April 9, 2008
Box Score
Pocatello, ID --- The Idaho State University Bengal softball team finally played a home game, but their temporary home at Rainey Park was more snowy than anything else as the visiting Utah State Aggies shutout the Bengals 7-0 behind a four-hit day in the circle by Lindsay Benson, and a 3-for-3 performance by Amy Schaible.
The weather contributed to some shaky defense on the day, as a cold wind blew the entire game, and snow ranged from a few flakes to flurries. Utah State (11-21) got the only run they would need in the first inning. With two outs Kelley Kaneshiro reached on an error by Krista Armstrong, advancing to second, and she scored on a double by Aubrie Stroman.
USU then knocked out Idaho State (5-22) pitcher Natasha Milosevich in the second inning as Nicole Rupp laced a one-out double down the line to score a pair of runs, making it 3-0. Kandis Clesson came at that point and got ISU out of the inning.
The Bengals were hampered by an inability to score despite getting the leadoff runner on base in each of the first three innings. In the third, ISU looked like they were getting on the board when Wailana Buchanan crushed a ball to left, but Mikey Price caught the ball at the wall, some 225 feet away from home plate for a long out.
USU got a run in the fourth and put the game away in the fifth, an inning that saw a pair of crazy plays. First, with runners on first and second, Kayla Dunn hit a grounder to third baseman Wailana Buchanan, who booted it for an error, but the ball bounded to Armstrong at short, and she threw home in time to nail Kaneshiro at the plate. Then with two out, Jeanine Hernandez singled but Schaible was thrown out at the plate by Brittany Olsin, and Schaible after the play was ejected for pushing ISU catcher Whitney Chaffe.
Olsin had a second outfield assist from left field when in the seventh she threw out Stroman at third after a single off the glove of Armstrong for a bizarre 7-6-5 putout.
For the Bengals, Megan Miller led the way on offense with a 2-for-4 day, running her hitting streak to five games. Brittany Olsin doubled in the second and was 1-for-3, and Merissa Jannsen was 1-for-2. The Bengals take on Great Falls in a doubleheader on Saturday at noon at Rainey Park, and the weather is expected to be sunny and 60 degrees.
NOTES: ISU's doubleheader with Utah State in Pocatello last season was also snowed out ... ISU left seven runners on base, and they have now gone 37 innings without an earned run against Division I competition ... Megan Miller overran a ball for just her third error of the season ... ISU has struck out 27 times in the last three games ... Emily Hu had two sacrifices and now leads the team with six ... Olsin's two outfield assists were the first of the year for her.
