SPORTS NOTEBOOK : 49er Baseball, Softball Teams Seek National Titles

The Cal State Long Beach baseball and softball teams left this week in search of national titles.

The baseball team (39-17), the No. 1 seed in the NCAA East Regional at Tallahassee, Fla., plays its first tournament game at 8 a.m. today against Central Florida (30-29) .

The softball team (45-19) will play Arizona (40-7) at 4 p.m. Friday at the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. In the opening round of the series last year, the 49ers defeated Arizona, 1-0.

This will be the fourth post-season appearance in the past five years for the baseball team, which is ranked sixth in the country. The seventh-ranked softball team, which won its regional last Saturday with a 2-1 victory over California, is in the World Series for the fourth consecutive year.

The softball team has nine players that have been to the World Series three times. But the baseball team has only one starter, senior outfielder Cobi Cradle, with substantial playoff experience.

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Softball Coach Pete Manarino is counting on his team’s talent and experience.

“We are very poised, and our pitching staff has been strong,” he said. “We probably have more World Series experience among our players than any team in it.”

UCLA, led by All-American pitcher Lisa Fernandez, formerly of St. Joseph High School in Lakewood, is seeded first. Others in the tournament are Connecticut, Florida State, Oklahoma State, Southwest Louisiana and Cal State Northridge.

Despite being seeded sixth, Long Beach is a threat to pull off some upsets, senior pitcher Mary Letourneau said.

“We have a lot of players who do very well in pressure situations,” said Letourneau, who will be making her fourth World Series appearance.

Letourneau (15-6) has pitched in more games than anyone in 49er history and holds three other career records. Saturday, she beat Cal’s Michelle Granger, one of the nation’s best pitchers.

The 49ers won 10 of their first 11 games but played unevenly the rest of the regular season. They finished fourth in the Big West Conference, and because the Big West has a strong reputation, they received an at-large berth in the regionals and advanced to the World Series by winning three of four games in the double-elimination tournament.

“Now we are playing back to the way we were at the beginning of the year,” said all-Big West right fielder Gia Wilkerson, who hit .258.

Pitcher Stacy Van Essen, a junior who will be playing in her third World Series, led the team in earned-run average (0.87), complete games (23), victories (20) and batting average (.298).

“When we beat Berkeley, I think we really gained our confidence back,” Van Essen said.

Manarino, who has a 10-year career coaching record of 380-219-1, said this might be his strongest team.

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After a 12-12 start, the baseball team roared to its second consecutive Big West title and the top seed in the regional. The 49ers have an 11-game winning streak.

Blending new players took time, Coach Dave Snow said Monday at a Belmont Shore restaurant, where the pairings for the 48-team tournament were announced on television.

“This is a feather in this club’s cap to gain the No. 1 seed,” Snow said. “We’ve never been a top seed before. I’m hopeful they’ll play up to that.”

Cobi Cradle, who batted .320 during the regular season, did not seem to care who the 49ers will play. “Every team in this thing is good,” he said.

Sophomore pitcher Daniel Choi, who leads the nation with a 15-1 record, credited Snow with his success.

“The difference for me was bearing down on one pitch at a time,” Choi said. “I used to think about the next pitch before I threw the first one.”

With Snow calling the pitches, Choi said he was able to concentrate on one at a time.

Choi is not expected to start today. Snow would not reveal who will, but it could be Mike Fontana, who has an 8-3 record and 3.11 ERA.

Snow may be figuring to give Choi a day longer to think about his return to Florida. Choi’s only loss came at Miami, 7-3, in February.

“If I can get that out of my mind and just go pitch, I’ll be fine,” Choi said.

Other teams in the regional are Florida State, South Florida, Mississippi State and Notre Dame. The winners of the eight regional tournaments will advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., June 4.