Minnesota Scene: Gophers suffer first softball loss in four games

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.

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).

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.

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.