LOS ANGELES – The Colgate softball team battled hard, but dropped a pair of tough games Saturday on the final day of the Raiders' 11-game Spring Break trip to California. Colgate fell 4-3 in extra innings to Monmouth before a late surge led No. 22 Long Beach State to a 9-6 win in the LMU Tournament finale.
The day's opener against Monmouth was scoreless through the first four and a half frames until the Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. The Raiders answered right back in the sixth as RBIs from senior
Holly Geranen and first-year
Mia Guevarra evened the game at 2-2.
Colgate jumped ahead momentarily in the top of the seventh as first-year
Christiana Cottrell scored on a wild pitch to give the Raiders a 3-2 edge. Monmouth scored the game-tying run in the bottom of the frame, however, to force extra innings. The Raiders weren't able to get a run across in the top of the eighth. The Hawks then used a two-out single to plate the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth and walk off with the 4-3 win.
Long Beach State put Colgate in a 2-0 hole in the first inning, but the Raiders got the runs back in the top of the third. A bunt single from sophomore
Blake Brackett and a Long Beach error scored sophomore
Jordan Miller before an RBI from Geranen brought home Brackett to make it 2-2.
Colgate then put up three runs in the fourth behind an RBI from Miller and two-run single from Geranen to pull ahead 5-2. Long Beach State answered with a three spot of its own in the bottom of the frame, however, to knot the score at 5-5 through four.
Long Beach State scored four runs in the next two innings to pull ahead 9-5. Geranen sent a homer over the left field fence in the top of the seventh, but it wasn't enough as the Raiders fell 9-6.
BOTTOM LINES
- Monmouth 4, Colgate 3 (8 innings)
- No. 22 Long Beach State 9, Colgate 6
WON-LOST RECORDS
- No. 22 Long Beach State improved to 23-7.
- Monmouth moved to 8-11 with the victory.
- Colgate dropped to 3-18 with the decisions.
KEY RAIDER INFO
- Geranen's home run against Long Beach State was her fourth of the season.
- Geranen's four RBI against Long Beach State were the most by any Raider in a single game this season.
- Six different Raiders recorded hits on the day.
UP NEXT
- The Raiders now turn their attention to Patriot League play, which begins next weekend at defending champion Lehigh.
- The three-game series begins with a 12 p.m. doubleheader Saturday from Bethlehem, Pa.