Long Beach State struck for 12 runs in the first three innings Saturday and routed the Gophers softball team 13-2 in five innings at the season-opening Kickoff Classic in Las Vegas.
It was the Gophers' first loss in four games at the season-opening tournament.
They play one more game Sunday.
The Gophers won their first game of the day, 7-4 over Texas Tech. Taylor Lemay and Sam Macken each drove in three runs, with Lemay's two-run double highlighting a four-run third inning.
Sara Groenewegen, staked to a 6-0 lead, went the distance and struck out 15.
U sprinter sets record
Titania Markland broke a 6-year-old Gophers record in the 400 meters, clocking 54.34 seconds indoors Saturday on the second day of the Iowa State Classic in Ames.
Markland, a junior, finished .01 seconds ahead of the previous program record held by Rikita Butler since 2010. Markland finished second at the meet to BYU's Shea Collinsworth (53.72).
Minnesota's 4x400-meter relay team of Kat Keller, Emerald Egwim, Erin Hawkins, and Markland finished second in a season-best 3:42.17.
On the first day of the meet, Sofie Albrechtsen won the women's high jump at 5 feet 9 ¼ inches, and Liz Berkholtz ran the second-fastest 3,000 meters run in Gophers history, a personal best 9:19.79.
Gophers golfers go 2-2 again in match play
The Gophers men's team split two competitions — beating Nebraska 3½-2½ and losing to Penn State by the same score in the fifth-place match — on the final day of the Big Ten Match Play golf tournament in Palm Coast, Fla.
Three Gophers went undefeated as Minnesota went 2-2 in the tournament. Rúnar Arnórsson won all four of his matches, including 1-up and 3 and 2 victories Saturday. Jon DuToit and Tom Vining each recorded three wins and a tie.
Michigan State won the championship match 5-1 over Northwestern.