NCAA SOFTBALL REGIONAL : Titans Stopped Short of College World Series

FULLERTON —  Tears came a lot easier than runs Saturday for the Cal State Fullerton softball team, which lost twice to Cal State Long Beach and came up one game short of the College World Series--again.

The 18th-ranked 49ers upset the third-ranked Titans, 2-1 and 5-1, at the Titan Softball Complex to win a best-of-three NCAA Regional playoff series and gain their second consecutive CWS berth.

Long Beach (38-27) will travel to Oklahoma City and play either Iowa or Missouri on Thursday in the first round. Fullerton finished 53-16-1.

As it did last season, Long Beach lost the first game of the regional series but came back Saturday to sweep a doubleheader.

The 49ers were favored to win in 1990, but the Titans were heavy favorites this time. They were 5-0 against Long Beach during the regular season, Fullerton pitcher Tiffany Boyd had dominated the 49ers, and the Titans beat Long Beach, 3-2, Friday in the first regional game.

But, as Boyd said Saturday, “The team that was here Friday night was not here today.”

Fullerton, which had the nation’s third-best fielding percentage, committed two errors in each game--three of which helped Long Beach score.

“We self-destructed in every area,” Fullerton Coach Judi Garman said. “One thing you can say is that it was a team effort.”

The NCAA allows a 10-minute cooling-off period for players and coaches after a game, but Garman spoke to reporters immediately afterward.

“I don’t need to cool off,” she said. “We cooled off awhile ago.”

Long Beach pitcher Mary LeTourneau put the Titans’ bats on ice for much of the second game, retiring the first 10 batters and finishing with a six-hitter. She didn’t strike out or walk a batter; 14 of Fullerton’s 21 outs came through the air.

The 49ers scored twice in the first inning, one run on Stacy Van Essen’s single and another on an error. Of Long Beach’s three runs in the third, two came on wild pitches, by Boyd and reliever Ann Van Dortrecht, and another scored on an error.

The Titans had a similar inning in the first game. Long Beach’s Linda Lunceford opened the second with a bunt single, but Titan third baseman Joy Tiner threw Gia Wilkerson’s sacrifice bunt past first base, allowing Lunceford to take third.

After Lori Yokoyama’s groundout advanced Wilkerson to second, Lisa Wilson squeezed Lunceford home. Boyd fielded the bunt and appeared to have a good shot at tagging Lunceford, but she instead flipped to catcher Kim Powers, who couldn’t apply the tag in time.

Kim Kostyk’s single to left scored Wilkerson with what proved to be the deciding run.

“After losing six straight to Fullerton, in the back of our minds we were thinking this thing has to turn,” 49er Coach Pete Manarino said. “We have a good team and figured it was just a matter of time. You could see in our girls’ eyes after the first game that we had them.”

Boyd, who allowed two runs in three innings of the first game and five runs in 2 2/3 innings of the second after pitching 10 innings in Friday night’s victory, said several Titans thought the 49ers could be had Saturday.

“We thought, ‘We’re ranked third, we beat Long Beach six times, we’re playing one game today,’ ” said Boyd, who lost both games to drop to 33-8. “But no one could start a rally.”

Several Titans were teary eyed afterward, but not Boyd.

“I’m more angry with the way we played than disappointed the season is over,” Boyd said. “In my heart, I feel we’re a better team than Long Beach. We just had a crappy day, and we picked a horrible time for a crappy day.”