May 8, 2004

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara softball team scored three runs in the second inning and added an insurance run in the seventh to come away with a 4-1 win over 18th-ranked Long Beach State (45-11, 15-3 Big West) to maintain its second place standing the Big West Conference. Jennifer Davis (14-14) went the distance for UCSB (30-28, 12-6 Big West) against the first place 49ers allowing one unearned run and six hits.

Santa Barbara jumped on 49er starter Marcel Torres (13-3) with three runs in the second inning. Heather Nobbe led off with a single to left. After moving to second on a sacrafice, Brittany Putich singled to center, moving Nobbe to third. Putich advanced to second when centerfielder Lauren Johnson's throw sailed wide of third base. Jessica Hejna then singled to center, scoring both Nobbe and Putich. Hejna would come around and score later in the inning on a 49er error.

Davis Beck plated the Gauchos' insurance run in the seventh inning to round out UCSB's scoring.

The win in the circle for Davis is her sixth in her last eight decisions, and in her last three wins her opponents have failed to score a single earned run. The Beach's lone run today came with two outs in bottom of the seventh off of an error. She has now only allowed one earned run in her last 38 innings of work.

The Gauchos return home next weekend to conclude their regular season with a three-game Big West Conference series against Cal State Fullerton starting Saturday, May 15th at Campus Diamond.