Â
OGDEN, Utah- After qualifying as the No. 6 seed for the Big Sky Softball tournament on the final day of the regular season, the Idaho State softball team was a game away from advancing to the Big Sky Tournament championship but fell to Weber State 8-6 on a chilly Saturday morning.
The Bengals trailed 8-3 going into the bottom of the seventh inning and scored three runs to cut their deficit to 8-6 and they had the winning run on base but Wildcat pitcher Tatiana Su'esu'e got her team out of the jam to earn the win.
"They were so loose, so relaxed and so prepared," Idaho State coach
Candi Letts said. "They never died and never gave up. That is all you can expect at this time of the season. We have some competitive kids and playing Sac State last night in a barn burner showed them that anything is possible."
Idaho State scored its six runs on nine hits but it did have six errors in the field. Weber State scored its eight runs on 15 hits and committed two errors.
Ashlyn Ames pitched her fourth complete game of the Big Sky Tournament. She struck out five, allowing 15 hits but only two of the eight runs given up were earned.
"She is a competitor to the end," Letts said. "She believes she is never beat and you have to pull her off the field. She never quit competing and the kids sensed that so they kept fighting with her."
Kacie Burnett finished her final game as a Bengal by going 4-4 with one RBI and two runs scored. Burnett finished the year hitting .487 with two home runs and two RBIs.
"Kacie is one of those players that come around every half century," Letts said. "She is a kid that you are never going to replace but if you can get a couple of kids to come in who have speed, it's going to take two players to come in and do what Kacie has done. We'll take that but the thing with Kacie is that she is such a quality individual. It was great to see how confident and relaxed she was. She didn't have to do it all on every at bat. She hit what they gave her. She had fun today playing."
Alex Portesi had two hits while Ames,
Sarah Hayes and
Kelsey Breer each had one. Ames had two RBIs while Breer and Portesi also had RBIs.
Both teams scored a run in the first inning. Burnett reached on a one-out double to left field and she later scored when
Emma Bordenkecher reached on a fielding error.
Weber State scored two runs in the third inning and four in the top of the fifth to take a 7-1 lead. The Bengals continued to battle and scored two runs in the fifth inning. Burnett had an RBI double and Ames had a sacrifice RBI.
Weber State had a run in the sixth inning to extend its lead to 8-3. ISU wasn't going to go down without a fight in the seventh inning.
Aubrey Creekmore walked and later advanced to second on a wild pitch. She was pushed to third after a ground out by
Jennie Murillo and scored on a sacrifice RBI by Breer. With two outs, Hayes reached on a Wildcat error and Burnett singled to left field and Ames drove in Hayes and pushed Burnett.
Bordenkecher walked to load the bases and then Burnett scored on an RBI single by Portesi. The game ended when
Haley Harrison was forced into a ground out to end the rally. Â
Â
Â
