Feb. 17, 2008

Box Score

Tempe, AZ --- For all their hard work, the Idaho State softball team finally has something to show for their efforts. Wailana Buchanan and Merissa Jannsen had two hits apiece, and ISU rallied from a 3-0 first inning deficit for a 7-4 win, giving them their first win of the season in the final game of the Kajikawa Classic. Natasha Milosevich picked up her first career win, and sophomore Kandis Clesson grabbed her first career save in the game as well. Idaho State dropped their first game of the day 10-1 to Memphis.

The win ended an eight-game losing streak to start the season after dropping the opener to Memphis. In game two, UMKC bolted out of the gate for three runs in the top of the first off of Milosevich, but she settled down nicely after that, retiring nine of her final 11 hitters.

While she was taking care of that end of things, ISU's bats evened the game in the bottom of the first. Megan Miller led off by reaching on a hit by pitch, and after a wild pitch and a sacrifice, she stayed there when Heather Dixon reached on an error. Cleanup hitter Ivy Sessions then laced her third double of the year to cut the lead to 3-2. Sessions was then cut down for the second out when Jannsen singled through the left side, and she advanced to second on the throw home. After another wild pitch, she tied the game when Wailana Buchanan singled her in.

The Bengals then took the lead for good in the second when Whitney Chaffe doubled to lead things off, and she eventually scored on a wild pitch. Miller later doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-3. The next inning ISU made it 7-3 when Miller reached on a throwing error with the bases loaded, allowing two runs to cross.

In the top of the fifth, head coach Larry Stocking went to the pen, bringing in Kandis Clesson. Clesson would allow only a single run in the seventh that made it 7-4, and with the tying run at the plate, she coaxed Julie Hartung, who had homed against #3 Arizona earlier in the day, into a harmless ground out to end the game.

For the Bengals, Buchanan and Jannsen each had two hits, and Sessions drove in a pair of runs.

Earlier in the day, Idaho State lost to Memphis 10-1. Pitcher Andrea Coburn was touched for three runs in just two innings, being credited with the loss. Memphis scored all the runs they would need in the second with three runs, coming on a pair of home runs by Heather Mott and Tori Gross. Mott would later add a second home run as the Tigers ended the game with three more runs in the sixth.

Idaho State was held to just four hits in the game, and the Tigers broke out for 12.

The Bengals now have a week off before heading to sunny Hawaii for the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament. There, ISU will play an exhibition game on March 6 vs. the Netherlands National Team before taking on nationally ranked Washington and Hawai'I, Southern Illinois (receiving votes), and Eastern Kentucky.

NOTES: Last year it took Idaho State 27 games to get a win over a Division I team ... Clesson's save was just the eighth save in the 10-year history of the ISU program ... the seven runs against UMKC was a season-high, and the four allowed tied the season low ... ISU now has allowed 61 runs in nine games, and through nine last year, ISU had allowed 99 ... Merissa Jannsen, who hit just .234 last year, leads the team in batting at .391, and she also leads with three sacrifices as well.