POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State softball team picked up two big wins in a doubleheader against league-leading Sacramento State Friday afternoon at Miller Ranch Stadium. The Bengals bested the Hornets 7-4 in the game 1 with a 5-3 win in game 2.
Senior
Maddy Hickman led the Bengals with five total RBIs for the day in five at-bats with three hits. Senior
Bailey Foster and sophomore
Ashlyn Ames earned wins for ISU on the mound, with Foster earning the win in game 1 and Ames in game 2.
After a slow start for the Bengals, five scoreless innings to be exact, ISU (21-19, 8-4 BSC) turned on the burners, scoring seven runs in the final two innings to hand the Hornets their first loss since April 5. The Bengals first two runs came in the bottom of the sixth as both senior
Katelyn Marquez and junior
Kacie Burnett scored following a Sac State (22-17, 11-3 BSC) throwing error. However, the bottom of the seventh marked ISU's major push for the win.
After holding the Hornets scoreless in the top of the seventh, junior
Dara Kolar walked to start things off, followed by a bunt single by junior
Sarah Hayes. Senior
Micheala Taylor was ISU's first out after a pop up to third base was corralled by Sac State, but Marquez stepped up and capitalized on another Hornet error with allowed freshman
Kaitlyn Spohrer, pinch running for Kolar, to score.
Burnett stepped up next, singling to left field as Hayes scored ISU's second run of the inning to tie the game 4-all. Next up was Hickman, who once again finished the game in fashion for the Bengals. Hickman smacked one to right field, earning her ninth home run of the season. Hickman's walk-off homer gave the Bengals three more runs and the 7-4 win in game 1.
"Sluggish start for us, but we hung in there," Head Coach
Candi Letts said. "We didn't quit playing….[in the last two innings] I think it just started to click and then it snowballed. I think things started to click and we started relaxing a little bit, and we knew that we could come back and score runs."
The momentum from that final game 1 inning continued for the Bengals in game 2, as Hickman once again smacked a home run over the fence for two RBIs and an early 2-1 advantage over Sac State heading into the second. The Bengals scored once more in the bottom of the second as freshman
Ashley Morris scored after Hayes grounded out, and added two more runs in the bottom of the third as Burnett scored on a wild pitch and sophomore
Ashlyn Ames connected for ISU's third homer of the day for one RBI.
Idaho State prevented Sac State from scoring in the remaining four innings and finished with a 5-3 win and a 2-0 advantage in the series.
The Bengals face Sacramento State in the third and final game of the series April 23 at 1 p.m. at Miller Ranch Stadium.
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