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Utah Live Stats
This Week in Idaho State Softball
The Idaho State softball team plays its next eight games in the state of Utah, starting with a game at Utah Valley Tuesday at 3 p.m. and another at Utah on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
ISU plays BYU in a three-game series Friday at 6 p.m. and a double-header Saturday starting at 1 p.m.
The Week That Was
The Bengals won two-out-of-three games over Portland State in the Big Sky Conference opening series in Portland.
The Bengals won the first game of Saturday's double-header 2-1 before falling 10-2 (6 innings) in the second game. The Bengal offense exploded for a 7-4 win in the final game of the series.
Gabby Lopez was three-for-seven with three RBIs in the series to lead the Bengal offense.
Haley Douglas tallied both wins.
About Utah Valley
Utah Valley holds a 21-12 all-time advantage over the Bengals. ISU defeated UVU 7-3 at the Red Desert Classic in the first game of the season.
Utah Valley is 7-18 this season. They lost the first 13 games but then won seven-of-eight before losing the last four.
UVU has a .213 team batting average and a 4.60 team ERA. Head Coach Nikki Palmer is in her first season at Utah Valley.
About Utah
Utah holds a 17-6 all-time advantage over the Bengals. Utah is 11-12 this season. They lost games to Boise State (6-1), Utah State (8-5) and defeated Portland State (10-3).
Utah has a .318 team batting average and a 4.19 team ERA. Head Coach Amy House holds a 168-179-1 record and is in her seventh season.
Bengals in the NCAA Stats
As a team, Idaho State has the eighth best batting average in the country at .338. ISU ranks 11th in scoring at 6.75 runs a game and has the 28th best slugging percentage at .490.
Individually,
Vicky Galasso ranks seventh in home runs per game at .39, seventh in home runs with 11, third in RBIs per game at 1.50, 10th in runs per game at 1.21, and 29th in slugging percentage at .802.
Kacie Burnett has the 16th best batting average in the country at .469, she ranks 12th in runs per game at 1.18 and is fourth in triples with four.
Terah Blackwell is 25th in home runs with eight.
Did you know
The Bengals 17-11 record is the best start to a season since the program was brought back in 2007.
Bengals Earning Weekly Big Sky Conference Honors
The Bengals have earned four of the six conference player of the week honors.
Kacie Burnett earned it week one.
Vicky Galasso earned the honor on March 4 and Burnett earned the honor again for her performance at the UC Riverside Highlander Classic.
Katee Wiley won the award after her performance in Boise.
Haley Douglas also brought home conference pitcher of the week honors for her performance at UC Riverside.
Leading the League
The Idaho State offense leads the Big Sky Conference in 11 statistical categories. The Bengals are the top team in the conference in batting average (.336), slugging percentage (.490), on base percentage (.410), runs scored (189), hits (262), RBI (171), total bases (382), walks (89), sacrifice flies (17), stolen bases (40) and steal attempts (43).
Leading the League (Individual Stats)
Individually, the Bengals are a top the conference stats in 13 offensive categories.
Kacie Burnett is first in the conference in batting average (.469), hits (46), triples (4), stolen bases (15) and stolen base attempts (16).
Vicky Galasso is first in the league in slugging percentage (.793), RBI (42), runs scored (34), home runs (11), total bases (65), walks (20) and sacrifice flies (3).
Terah Blackwell is first in the league in doubles (8) and is tied with Galasso for total bases.
Katee Wiley and
Maddy Hickman are tied with Galasso for the lead in sacrifice flies (3).
The Power Continues
Last year ISU hit over .300 for the first time since the program was brought back in 2007. The Bengals finished with a .329 average, the second best mark in program history. The 1977 team finished the season with a .351 batting average. The 2013 team also set single season records in home runs with 78 and RBIs with 315. This year's ISU squad has already hit 22 home runs, totaled 239 hits and 160 RBIs.
Bengal Bites
- The 16 runs scored vs. Buffalo on March 1, and again vs. Lafayette on March 14, is the most runs a Big Sky Conference team has scored in a game this season.
- Idaho State's 19 hits vs. Lafayette on March 14, is the most by a Big Sky Conference team this season and the 16 RBIs in the same game and against Buffalo on March 1, is the most by any team in the league.
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Kacie Burnett's five hits vs. Utah State on March 7, is the most by a Big Sky Conference player to this point in the season.
- The four runs
Vicky Galasso scored against Buffalo on March 1, is the most by any Big Sky player.
Preseason Big Sky Favorites
Last season the Bengals were picked to finish last in the Big Sky by the coaches. The Bengals surprised everyone when they went 14-4 in Big Sky play to win the rights to host the first-ever Big Sky Conference softball championship.
This season the Bengals won't be surprising anyone as they were picked first by the coaches in the preseason poll.
Returning Honor Winners
Vicky Galasso is the reigning Big Sky Player of the Year and sophomore
Maddy Hickman was the 2013 Big Sky Freshman of the Year. Four other returning Bengals received honors from the Big Sky for their play in 2013.
Galasso's Preseason Honors
Vicky Galasso received preseason recognition from two national organizations leading up to the start of the 2014 season. USA Softball named Galasso to their Top 50 Watch List and she earned third-team preseason All-American honors from College Sports Madness.
Returning Starters
The Bengals return eight starters from last year's championship squad.
Five New Bengals
Four freshmen and one Division I transfer will add to the Bengal depth this season.
Sarah Hayes,
Kacie Burnett,
Dara Kolar and
Jennie Murillo are freshmen on the 2014 roster.
Jessica Tolmie is a sophomore transfer from Temple.
Team Captains
Terah Blackwell,
Vicky Galasso,
Hailey Breakwell and
Katee Wiley will serve as captains for the 2014 season.
