Fresno State’s nationally 24th-ranked softball team opened its final tournament of the season with a split, beating Long Beach State 5-4 before falling to BYU 6-3 on Friday at the San Diego Classic II.
The Bulldogs (16-7-1) rallied to defeat the 49ers after falling behind 4-0, getting a two-out, run-scoring double by Lindsey Willmon that scored Kierra Willis with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.
Fresno State cut into its deficit with Willis’ RBI lineout and Alyssa Villalpando’s solo homer in the third, Malia Rivers’ run-scoring single in the fourth and Bria Kennedy’s sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Kamalani Dung (3-1) earned the win for the Bulldogs, allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits and six walks.
In its second game, BYU broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fourth on Libby Sugg’s two-run double, and added an insurance run on Ashley Thompson’s RBI double.
Fresno State did its scoring in the third on Victoria Trevino’s sacrifice fly, Whitney Smith’s run-scoring groundout and Kennedy’s RBI single.
The Bulldogs’ tournament run continues with games Saturday against Ohio State (9 a.m.) and Princeton (11:30 a.m.), and Sunday against San Diego (11:30 a.m.).
The team plays at Cal State Fullerton at 5 p.m. Tuesday ahead of a March 29-30 series at Boise State to open Mountain West Conference play.
Swimming – Fresno State freshman Ugne Mazutaityte finished 50th out of a field of 54 in the 100-yard backstroke during the third day of the NCAA Division I Championships in Atlanta.
Mazutaityte clocked in at 54.46 seconds. Cal’s Rachel Bootsma won in 50.28 seconds.
Mazutaityte will compete in the 200 backstroke Saturday.
Georgia maintained its team lead with 285 points behind the performance of Brittany MacLean, who won the 200 free in a pool-record 1:42.42 at Georgia Tech’s McAuley Aquatic Center.
Cal is second with 267.5 points, followed by Stanford (265), Texas A&M (201.5) and Virginia (196).
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