POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State softball team defeated the Montana Grizzlies 12-9 in stellar fashion Saturday afternoon at Miller Ranch Stadium in the third game of the conference series. Despite giving up seven runs in the sixth inning, the Bengals clawed their way back and earned the win with a three-run homer from senior
Maddy Hickman.
"I felt pretty confident," Hickman said. "I knew we were going to win that game just by the way we came back in the sixth. I knew it was going to be a good game and that we were going to get it done."
Idaho State (17-17, 5-2 BSC) took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning after trailing for the early part of the game. Hickman started off with a single to center field, followed by a single from sophomore pitcher
Ashlyn Ames. On the next at-bat, the Bengals capitalized on a Montana (13-23, 4-5 BSC) error for their first of three runs. ISU scored again following a single to left field from freshman
Ashley Morris, and the Bengals third and final run came off a sacrifice fly from junior
Sarah Hayes.
However, ISU's lead was short-lived as a seven-run showing from the Griz in the top of the sixth put ISU in a four-run hole.
"We gave up a big seven-run inning and we had a couple of errors…" Head Coach
Candi Letts said. "That's where we've got to limit them to what we give them."
The Bengals responded to the adversity, rattling off four runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game 9-all heading into the seventh. A scoreless showing from the Griz in the top of the seventh set the Bengals up for the epic come-from-behind victory.
ISU opened with two straight outs, one from a fly out from Hayes to left field and another from a ground out from senior
Micheala Taylor. With two outs and no one on base, senior
Katelyn Marquez stepped up with a single to left center. Junior
Kacie Burnett was up to bat next and reached first after being walked. The stage was set for Hickman who hit her sixth home run of the season deep into right field for three RBIs and the 12-9 win.
"It was great," Letts said. "It's always great to have somebody else step up. Maddy, being a senior, she got the pitch she was looking for and she kept it low enough. The ball just sailed over the fence and everybody was pretty excited."
Hickman led the Bengals with four hits, two runs and five RBIs. ISU finished with 12 runs on 13 hits for the game. Ames earned her seventh win of the season on the mound.
The Bengals are back in action April 12 as they travel to Orem Utah to face Utah Valley in a nonconference game at 3 p.m.
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