LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Jillian Celis hit a two-run double in the top of the eighth inning and San Diego State held on for a 4-3 victory at Long Beach Thursday night at the Louisville Slugger Classic.
With the international tiebreaker rule in effect and Makena Brocki placed at second, Bella Espinoza reached on a fielding error by Beach (8-14) third baseman Carly Robbins and moved to second, Celis then took a 1-1 pitch to center field to put the Aztecs (15-7) up, 4-2.
LBSU, which forced extra innings by scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth, halved SDSU's lead in the eighth when Cam Cecil's grounder scored Teah Thies. Robbins followed with a two-out double, but San Diego State pitcher Allie Light got Makayla Medellin to ground out to third base to end the game.
The Aztecs had a 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of two-out RBI doubles by Mac Barbara. In the first, Barbara's double down the right-field line scored Espinoza. Her second RBI double came in the sixth to center field to knock in Elianna Reyes.
Long Beach State's first good scoring opportunity came in the fifth when Robbins led off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. SDSU left-hander Dee Dee Hernandez, however, struck out Mikayla Ceballos swinging and Selena Perez looking to get out of the jam.
The Beach finally got on the scoreboard in the sixth on single by Corissa Sweet and a groundout by Cecil. With a runner on third and two outs, Hernandez got Robbins to fly out to move on to the seventh.
San Diego State stranded Macey Keester on second in the seventh after she singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jade Ignacio, giving LBSU one last chance to end the game in regulation.
Light (3-4) relieved Hernandez and initially struggled with command, as she hit Lilyanna Martinez and Emily Salazar sandwiched in with a strikeout of Cassie Camou. After Jacquelyn Bickar flied out to right field, Sara Olson drew a four-pitch walk to load the bases. Light, however, got Thies to pop up to Celis at shortstop to force extra innings where Celis came through with the game-winning two-run double.
Barbara's two doubles led the Aztec offense.
Cassidy West drew the start in the circle for SDSU and tossed four scoreless innings with two hits and a walk, while striking out one. Hernandez gave up two runs on three hits in two innings, striking out three. Light earned the win after yielding one unearned run on one hit and one walk over two innings, while striking out one.
THE NOTE
San Diego State improved to 5-1 on the season in one-run games.
THE NOTE II
The Aztecs have won 15 of their last 16 games against teams from the state of California.
STAT OF THE DAY
SDSU has won its last six extra-inning games (3-0 this year).
UP NEXT
San Diego State plays the rest of its Louisville Slugger Invitational games on the campus of Cal State Fullerton, including South Dakota (11:30 a.m. PT) and Weber State (2 p.m. PT) on Friday, and Columbia at 12:30 p.m. PT Saturday.
San Diego State 4, Long Beach State 3 (8 innings)
San Diego State (15-7) 100 001 02 -- 4 7 1
Long Beach State (8-14) 000 002 01 -- 3 6 1
West, Hernandez (5), Light (7) and Decker; Haddad and Thies
W - Light, 3-4; L - Haddad, 4-5
Aztecs Down Long Beach State, 4-3, in Extra Innings
