CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. - The LIU Brooklyn softball team dropped a pair of contests to teams from California on Saturday at the Mary Nutter Classic. The Blackbirds fell to No. 25 Cal, 13-1, in five innings then was defeated by Long Beach State, 11-0, in six innings.

After the nationally-ranked Bears opened the scoring with two runs in the top of the first, LIU cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the inning. Sophomore Victoria Zamora singled, stole second, advanced to third on an illegal pitch and came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Angie Vazquez to put the score at 2-1.

The Bears responded with four runs on four hits - all singles - to bolster their lead to 6-1 in the second. In the fourth, four more singles produced another run for Cal and six more runs on seven singles and one error pushed the advantage to its final margin. Kristin Cullen picked up her second victory of the year in the circle for the Bears, who improved to 8-4.

In the nightcap, LIU Brooklyn put two on with one out in the top of the first as Zamora was hit by a pitch and senior Celinna Cosio walked. The threat was squashed, however, on an infield fly and a strikeout. Long Beach State scored single runs in the bottom of the first and second innings to put the margin at 2-0.

The Blackbirds threatened again in the top of the third, as senior Ashley Sandoval-Colon walked and Zamora singled down the left-field line. After a fielder's choice, Cosio was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one out. But as was the case in the first inning, Christina Clermont was able to work out of trouble and keep LIU off the board.

The fourth inning saw LBSU score five times to bump its lead to 7-0, then a walk-off three-run home run by Darien Tautalafua closed the game in the bottom of the sixth.

LIU Brooklyn concludes play at the Mary Nutter Classic on Sunday, Feb. 28 with a contest against Colorado State. First pitch is set for 9:00 a.m. PT.