POCATELLO, Idaho – The Idaho State Bengals put together a dominant performance day one of the series with the Montana Griz, sweeping the day with a 5-0 and 9-1 win.
The Bengals move up to 20-20 (2-3 BSC) on the season and have one final game in the series vs the Griz remaining.
Postgame Remarks
"Today we looked a lot more like ourselves," remarked Head Coach Andrew Rich. "We had great energy and played fast and that is when we are at our best. We played well in all facets of the game and executed at a high level and that gives us a great chance to win games."
On the Bengals Pitching vs the Griz
"Marley and Taylor threw fantastic and really controlled the games. They helped us create a ton of momentum with quick innings that got our offense back to the plate and that was huge. That's a good offense in Montana that they both slowed down all day."
On Camryn McDonald's day
"Camryn swung it great today. She's been working really hard and starting to feel the right things at the plate and it really showed today. She also played a great shortstop for us today and controlled things in the middle of the field."
How it Happened
Game 1 ISU 5 – Montana 0
The Bengals started strong early against the Griz in game one with Marley Goluskin starting at pitcher for the Bengals.
After getting settled in the first inning, giving up two hits, the Bengal defense buckled in the 2nd. Goluskin led the defense forcing a flyout, groundout and striking out a batter.
In the top of the third, Gracie Smith led off the inning with a double to left center. After a Sac Bunt from Paige Simpson, Olivia Robison hit a sac fly to center field scoring Smith and giving the Bengals a 1-0 lead.
The two teams battled back and forth over the bottom third and fourth with neither team able to gain any ground.
In the top of the fifth, Smith hit her second extra base hit of the game, a triple down the right field line. Paige Simpson then hit her second sacrifice of the game, a flyout to left field, scoring Smith and putting the Bengals up 2-0.
The Bengal defense was ontop of it in the bottom of the fifth forcing two flyouts and another strikeout by Goluskin.
Headed into the seventh inning, the Bengals were holding on to their 2-0 lead with victory in their sights.
Piper Tago led off the inning with a walk, and Madison Muxen entered to pinch run. Camryn McDonald laid down a sac bunt and advanced Muxen to second.
Coming into pinch hit, Kate Hogan smashed a double down the right field line, scoring Muxen and increasing the lead to 3-0.
The Bengals weren't done yet, after Smith was intentionally walked, Olivia Robison hit yet another double to right field scoring two RBIs and extending the Bengals' lead to a more comfortable 5-0 lead.
Once again the Bengal defense didn't give up an inch In the bottom of the seventh with a strikeout from Goluskin and two putouts by the Bengal infield.
Goluskin earned her seventh win of the season, throwing the complete game shutout. Goluskin allowed just four hits, and zero walks and had four strikeouts.
Game 2 ISU 9 – Montana 1
Coming off of a strong game one victory, the Bengals looked to carry on that momentum into the second game.
Taylor Fitzgerald took that to heart and put on a show in the circle, while simultaneously the Bengal offense stepped on the gas.
In the bottom of the first, Montana was able to single up the middle before the Bengals took care of the next batter. This would start a streak of Fitzgerald retiring the next 14 Griz batters of the game.
The Bengal offense got the ball rolling in the second. Kennedy Dudley and Piper Tago both hit singles before McDonald brought them both home with a two RBI double to right center.
The Griz then threw three straight walks to score another run for the Bengals and the Orange and Black took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 2nd.
In what would be the same story for the next four innings, the Montana Griz went three up three down the in bottom of the 2nd.
After a quiet third, the Bengals came roaring back in the fourth with a single by Tago, another double from Camryn McDonald followed by a Montana throw into their dugout scored Tago and the Bengals were up 4-0 with no outs.
Belle Navarrete the hit a sacrifice fly to right field and the Bengals went up 5-0.
After the Griz walked Simpson, Robison smashed a double to left center and the Bengals scored another run going up 6-0.
The Bengals weren't done yet though. Angelica Cano singled through the left side and Jenna Kearns, pinch running sped to home and put the Bengals up 7-0.
Once again the two teams traded innings until the sixth where the Bengals saw the chance to end the game.
Smith led off the inning with a single to short, Simpson advanced smith to second with a sac bunt and the Griz then walked Robison. After a fielding error committed by Montana, the Bengals had the bases loaded with one out.
Bengal transfer Jaden Moore came in to pinch hit for Alyssa Yee and smashed her third hit of the year down the right side scoring two runs, putting the Bengals up 9-0 and over the threshold for a 'run-rule' victory.
In the bottom of the sixth, Montana would score its only run of the day on a solo homerun, just Fitzgeralds' second allowed hit of the game.
Fitzgerald then corralled a grounder straight up the middle and tossed it to Cano who was waiting at first for the final out of the game.
Notes-
· The Bengals have now won six of the last eight meetings with the Griz
· This is the first Big Sky Conference series win for the Bengals in 2024 after dropping the first series of the season to the PSU Vikings.
· Camryn McDonald had a dominant game two batting for the Bengals, in four at bats, McDonald hit three doubles and scored two RBIs. Fielding, Mcdonald had seven putouts and 10 assists on the day at shortstop.
· As a team, the Bengals committed no errors with 39 putouts and 19 assists.
· The Bengals hit .380 as a team with 19 hits in the two games including seven doubles and a triple
· The Bengal pitching duo of Marley Goluskin and Taylor Fitzgerald were absolutely dominant in the circle. The Bengal pitchers held the Griz to a .136 batting average, allowing just six hits, one walk and one run in two games.
· While Fitzgerald allowed the run, she also held The Griz to just .100 in six innings
On Deck
The Bengals have one more in Missoula to close out the series Saturday 4/13 with first pitch set for 1:00 PM MT.
