Bengals lock up No. 2 seed at next week's Big Sky Tournament with wins over Weber State

Dorothy said it best in The Wizard of Oz:

“There’s no place like home.”

After a season where home games were wiped out by snow, rain, mud and unplayable field conditions, the sun finally shined on the Idaho State softball team Sunday. They took advantage sweeping Weber State 7-6 in 10 innings before shutting them out 8-0 in five later in the day.

The 7-6 game was the conclusion of the originally suspended game from Friday that was called because of darkness. The 8-0 game only went five innings because of the run-rule that takes place if a team has an eight-run lead or more after five innings, in which the game is ended. Both games were supposed to take place Saturday, but were moved to Sunday because of the weather.

The doubleheader sweep meant Idaho State will have the second seed in the upcoming Big Sky Conference Tournament, which starts Wednesday, May 8 at Miller-Ranch Stadium in Pocatello.

Northern Colorado gets the regular season title and the top seed by virtue of ISU beating Weber State in the first game Sunday.

The Bengals (25-24 overall, 7-4 Big Sky) will open tournament play against the winner of the Sacramento State/Montana game at 4:30 p.m. on May 8.

As far as Sunday’s action, Idaho State head coach Andy Rich was in good spirits after the second game ended.

“You feel good, because we got a bye in the conference tournament and that’s a big deal. And you feel really good about what we did offensively in this series,” he said. “We got contributions from a lot of people up and down the lineup. We got done what we needed to get done today.”

Indeed.

ISU was one strike away from losing the game Friday in the early evening, 6-5, but pinch-hitter Belle Navarrete doubled to drive in the tying run. After umpires suspended the game due to darkness, it was picked up in the top of the eighth inning Sunday. It stayed tied until the 10th inning when with the bases loaded, ISU won the game on a walk-off hit by pitch as Weber State’s Brooke Merrill nailed Kennedy Dudley, scoring Gracie Smith.

In the regularly slated game, the Bengals broke out the bats and scored four runs in both the third and fifth innings to put the Wildcats (21-26, 8-7) away. In the third inning, the first seven Idaho State hitters reached base and they duplicated that again in the fifth inning.

That was more than enough for game two starter Emma McMurray, who got the shutout by allowing only three hits. Her off-speed repertoire kept Weber State off balance all afternoon and she retired 13 of the first 14 hitters.

The top four hitters in the ISU lineup all had field days against Wildcat pitching in the weekend series and could be very dangerous when tournament play starts.

Leadoff hitter Gracie Smith went 6-for-9 at the plate with three RBI’s and eight walks. No. 2 hitter Camryn McDonald was 6-for-13 with three RBI’s. No. 3 hitter Olivia Robison was 6-for-9 with three RBI’s and six walks and clean up batter Angelica Cano chipped in going 6-for-13 with three RBI’s.

The regular season ends this week with scheduled games versus BYU on Tuesday and Utah Valley Wednesday. Rich didn’t want his team idle during the 10 days before the start of the conference tournament.

He was asked how he intends to play those final two nonconference match-up’s.

“Everybody is going to get some time pitching for sure, it will probably be bullpen games both days,” he said. “We’ll play the regulars for the most part. Gracie (Smith) won’t play, we’ll give her a chance to rest that leg for the next week, but for the most part, everybody will be out there. We want to keep that momentum going that we’ve built over the past three-four weeks going into the tournament, which is the most important four days of the season.”

ISU has won the regular season title four times, but has never been able to win the postseason tournament, which gives the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. They hope the fifth time is finally the charm starting on May 8. But according to Rich, this year’s field is wide open.

“That’s a good team over there (Weber State). They can swing the bats. Northern Colorado’s got great pitching and they are as scrappy,” Rich said. “We’ve got a great shot and Sacramento State has a really good pitcher that is super experienced (Maria Bertuccio) and has the best home-run hitter (Lewa Day) that the conference has ever seen. We’ve all beaten ourselves up for the last five weeks now. So we get a chance to see them all at home, duke it out and see who is the best.”