lead and grabbing the 12-7 win over Long Beach State to open up the weekend.

After senior left-hander Krystyna Allman retired Long Beach in order, the Mustang offense sent four different batters to the plate with the bases loaded, came up with three RBI base hits and caused two crucial errors, which led to the double-digit lead after the first. 

A combination of hits and walks loaded the bases right away for the Mustangs, who then drew walks from sophomore right fielder Juju Sargent’s, senior shortstop Lily Amos and sophomore first baseman Hailey Prahm to score three runs. 

Sophomore second baseman Xiara Diaz singled up the middle to hand Cal Poly a 4-0 lead without recording the first out of the inning. After freshman third baseman Mia Perez scored, freshman left fielder Jessica Clements sharply hit a grounder back to the Long Beach State pitcher, who threw home for the presumed force out. However, the ball nicked off of the catcher’s glove, allowing the inning’s sixth run to scamper home. 

The Mustangs were not done yet, as senior outfielder Noellah Ramos’ run-scoring sacrifice fly and Sargent’s two-run RBI single pushed the lead to nine. Finally, Lily Amos singled a run home to end the onslaught of runs at 10-0. 

However, the Mustang bats went ice cold for the next four innings as Long Beach clawed their way back into the game. Allman couldn’t get through two innings of work as Long Beach State put three runs on the senior. 

Freshman righthander Paige Maier (4-1) worked out of the second inning, but was hit in the third and fourth innings, letting in four more runs and allowing Long Beach to cut the lead to 10-7. 

Yet, the freshman settled in and retired ten straight batters in the final three innings to preserve the 12-7 victory. The two runs came from junior pinch hitter Sydney Frankenberger and sophomore catcher Kai Barrett in the bottom of the sixth. 

The first game on Saturday was an offensive affair with 17 total runs off of 21 total hits. All eleven of the Mustangs who stepped into the batter’s box reached base. 

Saturday Game Two 

The second game was much different from the first, as the Mustangs came from behind this time to secure a 5-3 victory and the series win.

Freshman right-hander Kate Judy (6-10) got the start inside the circle for game two, and she gave up three runs on seven hits while striking out six in the win.

Long Beach State scored first in the top of the second via a base hit from left fielder Sara Olson and added two more in the third to push their lead to 3-0. 

Judy was lights out from then on, striking out four and only allowing three runners into scoring position. 

The Mustangs were quiet on offense until the fourth inning when Diaz drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored via a Perez single. Perez was then able to score thanks to a base hit from Clements, closing the lead to 3-2. 

Prahm came up clutch and doubled in the fifth to deep left-center field, which scored a run to tie the game up at 3-3.

In the sixth, Cal Poly was able to load the bases with two outs thanks to junior infielder Maddie Amos’ walk. Sargent then smoked a line drive base-hit over the shortstop’s head, scoring Ramos and Clements, delivering the Mustangs the 5-3 win. 

Cal Poly scored all five of their runs with two outs en route to their series-clinching victory. 

Sunday

The Mustangs’ 10-game winning streak was snapped after losing to Long Beach State 4-1 in the final game of the weekend series

After winning the first two games, the Mustangs were held to just one run on three hits in Sunday’s loss. Their win streak of 10 games was the longest since 2009, when they won 13 in a row. 

Long Beach State got on the board in the first inning after third baseman Ashleigh Inae hit an RBI single to give them a 1-0 lead. 

Cal Poly answered when they tied the game later in the inning after Sargent hit an RBI double to score Maddie Amos from second. 

The Mustangs had another opportunity to score more runs in the third as they had the bases loaded with one out, but they could not capitalize. 

Long Beach State returned in the fourth inning when pinch hitter Mikayla Ceballos hit a run-scoring single to put them ahead 2-1. 

In the seventh inning, Long Beach State added its final two insurance runs to close out the 4-1 victory. 

With the loss, the Mustangs are now in fourth place in the Big West standings, four games behind first-place Cal State Fullerton. 

Cal Poly will have a chance to climb the standings when they travel to Cal State Fullerton for a three-game series on Saturday, Apr. 30 and Sunday, May 1.