POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State Bengals and the Sacramento State Hornets split their doubleheader Friday afternoon in Sacramento. Game one ended with a 3-1 Bengal victory and the Hornets took game two 4-2 in 9 innings.
"Overall a good day," said Head Coach Cristal Brown. "In games like that, the small details matter. We'll come out [tomorrow] ready to go."
Mailee Newman ended the day hitting .500 percent with a .500 slugging average and one RBI. Frankie Tago had another strong day hitting .400 overall, 1.000 slugging percentage and .571 on base percentage.
The ISU pitching staff had a strong day with the three Bengal pitchers combining for a 2.35 earned run average and 10 strikeouts.
Game One ISU 3 – SAC 1
Emma Bordenkecher got the Bengals on the board first in the top of the second with her sixth homerun of the season, a bomb over the left field wall to put the Bengals up 2-0.
Emma McMurray led the Bengals over the next four innings, keeping the Hornets in check as the two teams battled to a stalemate.
Frankie Tago broke it open again in the top of the sixth with her third homerun of the year to give the Bengals a 3-0 lead.
The Hornets brought in one run during the sixth to make it 3-1 heading into the final inning.
The Bengals held tough in the final half inning of the game, McMurray continued to pitch strong and Isabel Cargill grabbed a line drive from the Sac State batter to end the game and earn the Bengals the 3-1 victory.
The win becomes McMurray's first win as a Bengal pitcher.
The Bengals had three runs on three hits and one error in the game.
McMurray pitched seven innings and only allowed three hits and one run and had a career record eight strikeouts.
Game Two Sac 4 – ISU 2 (9 innings)
It took extra innings for the Sacramento State Hornets to win game two against the Bengals.
Headed into the bottom of the 7th the Bengals had a 2-1 lead after Newman tied the game at 1-1 in the 4th and Shea Perkins hit an RBI double in the 6th.
The Hornets were able to tie it up in the 7th and send the game to extra innings.
In the 8th the Hornets were poised to move runners into scoring position before Bordenkecher grabbed a hard-hit line drive and got it back to Tago at first for the double play.
Sac State was able to hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 9th and end the game 4-2
Both Newman and Perkins ended the game with two hits.
In another strong performance in the circle by the Bengal pitchers, Mareena Ramirez pitched four innings and allowed only three hits and one run. Mailee Newman pitcher 4.1 innings with two strike outs and the only runs she allowed came on the Hornet walk-off.
The Bengals and the Hornets play one more game tomorrow May 1st at 1:00 p.m. to determine the winner of the series.
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