Black Knights Drop Midweek Tilt at Long Beach State

Wednesday, February 20

Long Beach, Calif.

2 PM ET (11 AM PT)

Army West Point

4-7

Long Beach State

5-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Army	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	9	1
Long Beach State	0	0	2	1	0	1	X	4	9	0

Bianca Gonzalez recorded her team-leading fifth double of 2019 against Long Beach State

Black Knights Drop Midweek Tilt at Long Beach State

February 20, 2019 | Softball

Box Score

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Army West Point softball team fell 4-2 in its midweek contest at Long Beach State on Wednesday afternoon.

The Black Knights dropped to 4-7 on the season, while the 49ers improved to 5-5.

Rookie Jolie Duong and sophomore Ally Snelling led the Black Knights offensively with two hits apiece, while rookie Bianca Gonzalez legged out a double for the team's only extra-base hit of the afternoon. Senior Carrie Reilly and Snelling each recorded an RBI in the game, scoring seniors Ashley Yoo and Izzy Gates.

In the circle, Duong tossed her fourth-straight complete game. The Houston, Texas, native allowed four runs (three earned) on nine hits while not allowing a walk.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Long Beach State got on the board first after a two-run home run by Jamie Wren in the third inning.
The 49ers added to their lead in the following frame when Nichole Fry collected an RBI single.
Army found an answer in the top of the sixth after a Snelling walk and Gonzalez double put runners in scoring position.
Taylor Drayton plated the pinch runner, Gates, with a groundout to cut the deficit to 3-1.
LBSU countered in the home half of the inning, however, with a solo shot from Justine Briones.
The Black Knights managed a two-out, RBI single from Reilly in the seventh, but that would be as close as the visiting side would come to evening the score.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

This was the first-ever meeting between Army and Long Beach State.
Ballesteros has now recorded a base hit in each of Army's last 10 games.
The Chino Hills, Calif., native leads the Black Knights with 12 hits.
Duong and Snelling notched their third multi-hit efforts of the season to tie Gonzalez and Grace Mattimore for the team lead.
Snelling has now tallied 10 multi-hit games in her career.
The Las Vegas, Nev., native has compiled back-to-back multi-hit games for the first time at Army.
Gonzalez contributed her team-best fifth double of the year.
Reilly documented the 70th hit of her career.
The Riverside, Ill., native added her 35th career RBI.
Drayton earned the 45th base knock of her career.
The Clayton, N.C., native drove in her 25th career RBI.
Duong chucked her fourth-straight complete game.
Yoo started the 115th game of her career.

COACH'S CORNER
Interim Head Coach Bob Beretta – "It was a tough loss today. We showed a great deal of fight late, but we failed to capitalize on several scoring chances earlier in the game. We've struggled to score runs in favorable situations at times this year. We have to find a way to convert those chances into runs. We haven't been very efficient at scoring runners from second and third with less than two outs, and we need to find a way to get those runs across.

"We've been in a lot of one and two run games, so the margin between winning and losing has been very small. We're not that far away from changing the result in many of these games. We just need a few key hits to flip the script. It's frustrating to be so close and not achieve our desired result, but we just have to keep putting in the work that's necessary to improve and keep growing as a team."

UP NEXT

The Black Knights begin the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Thursday against UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State at 6:30 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET, respectively.