No. 3 ISU Plays No. 6 Portland State Thursday at 12 p.m.

Notes | Audio | Video | Live Stats


POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State softball team heads to Ogden, Utah for the Big Sky Conference Tournament May 12-14. The tournament is hosted by Weber State and the Bengals go into the weekend as the No. 3 seed. ISU plays Thursday, May 12 at 12 p.m. vs. No. 6 seed Portland State. Weber State is the No. 1 seed while Sacramento State finished with the second seed. Montana finished fourth, SUU fifth and Portland State sixth. Fans can follow the games with live video, audio, and stats at isubengals.com. Jaxon Jensen will call all the ISU games on KISU.

2016 BIG SKY CONFERENCE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
Thursday, May 12
Game 1 – No. 4 Montana vs. No. 5 Southern Utah, 9:30 a.m.
Game 2 – No. 3 Idaho State vs. No. 6 Portland State, 12:00 p.m.
Game 3 – No. 1 Weber State vs. Game 1 Winner, 2:30 p.m.
Game 4 – No. 2 Sacramento State vs. Game 2 Winner, 5:00 p.m.
Friday, May 13
Game 5 - Loser of Game 2 vs. Loser of Game 3, 9:30 a.m.
Game 6 - Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 4, 12:00 p.m.
Game 7 - Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 2:30 p.m.
Game 8 - Winner of Game 6 vs. Winner of Game 5, 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, May 14
Game 9 - Loser of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 11:00 a.m.
Game 10 - Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 9, 1:30 p.m.
Game 11 - If Necessary Game (Game 9 winner must win Game 10), 4 p.m.
TICKETS
Tickets are available now at https://tkt.xosn.com/tickets/TicketLanding.dbml?&&DB_OEM_ID=8600
Prices are as follows:
Tournament Pass: $25
Adults: $10 per day
Youth/WSU Students & Staff/Seniors: $5 per day
Youth (4 and under): Free
Tickets can be purchase online, by phone at 801-626-8500, or at the Dee Events Center Ticket Office.
The Ticket Office hours are:
Mon-Wed (regular hours): 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Thurs-Fri: 8:30 a.m.- 6 p.m.
Sat: Open at 10 a.m.

About Portland State
Portland State is 14-33 and finished Big Sky play with a 7-14 mark. PSU is hitting .280 as a team and led by Candice Orozco's .345 batting average. She has three homers and 26 RBIs. The Viking pitching staff has a 6.00 era. Meagan Hendrix is 4-12  and has pitched a team-high 88.2 innings. The Bengals took two out of three from Portland State in April at Portland, losing 6-1 and winning 11-1 in five innings and 6-0. The Bengals have won nine of the last 12 meetings vs. Portland State.

About Weber State
Weber State is 34-17 and 15-5 in Big Sky play. The Wildcats are hitting .316 and led by Aubrey  Whitmer's .425 average. She has six homeruns and 53 RBIs. The pitching staff has a 2.89 era and led by Kirtlyn Bohling's 17-7 record and 2.84 era. ISU leads the series 32-22 and the Bengals have won eight of the last 12 meetings. Weber State won two out of three vs. ISU in Ogden on April 15-16.

About Sacramento State
Sacramento State is hitting .294 and .332 in conference. The Hornet pitching staff has a 3.48 era and a 3.58 mark in conference. Idaho State has won 11 of the last 14 meetings. The Bengals won two out of three from Sac State in Pocatello earlier this year.

About Montana
Montana is 27-25 and 14-7 in Big Sky play. The Griz offense is hitting .326 and the pitching staff has a 5.00 era. The Bengals swept Montana in a three-game series in Pocatello this year and lead the series 5-1.

About SUU
Idaho State leads the series 18-14. The T-Birds took two of three from ISU in Pocatello at the end of March. SUU is 13-38 and finished 8-12 in Big Sky play. Jordan Theurer leads the SUU offense with a .357 average. The pitching staff has a 7.05 era.

Slagle Climbing the Record Books for Wins
Sophie Slagle has a 30-16 record in the circle since arriving at Idaho State. Slagle's 30 wins ranks third all-time in ISU history.   Slagle's winning percentage is .652 (30-16), the best since Wendy Alvey went 16-6 (.727) in 1978 and Jo Hillegas-Skeleton was 16-6 in 1977 and 1979. The school record for most wins in a career is 43 by Kandis Clesson.

Honoring Five Seniors
The senior class of Bailey Foster, Katelyn Marquez, Micheala Taylor, Maddy Hickman and Sophie Slagle has been a part of turning around the ISU softball program into Big Sky championship contendors year in and year out. Before this senior class arrived in Pocatello for the 2013 season the softball program had a combined record of 79-187. Since this classes arrival in 2013, the Bengals have tallied a 123-82 mark coming into this weekends series and have won three Big Sky Conference regular season championships.

Burnett's Hot March Continues in April and May
Kacie Burnett leads the Bengal offensive attack. She is hitting .453 and is 24-29 stealing bases. She has scored 47 runs, 72 hits and tallied 20 RBIs. In the month of March she hit .500, scored 17 runs, had 23 hits, was 7-8 stealing bases and had seven RBIs. In 14 games in April she hit .511 with with 24 hits and she has scored 16 runs.  Since March, Burnett is hitting .495 with 50 hits, 36 runs and she is 19-22 stealing bases.

Portesi Making Impact
Alex Portesi has made an impact for the Bengals. The transfer from Farleigh Dickinson has the second-best batting average on the team at .397, scored 23 runs and has 21 RBIs. She is 4-4 stealing bases.

Taylor Having Solid Senior Season
Micheala Taylor has started all 46 games at second base and she at one  point had a 16-game hitting streak in the season. For the season she is hitting .317. She is second on the team in runs scored with 36.

Where the Bengals Rank in NCAA Stats
Idaho State has the 18th best batting average in the country at .329. The Bengals rank 43rd in stolen bases per game at 1.57.  Kacie Burnett has the 14th best batting average in the country at .453. She ranks 41st in runs per game at 1.02 and 50th in on base percentage at .508. Maddy Hickman ranks 15th in RBIs per game at 1.17, 45th in on base percentage at .514 and 54th in walks at .67. Hickman also ranks 30th in RBIs with 54. Katelyn Marquez is 38th in triples per game at .09 and 30th in triples with four. Micheala Taylor ranks 17th as the toughest to strike out.

Where the Bengals Rank in Big Sky Stats
Kacie Burnett ranks first in batting average at .453 and Alex Portesi is sixth at .397. Maddy Hickman is first in slugging percentage at .691 and first in on base percentage at .514. Kacie Burnett is second in on base percentage .508. Burnett is second in runs scored at 47 and hits at 72. Burnett is first in stolen bases with 24.