Long Beach State
Mustangs Close 2025 at Long Beach State; Saturday Finale on ESPNU
4/29/2025 11:42:00 AM | Softball
Cal Poly Softball
Upcoming Games
SAN LUIS OBISPO – The Cal Poly softball program completes its 47-game regular season schedule and returns to ESPNU when visiting Long Beach State for a three-game, May 2-3 series. Action at LBSU Softball Complex gets underway on Friday, May 2 with a 3 p.m. doubleheader on ESPN+. The Mustangs then complete 2025 on Saturday, May 3 with a 2 p.m. matchup on ESPNU. With Cal Poly (9-35, 4-20) previously eliminated from contention for the inaugural May 7-10 Big West Championship, fifth-place Long Beach State (24-20, 14-10) – the conference leader with a 3.49 staff ERA – can secure no worse than the No. 5 seed with a solitary victory against the Mustangs.
FOLLOW CAL POLY THIS WEEK: Trey Bender (play-by-play) and Natasha Watley (color commentary) will have the ESPNU call for Saturday’s 2 p.m. finale with Friday’s 3 p.m. doubleheader streamed on ESPN+ HERE … live stats for all three series matchups will be available via GoPoly.com HERE.
CAL POLY VERSUS LONG BEACH STATE: After dropping two of three series games at home to Long Beach State last season, Cal Poly trails in the all-time series, 57-33, dating to the first meeting between the two programs on April 22, 1978. Cal Poly’s last series win against Long Beach State came in 2022 with the Mustangs taking two of three home matchups. The program’s last series sweep occurred in 2016 as Cal Poly took all three matchups on the road.
BERMUDEZ TAKES BATTING LEAD INTO FINAL WEEKEND: Hitting .342 (13-for-38) over Cal Poly’s last 12 games, freshman outfielder Maddy Bermudez (above) has emerged as Cal Poly’s top batter with a .288 (38-for-132) mark. One of only three Mustangs to start all 44 games and the only freshman to do so, Bermudez also tops Cal Poly with 38 hits and ranks second with nine multi-hit games and 16 runs. Having hit safely a team best 29 times, Bermudez is batting .311 (23-for-74) in 24 Big West matchups.
BLANCHARD KEEPS THE PACE: Having reached base in 12 successive games and 32 of her last 36 appearances, junior outfielder turned designated player Kiara Blanchard – the Big West’s leader with 13 doubles and first in Cal Poly’s lineup with 60 total bases, 10 multi-hit games, three homers and 17 runs – enters the May 2-3 series at Long Beach State as the program’s second leading batter with a .283 (36-for-127) mark. Blanchard, who led off Cal Poly’s April 19 series finale with a homer and repeated the feat April 25 against Hawai’i, tops Cal Poly with a .339 (23-for-74) batting average in 24 Big West games.
BARNETT ADDS OFFENSE TO THE RESUME: The reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Year honoree, senior catch Julia Barnett leads Cal Poly with 17 RBI while hitting a career best .273 (36-for-127). A starter in all 131 games since the start of the 2023 season, Barnett is a .987 career fielder with just 10 errors in 789 total chances. After finishing second among NCAA Division I catchers last season by throwing out 19 baserunners, Barnett currently ranks 11th nationally with 16 thrown out.
CONDON MAKES BIG WEST HISTORY: During the second matchup of Cal Poly’s April 12 doubleheader at UC Riverside, 21st-year head coach Jenny Condon became just the third coach in Big West softball history – and first female – to manage 1,000 games at a member program. The winningest female head coach in university history, Condon ranks sixth in Big West history with both 486 total victories and 210 conference wins. A four-time Big West Coach of the Year honoree, Condon has accounted for 41 percent of the program’s 1,196 all-time victories.
Cal Poly closes the 2025 season with a three-game, May 2-3 series at Long Beach State.
— Cal Poly Softball (@CalPolySoftball) April 28, 2025
???Friday, May 2: Doubleheader (3 p.m.) | ESPN+
???Saturday, May 3: Single Game (2 p.m.) | ESPNU#RideHigh pic.twitter.com/rlDOpQujwV
