POCATELLO, Idaho- The Idaho State softball team opened the Gaucho Classic with a sweep of UC Santa Barbara, winning 3-1 and 9-6 on Thursday afternoon in Santa Barbara, Calif..
"Our pitching was great today," Idaho State coach
Andrew Rich said. "Haley was dominant in game 1 and Mareena was so tough in game 2. I can't say enough about what those two did today. It was a total team effort to pull out a couple of wins today. We had contributions all over the roster and lots of people stepped up. I am extremely proud of the fight that our group showed today."
In the game 1 victory, the Bengals scored their three runs on five hits while committing four errors.
ISU led 1-0 after the third inning thanks to an
Angelica Cano homer. Cano finished with two of the five hits for Idaho State.
UCSB tied the game in the bottom of the sixth inning but the Bengals rallied with a two-run seventh to earn the victory. The two runs were scored thanks to an RBI triple by
Morgan Hess to center field an infield single by
Kaylee Butterworth.
The runs were scored by
Skyler Sethman, who opened the inning with a single to the right side and
Brook Richards, who pinch ran for Hess following her triple.
Hailey Rainey earned the win, pitching a complete game and allowing only three hits, two walks and striking out eight.
In game 2, Idaho State fell behind 3-0 after the first inning and 3-1 after three innings. Frank Tago homered in the second.
In the top of the fourth inning the Bengals took the lead for good with a four run inning. With one-out, Tago walked and
Mailee Newman followed with a two-run homer to tie the game three.
Sethman then doubled to center field and
Amber Arreola walked. Sethman would later score on a wild pitch and Arreola would score on a UCSB error. The Bengals scored four runs in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to 9-4. The Gauchos added two runs in the bottom of the seventh before the Bengals put the game away.
Mareena Ramirez earned the victory in the circle, striking out four and scattering 13 hits. The Bengals had 10 hits, led by two from
Frankie Tago and Sethman
