Long Beach State pitcher Erin Jones-Wesley threw a one-hitter and the 49ers completed a series sweep over the Hawaii softball team with a 3-0 win Sunday at 49er Softball Complex in Long Beach, Calif.
Jones-Wesley struck out eight and walked three and earned her second complete-game victory of the Big West Conference series for Long Beach State (32-9, 9-0 BWC).
The 49ers won their fifth straight against UH going back to a doubleheader sweep to end last year’s series at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. Jones-Wesley, a senior right-hander, earned wins in both of those games and struck out 19 in her final two appearances against UH over the weekend.
UH sophomore Loie Kesterson allowed six hits, struck out two and walked one and took the loss as the Rainbow Wahine (19-19, 4-5) slipped five games behind the 49ers with their fourth straight defeat. UH was last swept in a conference series in 2011, when Boise State won three games at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
The Rainbow Wahine closed the weekend tied with Cal Poly for fourth in the Big West standings. UC Santa Barbara was the only team to keep pace with Long Beach State and is alone in second, three games back. UH returns to RWSS on Friday to open a series against Cal Poly.
After sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader, LBSU was aided by two UH errors to take the lead in the bottom of the first inning of Sunday’s series finale. Shayna Kimbrough reached on a fielding error and later scored on a throwing error on an attempted double play.
Kesterson (10-9) kept UH within a run until the bottom of the fifth, when Kimbrough drove in Leilani Tupua-Tautalatasi with a triple and Cya Neal followed with an RBI single.
Jones-Wesley held UH without a hit for 42⁄3 innings before Sarina Jaramillo broke up the no-hitter with a single.
UH put two runners on base with two out in the top of the seventh inning, bringing the tying run to the plate. But LBSU right fielder Sarah Carrasco made a running catch of Jaramillo’s fly ball to end the game.
BIG WEST STANDINGS
| |
Conference |
|
|
|
Overall |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| Long Beach St. |
9 |
0 |
1.000 |
— |
32 |
9 |
| UCSB |
6 |
3 |
.667 |
3 |
26 |
16 |
| CS Fullerton |
5 |
4 |
.556 |
4 |
24 |
17 |
| Cal Poly |
4 |
5 |
.444 |
5 |
22 |
16 |
| Hawaii |
4 |
5 |
.444 |
5 |
19 |
19 |
| CS Northridge |
3 |
6 |
.333 |
6 |
26 |
18 |
| UC Davis |
3 |
6 |
.333 |
6 |
14 |
25 |
| UC Riverside |
2 |
7 |
.222 |
7 |
21 |
21 |
Sunday
Long Beach State 3, Hawaii 0
UC Santa Barbara 6, CS Northridge 2
Cal Poly 6, UC Davis 0
UC Riverside 6, CS Fullerton 0
Tuesday
*CS Northridge at UCLA
* — nonconference
