Idaho State Bengal softball opened up the 2025 season with a pair of wins at the 2025 NorCal Kickoff hosted by UC Davis.
The Bengals started day one with an 11-6 comeback victory over Utah Valley University. Then, the Bengals followed it up with another comeback 11-8 win over San Jose State University.
"We showed a ton of fight today," remakred Head Coach Andrew Rich. "Falling behind is never easy, but we made adjustments in game really well and had big innings in both games that pushed us to a couple comeback wins. This group can do so much damage collectively on the offensive side of the ball and we strung together a lot of great at bats.”
On the Bengal pitching staff
“Our pitching staff had to deal with some tough stuff today and they fought through it all and kept us in both games to give us a chance to get the offense going to get back into it.”
Game 1 | ISU 11 - UVU 6
In the first game of the day, the Bengals took on the Utah Valley University Wolverines.
The Bengals struck first in the game when Camryn McDonald hit a single down the right field line that brought home Kennedy Dudley for the 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines then went on the offensive in the 2nd inning, scoring four runs and following it up with another in the 4th to take a 5-1 lead over the Orange and Black.
Headed into the top of the 5th, the Bengals had some work to do. Gracie Smith led off the inning reaching on a hit by pitch. Alyssa Yee followed it up with her first double of the season, a knock into left field. Olivia Robison then stepped up to the plate and on a 2-2 count, smacked a two RBI single to left field.
The Bengals had new life and, taking the momentum, Ava Brown came up to bat. After taking a ball and fouling once, Brown connected on the next pitch and launched the ball over the left field wall, scoring two runs and the first home run of the 2025 season.
Kennedy Dudley and Piper Tago both were walked next, Bengal newcomer Rebbeca Quinn then singled with a bunt advancing the runners. McDonald then had her 2nd hit of the game scoring two runs for the Bengals.
Idaho State capped off the inning with an RBI by Smith as the Bengals took an 8-5 lead over the Wolverines.
UVU cut the lead to 2 off of a homerun, but the Bengals quickly acted to extend the lead.
In the top of the 6th, The Bengals loaded the bases as McDonald came up to bat again for the Bengals. McDonald had the Wolverines read, and on the first pitch, singled to right center scoring two runs.
The Bengal then scored again as McDonald caught the Wolverines in a rundown, allowing Quinn to score from third. At the end of the top of the 6th, Idaho State held an 11-6 lead over UVU.
Lizzy Tommasini came into close out the game in the circle, striking out three Wolverines over the final inning to close out the game for the Bengals.
Game 2 | ISU 11 - SJSU 8
The Bengals went into game two against the Mountain West member San Jose State looking to take the momentum from the UVU win into their next contest.
SJSU jumped out early on the Orange and Black going up 6-0 over the Bengals in the first three innings of the game.
Staring down a six-run deficit, the Bengals didn't back down, showing there is no lack of fight in this team.
In the bottom of the third, Belle Navarrete kicked things off with a single up the middle. Yee and Robison then drew walks to load the bases. Brown then came up to bat and hit her first double of the season scoring the first two runs of the game for ISU.
Momentum was on the Benagls side, Dudley stepped up and smashed another double, scoring another two runs and the SJSU lead was cut to 6-4.
Getting on that train, Piper Tago smashed the third consecutive double for the Bengals and scored a run, cutting the lead to just one run.
With two outs, McDonald took advantage of a fielding error by the Spartans reaching, and allowing Tago to come in from third, scoring a run and tying the game at 6-6.
The Bengals weren't done, Navarette hit an RBI infield single as the Bengals took a lead for the first time in the game. The Spartans committed another error and the Bengals jumped on it, scoring another run to close out the inning going from down 6-0 to up 8-6.
Marley Goluskin and the Bengal defense didn't allow the Spartans to regroup the nextinnings, forcing two flyouts and a groundout to close out the 4th.
The Benagls had the Spartans on the ropes, and in the bottom of the 4th, The Bengals continued to pour it on. Brown hit her 2nd double of the season. Bengal freshman Brooke Peterson then reached on a error.
Piper Tago came up t bat and smashed a single up the middle scoring two runs and extending the ISU lead to 10-6.
The Bengals scored another run on a Skyler Williams double to left center extending the lead to 11-6 over the Spartans.
SJSU was able to score two more runs, before Tommasini closed out the game in the top of the 7th.
Bengal Bites
- Brown's homerun is the 14th of her career and the 2nd year in a row that Brown homered in the Bengal's first game of the year.
- Brown now ranks 10th all-time in ISU history in homeruns with 14.
- Kasey Aguinaga earned her first win as a Bengal, pitching three innings against UVU with two hits allowed, four strikeouts and one walk.
- The Bengals 5 doubles in the win over San Jose State are one shy of ISU's single game record.
- On day one of the NorCal Kickoff, the Bengals hit .322 as a team with 19 hits and 22 runs scored. ISU hit six doubles and one homerunfor 19 RBIs and 28 total bases.
- Camryn McDonald led the team with .571 hitting on seven at bats with four hits and five RBIs.
- The Bengal pitchers, struckout 14 batters and allowed 13 hits.
- The win over Utah Valley brings the all-time series to 26-28, UVU and is the 8th Bengal win out of the last 10.
- The Bengals have now taken three out of the past four games over the SJSU Spartans.