The Sacramento State softball team ran into a buzzsaw last weekend, dropping three games to the Long Beach State University 49ers at Shea Stadium.

Going into the weekend, Hornet coach Kathy Strahan said her team was definitely capable of beating Long Beach, which currently sits in third place in the Big West conference.

“We?re capable of beating them. We just have to hit, play defense and have good pitching and I think we?ll be fine,” Strahan said before Saturday?s doubleheader.

The Hornets lost the first game 13-3 and were shut out, 9-0, in the second game. Both were stopped after five innings thanks to the eight-run mercy rule. Sunday?s game was also a loss, 5-1.

Strahan said the key for Long Beach was its hitting. In the doubleheader on Saturday, Long Beach had a total of 23 hits, Sac State could only muster 10 in return.

It was an aspect of their game Strahan did not expect to see.”They don?t have strong hitting,” Strahan said. “But they came out and clobbered the ball against us.”

Junior Jillian Bivert, who started Game 1, was knocked out of the game after 3 1/3 innings, giving up six runs on nine hits. Junior Gina Steenburgen did not fare much better in relief, giving up seven runs on four hits and six walks.

Sac State?s three runs all came in the fourth inning when they were the beneficiaries of three walks, including one with the bases loaded, as well as a throwing error by Long Beach catcher Carrie Hamilton and a clutch hit from sophomore Amber Dragomir.

Game 2 was all Long Beach, as the 49ers scored eight runs in the fourth inning thanks to eight hits and three Hornet errors. All the runs came with two outs.

The errors, combined with the tendency to leave runners on base are major reasons Strahan believes her team was unable to get into the win column. The Hornets committed six errors in the doubleheader and stranded 18 runners in the series.

“[The doubleheader] was probably our worst team performance of season,” Strahan said. “We are leaving runners on base galore.”

Sunday?s finale was more competitive but Sac State was unable to cool off the hot Long Beach bats. The 49ers collected five runs on nine hits and Lindsay Knoff pitched a complete game, scattering five hits, one run and one walk over seven innings. Four of the Long Beach runs were scored with two outs.

“You hate to see it happen,” Strahan said of the two-out rallies that killed her team?s momentum this weekend. “I don?t know that there?s really an explanation for it.”

The lone Hornet run came in the third inning when freshman Michelle Bariao scored on a foul-out by Bivert.

“We tried to get some things going on the bases, but when you start to falter in one area, sometimes things start to fall apart completely,” Strahan said. “Sometimes you just run into a better team.”

Despite the tough series, Strahan believes her team has not given up on the season.

“This is a tough conference. We could have come out here and rolled over,” Strahan said. “This team has good energy. They were just better than us.”

With the losses this weekend, the Hornets? record drops to 15-25 overall and 4-11 in the Big West. They have lost five games in a row, which doesn?t bode well for a team that must play its next eight on the road.

“We?ve got Stanford on Wednesday. It?ll be under the lights in a beautiful facility. It?s a taste of big-time ball, so it?ll be a great experience for this team,” Strahan said. “After that, we go to play Cal Poly. That?ll be a big series because they are right there with us in the standings. We definitely don?t want to finish in last place.”

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