Feb. 13, 2009
Stats
TEMPE, Ariz. -
Idaho State scored nine runs over the final three innings en route to a 10-5 come-from-behind victory over Illinois State in the opening game of the Littlewood Classic at Farrington Stadium Friday morning. Illinois State's Niki Stansell hit a two-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth inning but it wasn't enough to keep the Redbirds from falling to 2-4 on the season.
"I am not quite sure how they did it (scored so many runs)," said Illinois State head softball coach Melinda Fischer. "I think that the long ball was a factor for them with three homeruns. I think that anytime you give up the long ball that much means something needs to be better at containing. They battled and I think that we did too. I thought that we could have tied it in the sixth inning, but we weren't able to stop them in the seventh."
Idaho State hit three home runs, all in the final three innings, to earn its first win of the season. The win ended Idaho State's 24-game losing streak to NCAA Division I opponents. Illinois State stranded 14 baserunners and was unable to put a stop to Idaho State's offense with four errors behind Redbird pitchers Amber Smith and Megan Warner.
Smith was strong through five innings, allowing a single run in the first inning. Stansell tied the game in the bottom half after crossing the plate on an error from Idaho State's Jessica Baca. Illinois State went ahead in the bottom of the fourth when Stansell singled to left and scored Casey Gorrell, however that was the last time the `Birds would hold the lead.
Smith allowed her first homerun of the game and second for the season as Bengals Megan Miller hit a homerun over the right field wall to tie the score 2-2 in the top of the fifth. The real damage came in the sixth when the Bengals hung four runs on the Redbirds thanks to a grand slam by Baca. Smith was lifted for Warner who struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Trailing for the first time in the game, Illinois State was able to cut the Bengals lead to one, 6-5, as Stansell hit a two-run homerun and Gorrell collected an RBI double in the sixth.
"Offensively Niki is a table setter," said Fisher. "She has shown that she has some power and has been pretty consistent. Defensively she was challenged today and was not able to stop the ball and I believe that she is a better short stop than she showed today."
The Bengals were able to get four more runners across the plate as Whitney Chaffe hit a three-run homerun off Warner in the seventh and Idaho State added another later in the inning. Illinois State had the last at-bat, but wasn't able to score.
The Redbirds will be back in action later tonight, with a matchup against tournament host and 2008 defending national champion No. 3/6 Arizona State. First pitch from Farrington Stadium is slated for 6:30 p.m. CST
