POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State softball team finished the weekend at Santa Clara in impressive fashion on Sunday, beating Illinois-Chicago 5-3 and Santa Clara 12-0. The Bengals went 3-1 over the weekend and improved to 6-8 overall.
"This was a good step forward for us," Idaho State coach
Julie Wright said. "We competed well against teams who were a little better than us. We started slow, which I didn't like, but we adjusted and competed in three of the four games."
In the two wins on Sunday, ISU tallied 23 hits and 15 RBIs with seven players recording two hits or more.
Hailey Breakwell led the attack with four hits in five at-bats. She had five RBIs and scored two runs.
Kacie Burnett was four-for-eight with four runs scored and
Vicky Galasso was four-for-nine with two runs.
Dara Kolar had three hits with one home run, two runs scored and three RBIs.
Maddy Hickman also had three hits.
Micheala Taylor and
Katelyn Marquez each had two hits.
Sophie Slagle earned the win over Illinois-Chicago, allowing seven hits, three runs, one walk and four strike outs in the complete-game victory. Freshman
Ashlyn Ames tossed another complete game in the win over Santa Clara, allowing five hits, no walks and four strikeouts.
"We finally played from first pitch to last pitch, which has been a focus of ours," Idaho State coach
Julie Wright said. "I was pleased with the effort on both sides of the ball."
Idaho State 5 Illinois Chicago 3The Bengals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI double by Breakwell that scored Burnett. Illinois Chicago tied the game at one after the second inning but the Bengals took a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning thanks to a three-run two-out home run by Kolar. The homer scored Breakwell and Hickman.
"That was the biggest at bat of the game," Wright said on Kolar's home run. "It allowed us to separate ourselves in the game against a very good team."
Idaho State took advantage of two UIC errors in the fifth inning to take a 5-1 lead. Illinois Chicago scored two runs in the top of the seventh but Slagle shut the door on the rally to earn the win.
Slagle earned her second win of the season.
Idaho State 12 Santa Clara 0The Bengals scored 12 runs on 16 hits and
Ashlyn Ames earned her first collegiate win in the shutout over host-school Santa Clara.
Idaho State led 4-0 after two innings. ISU scored two runs on an RBI triple by Breakwell and an RBI double by Hickman. ISU added two more runs in the second thanks to two Santa Clara errors and an RBI triple by Taylor.
Idaho State extended its lead to 7-0 after five innings before scoring five runs in the top of the seventh inning.
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Idaho State returns to the field Feb. 27-March 1 for a tournament at UNLV. The Bengals face Wisconsin, Louisiana Monroe twice, DePaul and UNLV.
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