March 29, 2008
Box Score
Pocatello, ID --- Idaho State, down 3-0 after two innings, rallied back to tie the game in the seventh inning, and then Megan Miller's sacrifice fly to left scored Ivy Sessions on a bang-bang play at the plate as the Bengals took the back end of a twin bill in thrilling fashion 6-5 in nine innings over the College of Idaho.
The Bengals got the winning run when Ivy Sessions was placed on second to start the ninth due to the international tiebreaker. Whitney Chaffe bunted her to third. Megan Miller then flew out to medium left, and Sessions barely slid home before the tag to give ISU a 6-5 lead, which held up for the win.
Idaho State could arguably have won the game in regulation, but three errors by shortstop Merissa Jannsen led to a three-run second inning for the Lady Yotes (13-8). The three unearned runs were the only ones allowed by Kandis Clesson, who pitched brilliantly for seven innings.
ISU started their comeback in the fourth when Heather Dixon hit her fifth home run of the year, a solo shot to right center. In the fifth, the Bengals cut the lead down to 3-2 on a pair of doubles, the first a rip by Brittany Olsin, and the second with two outs on a blooper that bounced on the right field line by Whitney Chaffe.
The Bengals then tied the game in the seventh when Sessions reached on a single to lead the inning off. Kaylie Neal pinch ran and stole second, and she scored on a single by Amber Sackett, who bounced out of a season long slump with her third hit of the day. ISU eventually loaded the bases for Dixon, but she flew out to center.
Clesson kept the Lady Yotes at bay in the seventh, putting g the Bengals into extra innings for the first time this season. In the eighth ISU scored twice, the first when Christine Shollenberger hit a sinking liner to left that went off the glove of Donnae Carrell for a two-base error, knocking in pinch runner Stephanie James in the process. The second run came when Olsin grounded out to third, scoring Shollenberger.
Up 5-3, Natasha Milosevichh came in for the save, but she was touched for a pair of runs on a one-out two run single. However, she escaped further damage with the winning run in scoring position by coaxing a groundout and an inning ended fly out to right. Milosevichh eventually earned the win pitching a perfect ninth.
The Bengals, who now have a two-game winning streak, will look to extend that on Sunday at noon when they take on Eastern Oregon in Caldwell.
NOTES: Clesson was denied her first career win ... With the international tiebreaker, the placed runner is considered an unearned run, meaning for the day ISU allowed one earned run in 16 innings ...
