The Sacramento State softball team posted a 10-1 mercy-rule victory against the Idaho State Bengals and ended the game with a home run Saturday at Shea Stadium.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Sac State took a 7-1 lead over Idaho State after a sacrifice fly by sophomore Sydney Rasmussen to score freshman Jade Arslanian and an RBI single by freshman Suzy Brookshire to score senior Shelby Johnston.
The inning and game ended after true-freshman Mo Spieth hit a three-run home run to left-center field to score Brookshire and junior Marissa Maligad, which brought about the eight-run mercy rule. Spieth’s home run also ended the Hornets’ three-game losing streak in which the team only managed to score five runs in total.
“I think that before this game we were definitely in a slump as a team,” Spieth said after posting five RBIs. “We didn’t really know what our rhythm was and I think this game showed us finding our rhythm and playing the kind of softball we know we can.”
Idaho State (11-15, 4-2 Big Sky Conference) struck first in the third inning as infielder Kelsey Breer scored its first and only run of the game against Sac State (12-17-1, 2-3 Big Sky Conference) by way of a Sarah Hayes single to right field.
The Hornets answered back by taking a 3-1 lead after Rasmussen scored on a Spieth single, and Spieth and Brookshire crossed home plate on a Johnston single to right field in the fourth inning.
“I thought we started this game with the right mindset,” Sac State coach Lori Perez said. “We were hungry from the first pitch and we were ready to go to work.”
The Hornets continued the momentum as Spieth dropped a bunt single to score junior Zamari Hinton and freshman Jessica Scott brought Rasmussen home on a sacrifice fly to take a 5-1 lead.
Sac State junior pitcher Celina Matthias (5-5) earned the win after going four innings while allowing four hits and one run. Freshman Danielle Sperry picked up the save after pitching two innings and only allowing one hit.
“When we come out prepared and with a mission, we tend to get good results and we saw that today,” Perez said.
The Hornets will play next against Santa Clara at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Santa Clara Softball Stadium.
