Stockton, Calif. - With a little luck on their side and an aggressive approach at the plate, the Pacific softball team took its Big West season opening series against Long Beach State with a 3-2 victory on Sunday, April 3. The comeback victory pushed Pacific to 21-12 overall and 2-1 in conference play while the 49ers fell to 23-12 overall and 1-2 in the Big West.

Having put pressure on the 49ers throughout the entire game, Pacific used a turn of fortune in the bottom of the seventh inning to score a pair of runs and grab the series-winning victory over Long Beach State. With the game on the line and the bases loaded with two-outs, freshman Kelsey Rodriguez, the Tigers' hottest hitter, stepped to the plate to face Taylor Petty. After hitting a home run against Petty the day before, Rodriguez hit another ball in the air, this time a pop up towards short that appeared as if it would end the game.

However, just as it did earlier in the game to the Tigers, the Sun wreaked havoc on the play as Alisha Rosen lost the would-be game-ending out in the glare of Earth's closest star. The would-be out dropped to the ground just in front of Rosen allowing Pacific to score twice as both freshmen Megan Foglesong and Gabby Goyette, who entered the game as a pinch-runner, were running on contact.

Prior to what would go down as the game-winning hit for Rodriguez, it was Foglesong who came up with the Tigers' biggest hit of the afternoon as the freshman left fielder drilled a leadoff triple off of the fence in center field. The triple was Foglesong's first hit of the game and setup the scoring chance for the Tigers. Pacific followed the triple with a pair of free passes as junior Nicole Matson was hit with yet another pitch while junior Alexa Rivera worked a two out walk to keep the Tigers' hopes of a comeback alive.

The late rally was made possible due in large part to the outstanding pitching effort from freshman Tori Shepard (8-4), who picked up her second win of the weekend in the circle for the Tigers. Throughout the contest, Shepard was able to keep the 49ers off-balance and off of the base paths as she threw her second consecutive complete game. For Shepard, her only problem inning came early when Long Beach State was able to push across both of its runs as they were able to take advantage of infield hits and a bases loaded walk. Despite the runs given up, Shepard did not let the bad luck get to her as she refocused to keep the 49ers from doing any more damage. Most important for the Tigers in the inning was not giving up any more runs as Pacific's defense stranded the bases loaded as both sophomore Megan Allen and Shepard made run-saving plays on weak balls put in play off of half swings by the top of the 49er order.

The 49ers would threaten just once more in the contest as they put a runner at third with two outs in the top of the fifth as they were able to advance a runner from second on a popup to short that was also lost in the sun by the Tigers. Shepard would induce a lazy popup up the middle on the next swing that Matson would track down behind second base to end the threat.

Offensively, the Tigers put up threats in all seven innings of action against the 49ers Erin Jones-Wesley, who the Tigers were seeing for the second time in as many days. Prior to scoring in the seventh, the Tigers scored a single run in the bottom of the third as the made use of an extra out given to them by Long Beach State's defense to bring home the run. Sophomore Amy Moore plated the first run of the game for Pacific as the Tigers' starting catcher laced a single to center that brought home Matson from second. Matson had reached on a fielder's choice and advanced into scoring position on a slashed single to left by sophomore Nikki Armagost.

In all, Rodriguez led the way with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate as the freshman was credited with both the game-tying and game-winning RBIs. Behind her, senior Lindsey Pierce and Armagost each recorded two hits in the game while Foglesong and Moore rounded out the Tigers' nine hits with one hit a piece. In the circle, Shepard went all seven innings for the Tigers as she gave up six hits and two runs while striking out two and walking three.

For Long Beach State, Jones-Wesley (12-4) suffered just her fourth loss of the year when both runs were charged to her in the seventh inning. The freshman threw six innings while giving up eight hits and three runs, two earned, while striking out four and walking two. In relief, Petty picked up a pair of out in the seventh before the game-ending pop-up finished her day.

Pacific will jump back out of conference play with a single game against Fresno State on Tuesday, April 5 at Bill Simoni Field. The game is a make up from an earlier rain out and is scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm.