SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Softball team (22-17, 11-4 Big West) returns to Campus Diamond this weekend to host Long Beach State in a three-game set. With 12 games left in the conference season UC Santa Barbara holds a 0.5-game lead in The Big West standing.
LAST TIME OUT
After dropping their opening Big West series against UC Riverside, the Gauchos have bounced back and have since won their next four series. The Blue and Gold are coming off a series win against UC San Diego. The Gauchos nearly swept the three-game series but dropped the final game via a walk-off single.
SCOUTING THE BEACH
Long Beach State comes into the contest with an 18-16 overall record and sits just above .500 in conference play with an 8-7 Big West record. Last weekend, the Beach was swept by Cal State Fullerton and was limited to just four runs in the three-game series.
Offensively, the Beach have four hitters hitting above .300 through their 34 games. Rebekah Druazo leads the attack with a .432 batting average along with being the team leader in home runs, slugging percentage and on base percentage. The trio of other hitters include Brooklyn Lee (0.349), Corissa Sweet (0.324) and Lina Apodaca (0.301).
In the circle six pitchers have seen innings during the season. Shannon Haddad, Brynne Nally and Kate Barnett have all thrown 45 or more innings and all hold a sub 3.00 ERA. The staff has struck out 45 more batters than their opponents and hold the best ERA in The Big West.
CONFERENCE STANDINGS
With the inaugural Big West Softball Championship taking place this year, the top six teams will compete in a double-elimination bracket. The teams currently in the top six are above the line.
- UC Santa Barbara (11-4)
- CSUN (10-4)
- Cal State Fullerton (10-5)
- Hawai'i(8-6)
- Long Beach State (8-7)
- Cal State Bakersfield (7-8)
- UC Riverside (7-8)
- UC San Diego (6-9)
- UC Davis (5-10)
- Cal Poly (2-13)
FOLLOW ALONG
All three games of the series will be streamed through ESPN+ with live stats also available. The two teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, April 12 and conclude the series the following day on Sunday, April 13.
