Bengals can't quite hang with Big 12's BYU in 5-1 loss at home

POCATELLO − It doesn’t matter if it is baseball or softball or what type of league − youth, high school, college, professional.

Good pitching stops good hitting.

Idaho State (25-25 overall, 7-4 Big Sky Conference) ran into a left-handed buzzsaw in the form of BYU’s (27-22) Chloe Temples. She allowed three hits, struck out 11 and completely dominated a Bengal team that was in a nice offensive rhythm after taking two of three from Weber State over the weekend.

It all resulted in a 5-1 Cougar win at Miller-Ranch Stadium on a cool afternoon.

It was the first time BYU played at ISU in softball since 2012, and with the win, they ran the series mark to 20-4 and nine straight over the Bengals.

“She’s (Temples) a good pitcher,” said ISU head coach Andy Rich after the game. “We don’t see too many left-handed pitchers, especially in a midweek game and when she had her changeup going and things were working. She’s just really good. We just couldn’t figure it out today.”

Temples actually walked the first two Bengal batters leading off the game. But she quickly corrected her control issue and promptly struck out the side in both the first and second innings. That first inning, with two base runners on, was Idaho State’s best chance to score in the game until the final inning.

Temples left a pitch up in the zone with one out and Piper Tago got all of it, sending it over the fence in left center field for ISU’s only run.

Despite the loss, ISU played well overall against a Couger team out of the Big 12 Conference that picked up a win against a juggernaut Oklahoma team earlier this season. This wasn’t a blowout, as Bengal pitchers Riley Wickham and Taylor Fitzgerald worked out of trouble against a BYU team that can score a lot of runs.

“When we play those guys, we expect to be in a game with them, doesn’t matter where we are playing or who we are playing, we expect to be in the game. That’s where we expect the program now to be,” said Rich. “It doesn’t matter if it is a Big Sky team, or a Big 12 team, we expect to be in games. We have a pitching staff that can keep us in games.”

Where ISU goes from here depends on the weather as they have a final regular season game at home against Utah Valley on Wednesday. But with near-record low temperatures and the Wolverines in the middle of finals week, that game may be cancelled. A decision will be made Wednesday morning. If they do play, game time is set for 4 p.m.

If the game is off, ISU will use the next week practicing, taking a few days off over the weekend for graduation and then having final tune-ups as the Big Sky Conference Tournament opens up at Miller-Ranch on May 8. Idaho State only plays one game that day against the winner of the Sacramento State/Montana matchup. First pitch for the Bengals that afternoon is set for 4:30 p.m.