• Makayla Medellin smacked two home runs and a double en route to slugging .688 during a first weekend of college softball as Long Beach State began its 2023 campaign with a 2-3 mark at the Candrea Classic in Tucson, Ariz.
• Medellin hit the go-ahead homer, a two-run shot to center in the third that broke a 2-2 tie, to lift the Beach to a season-opening 6-5 triumph over Kansas on Thursday. It meant a first collegiate hit for the Yorba Linda native.
• The 2022 graduate of Yorba Linda High School then added another go-ahead two-run blast against the Jayhawks with two gone in the sixth inning of Saturday’s eventual 9-8 loss.
• Medellin completed the weekend with a team-leading (tied) five RBI, batting .250 (4-for-16) with three of those four hits of the extra-base variety, and three runs scored. The outfielder started four games in right and the other in center, notching six clean putouts.