April 11, 2009
Box Score
Box Score Game One: Idaho State 3, Seattle 2
Box Score Game One: Seattle 8, Idaho State 3
Pocatello, ID --- It used to be if Idaho State was losing after four innings, well, that was game over. That is not the case anymore as the Bengals scored three times in the sixth inning to roar back from a 2-0 hole to win game one against Seattle 3-2, improving their winning streak to four straight. However, the magic ran out as Seattle took advantage of three ISU errors in the first inning to open a quick lead on the way to an 8-3 win in game two, as ISU missed a rare shot at a four-game sweep.
In the first two years of the program's rebirth, ISU was a combined 1-51 when trailing after four innings, but the 3-2 win was the sixth time this year ISU has pulled off a late inning comeback.
It might very well have been that four games in 24 hours took its toll on the depleted Bengals, who played the whole weekend with just 12 players as Krista Armstrong missed her second straight weekend after taking a ball in the throat about 10 days ago. Pitcher Kandis Clesson threw 459 pitches over the four games, starting two and then coming in relief in a pair as well.
Idaho State had chance after chance in game one on Hannah Klein, and none better than in the first inning when Caitlin McGrath singled to extend her hitting streak to seven games. Emily Hu then sacrificed, and when Seattle went after McGrath, she beat it out. Miller did the same, and reached on an error, loading the bases for Jessica Baca, who entered the game with a team leading eight homers and a single-season record-tying 29 RBI. However, she struck out on a 1-2 change-up, and then Jennifer Martensen grounded into a 1-2-3 double play, the first of three DPs on the day for Seattle.
Hu and Martensen both doubled in the third and fourth innings, but couldn't get home as ISU stranded five through five. Meanwhile, Seattle got two runs in the third. With one out, Katie Peterson singled and stole second, and Jamie Foote then singled with two outs to short, and Baca's throw went in the dugout, allowing Peterson to score. Clesson then walked the bases loaded before Arianne Judy hit a pinch single to make it 2-0, but Clesson left them loaded from there.
Finally, ISU took the lead in the sixth. Hu singled to start the inning, and then Miller reached on an error, with Hu going to third. Baca walked to load the bases with none out, bringing up Martensen, who this time with the bases loaded singled to left. Hu scored easily, and Miller was being held up when the ball ricocheted off Cassie Cueto in left, allowing both Miller and Baca to score, making it 3-2.
In the seventh, an error and a single but the go ahead runs on base with one out, but Clesson buckled down, getting Jody Schmehr to strike out and Foote to fly out to center to end game one.
Game two however was forgettable for the most part for ISU. It opened in very ugly fashion as three errors contributed to a 3-0 Seattle start. Katie Antich singled and then went to third when Katie Peterson reached on an error on an attempted sacrifice. Seattle then tried a double steal, and Peterson stopped midway to give herself up, but Whitney Chaffe's throw bounced into center for a second error of the inning, allowing Antich to score and Peterson to get to second. Antich was going all the way and was credited with a steal of home.
After a flyout, Lisa Hill singled in a run, and Klein, who played first base in the second game after pitching game one, walked, putting runners on first and second with one out. Then it got weird. ISU pitcher Cristin Martin coaxed Jessica Amador to pop up right at the pitcher's circle, and the infield fly rule was called. Hill, who was on second, forgot how many outs there were, and took off running, and when Jessica Baca went to make the catch, she ran into Martin, who also tried to make the catch. Hill scored as she never stopped running, but Klein on first thought she now had to run, and raced for second. Whintey Chaffe, the catcher picked up the ball and fired to second base, where center field Megan Miller was now covering, but she also forgot the Klein didn't have to run, and never tagged her, instead tagging the base. When all the confusion was over, it was an error on Martin, and a 3-0 Seattle lead.
At that point, Clesson came in for Martin and got a groundout to end the inning. ISU never could quite recover from that inning though. Seattle added two more in the third, and ISU finally got the offense going in the fourth when Baca crushed a pitch over Big Black, the manual scoreboard in left, to make it 5-1. ISU cut it to 5-2 in the fifth when McGrath tripled and scored on a Miller single.
Any hopes of a late comeback were dashed when Seattle strung together two singles, two walks, a fielder's choice, and a wild pitch to score three in the seventh, making it 8-2. ISU tacked on one run in the bottom half when Baca singled with two outs, driving in McGrath, who started the inning with her third hit of the game, but 8-3 was as close as ISU could get.
Pitching-wise, Kandis Clesson picked up a game one win, her 12th, tying her for the most in a single season in school history, and she threw 13.1 innings on the day, allowing 14 hits, seven runs (all earned), eight walks, and nine strikeouts. Martin lasted just six batters, going 0.2 innings, allowing three runs, but just one earned. Kelsey Reynolds got the win for Seattle in game two, scattering 11 hits and allowing three runs, all earned. Klein lost game one, allowing just six hits and three runs, only one earned.
Hitting-wise, Emily Hu went 4-for-6 for ISU on the day with a double and a sacrifice, and McGrath was 4-for-7 with a triple and two runs scored. She pushed her hitting streak to eight games, and has now hit safely in 20 of the last 21 after having her 12-game hitting streak halted at Brigham Young. Martensen also tallied three hits for ISU, going 3-for-7.
For Seattle, Katie Peterson was 5-for-8 on the day, and Katie Antich was 3-for-5 as well. Idaho State is now 15-19 on the season, and Seattle is 13-18. The Bengals host Northern Colorado on Friday in a single game at 2:00 pm at Rainey Park, and then they host the Bears in a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12:00 pm.
NOTES: McGrath took over the team lead in hits with 45 with her four-hit day, one more than Miller, who has 44. The school record for a season is 46, by Chris Shoemaker in 1979 ... McGrath is now batting .381, and Miller .367, with Hu not far back at .333 ... Baca's 31 RBI are two more than former record holder Robin Hamilton, who had 29 in 1979 ... Clesson's 173 innings are also a school record, and she has hit 17 batters after hitting four this weekend ... Martensen doubled in game one, giving her 10 and breaking that single-season record as well. Christine Shollenberger had nine in 2007.
