Cal Poly Softball walked away with a sweep of Idaho State in a doubleheader on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at Bob Janssen Field.
The Mustangs (5-1) came from behind in the first win over the Bengals (4-7), and never trailed in the game two victory.
Game One
Cal Poly won the first game of the day in dramatic fashion in the form of a 6-5 extra-inning win.
The Mustangs picked up the first lead of the game in the second inning when junior first baseman Kai Barrett hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score sophomore catcher Julia Barnett, putting them ahead 1-0.
Idaho State, who was hitless until the fourth inning, scored its first run of the game in the top of the fifth off of a throwing error by junior shortstop Xiara Diaz, tying the game at one apiece.
Cal Poly answered right back in the bottom half, as Barnett drove home sophomore center fielder Jessica Clements with an RBI single to regain the lead at 2-1.
The Bengals’ offense erupted in the sixth inning, pouring on four runs to put an end to the pitcher’s duel and take a 5-2 lead.
After a quiet bottom half of the sixth and top of the seventh, the Mustangs headed into the final half inning of the game chasing three runs.
Cal Poly managed to get the bases loaded, and sophomore infielder Caroline Allman stepped to the plate as the game-winning run with the tying run on first.
Allman ripped a bases-clearing triple to right field to knot the score back up at 5-5, sending the game to extra innings.
“It felt super great and it was fun doing my job for my teammates and coming out with a win in both games,” Allman said.
After holding Idaho State scoreless in the top half of the eighth, Barnett played hero with her third hit of the game, this one a walk-off to score sophomore outfielder Jade Contapay and give the Mustangs a 6-5 victory.
Game Two
Cal Poly followed up a magical game one with a solid 8-5 win where the team never trailed.
The Mustangs got some help out of the gate, scoring two runs in the first inning thanks to a pair of throwing errors from the Bengals.
Freshman third baseman Mylina Garza kept the pressure on for Cal Poly, roping an RBI single to bring home Clements and extend the lead to 3-0.
The Idaho State offense finally woke up in the top half of the third with a pair of runs, but the Mustangs answered right back in the fourth with two runs of their own thanks to RBIs from Garza and junior right fielder Juju Sargent to bring the score to 5-2.
Two more runs came in for the Bengals in the fifth off a two-RBI single, cutting the Cal Poly lead down to 5-4.
Allman and Sargent came up big once again, each recording an RBI to bring the lead to 7-4 and put the game out of reach.
Both teams would score one more run, making the final score 8-5 in favor of the Mustangs.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Amy Ross (1-0) pitched two innings of relief to earn her first collegiate win.
“It was exciting to see Amy get her first win and we just hit the ball really well today,” head coach Jenny Condon said.
After Ross’ night was over, sophomore righthander Paige Maier stepped into the circle to close out the game, going 2 ⅓ innings and picking up her first save of the season.
“It felt really good, especially coming from behind that first game,” Maier said. “It was exciting.”
With the windy conditions on Tuesday, Condon believes getting both wins was a big step for the team.
“It’s great to get the wins and we learned a lot,” Condon said. “We talked about controlling the controllables and the weather was something we didn’t have any control over and it didn’t bother us.”
Cal Poly will now head to Cathedral City, Cali. to play in the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic from Thursday, Feb. 23 through Saturday, Feb. 25.
