NCAA College Softball World Series : Foster Gives Fullerton 1-0 Win Over Long Beach

Rina Foster hit an RBI single with one out in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday night to give Cal State Fullerton a 1-0 victory over Cal State Long Beach in the first round of the College Softball World Series.

Alani Silva led off the ninth with a double to left-center field and was sacrificed to third by Robin Goodin. Foster then lined a single up the middle to score Silva with the go-ahead run in front of 1,091 fans at Seymour Smith Field.

“Luckily, she came through with the big hit,” Fullerton Coach Judi Garman said. “I was afraid she was going to hit into a forceout. She’s been doing that all year.”

Top-ranked Fullerton (53-9-1) will play Friday at 4:30 p.m. against California, a 2-0 winner over Northwestern Wednesday. Long Beach (38-17), runner-up to Fullerton in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., will play Northwestern at 11 a.m. Friday in the double elimination tournament.

The 49ers threatened in the bottom of the ninth when Sue Trubovitz hit a one-out single up the middle and advanced to second when Kathy Newberry was hit by a Connie Clark pitch. Both runners moved up on Liz Mason’s infield out but were stranded when Clark struck out Kim Lee to end the game.

“I wasn’t really nervous until they got two runners on,” Garman said. “When they got that second runner on, that’s when I told my assistant (Linda Shafer) I couldn’t watch. When one runner is on, I know we can control them. When the second one gets on, I get nervous.”

Fullerton threatened twice in the regulation seven innings. Chenita Rogers, who went 3 for 4, led off the game with an infield single and went to second on Charis Monroe’s sacrifice bunt. But Terri Oberg and Silva flied out to end the inning.

In the sixth, Rogers singled and, again, moved up on Monroe’s sacrifice. Oberg walked and both runners moved up on Silva’s groundout. But Long Beach pitcher Sandy Winchester struck out freshman pinch-hitter JoAnn Ferrieri to get out of the jam.

Long Beach also had its chances to score. With one out in the fourth, Winchester and Lisa Lint hit consecutive singles but Trubovitz hit into a double play to end the inning. Newberry led off the fifth with a single to left, and after Mason struck out, took second on a wild pitch. But Lee flied out and Cissy Rothfuss struck out.

“Both teams had the opportunities, but neither of us seemed to get the key hits,” Long Beach Coach Pete Manarino said.

Clark, 18-2 with a PCAA-leading 0.21 earned-run average, allowed four hits and struck out six but hit three batters in going the distance. Winchester (19-5) allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out three.