Sacramento State softball opened up a three-game home series today against the Idaho State University Bengals at Shea Stadium. The two teams battled it out in a doubleheader today to see who would take first place in the Big Sky Conference.

The Hornets played their first game of the series this morning and ended up taking a tough loss. The game was tied 0-0 until the Bengals were able to get ahead in the ninth inning.

There were two errors in the ninth inning that led ISU to take the lead. The first error came from right fielder Paige Martin after she overthrew to third base. The second error of the inning was a throwing mistake by first baseman Sasha Margulies.

Caitlin Brooks pitched a complete game and stayed strong until the ninth inning. In the ninth she issued two walks that led the Bengals to score. She allowed seven hits and seven runs.

“I was just trying to come in to take the first game and come out solid and give my team an opportunity to score runs,” Brooks said, after the game.

Brooks’ ERA for the season is 2.82 with 17 appearances. In today’s first game she had a total of 10 hits, seven runs, three errors and six walks. The team totaled four errors in the first game.

The Hornets struggled at the plate in game one with only three hits. Zamari Hinton had two of those after she singled to center field in the top of the sixth inning and hit a double to right center in the bottom of the eighth.

Margulies followed, hitting a double to center field in the bottom of the seventh.

“Offensively we did not bring what we have been bringing to the table,” said Hornets’ center fielder Alexa Chattleton. “I think a lot of us wanted these wins so bad and a lot of people were just pressing and not staying within themselves.”

In Sac State’s second game today against ISU, the Hornets took the lead in the bottom of the second inning with a two-run single from designated hitter Shelby Johnston, scoring teammates Margulies and Chattleton.

Idaho State was able to make a comeback, taking the lead in the third inning. They scored four times on five hits, leaving the score 4-2 at the bottom of the third.

Kaitlyn Yerby relieved Matthias in the fifth inning, pitching the rest of the game.

Matthias totaled nine hits and seven earned runs.

In the fifth inning, Yerby walked one batter and gave up two runs after the Bengals singled to center field and got two RBIs.

Idaho State scored again in the sixth inning from a double to right center, giving the Bengals an 8-2 advantage.

Sac State tried to get runs going in the seventh inning, but managed to fall short by three. The game ended with an 8-5 loss for Sac State and bumped them to third place in the Big Sky standings.

Starting off the seventh inning hitting for the Hornets was Chattleton with a double to center field. Following her hit was Shelby Johnston singling up the middle. Next up was pinch hitter Paige Castro with a double to right center. Paige Martin hit a single to left field after that scoring Johnston home, with two outs Hinton was up to bat and grounded out, ending the game.

“We needed to be on our ‘A game,’ and we had an off day in all areas and just kind of passed it around,” said coach Lori Perez. “We weren’t able to execute the plan we wanted to.”

These losses put the Hornets at 21-22 overall and 10-4 in conference. Idaho State claimed first place for the Big Sky with a record of 27-14 overall and 12-2 in conference.

The Hornets will play their third game tomorrow at Shea Stadium at 12 p.m.