Broncos Fall Twice at Fresno State

Saturday, May 8

Fresno, Calif.

2 p.m. MT

Boise State

19-21, 10-9

Fresno State

32-9, 16-3

Boise State

Fresno State

Photo by: Boise State University

5/8/2021 8:20:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Bella Rocco led the Broncos with three hits on the day.

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

FRESNO, Calif. - Boise State softball fell twice on Saturday at Fresno State as the Bulldogs swept the doubleheader 7-0 and 5-3. Boise State's offense struggled in the opener recording a single hit, but regrouped in the second game to out hit the Bulldogs eight to six. Unfortunately, Boise State came up on the short end of both scores to move to 19-22 overall and 10-10 in conference play, league-leading Fresno State improved to 33-9 overall and 17-3 in Mountain West play.

On the day, Boise State was led by Bella Rocco who went 3-for-7 with all three hits coming in the second game (3-of-4), Alison Seng added two in the second contest as well. Jordyn Hutchins recorded the lone hit of game one, while Karlee Johnson, Ashlyn Adams and Isabelle Butler each recorded hits in game two.

The final game of the series will take place Sunday at 2 p.m. (Mountain) in Fresno.

GAME ONE RECAP: Fresno State 7, Boise State 0
Boise State struggled offensively from the start going down in order in six of the seven innings collecting only one hit during the game, that coming from Hutchins in the top of the fifth.

Meanwhile, Fresno State scored a run in the third and fourth innings, then used a big fifth inning when the Bulldogs brought five runners home to put the game away, extending a 2-0 lead to the final 7-0 margin.

Fresno State out hit the Broncos 11 to one and left eight runners stranded in the game. The Bulldogs' starting pitcher Hailey Dolcini pitched a complete game striking out 12 Broncos with no walks and limited the Blue and Orange to one hit.

GAME TWO RECAP: Fresno State 5, Boise State 3
Game two saw Fresno State open fast scoring three runs in the bottom of the first, then adding two more in the second. With the Bulldogs leading 5-0, the game looked like it had the potential to be a blow out, but the Broncos would have none of that.

Boise State rallied to make a game of it and actually out hit the Bulldogs eight to six down the stretch. Fresno State recorded all of its runs and hits in the first one and a third innings.

With Fresno State leading 4-0 and having bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the second, Taylor Caudill entered the game at pitcher for Boise State. The freshman pitcher forced the first batter to groundout to shortstop, which brought home the final run for the Bulldogs. Caudill then struck out the next batter to get the Broncos out of the inning trailing 5-0.

Caudill then proceeded to shut down the fired up Fresno State batters in the final four innings. She finished the game with six strikeouts and issued three walks. Caudill did not allow any more hits or runs to give the Broncos a chance.

It took the Broncos some time to find their bats, but they did starting in the fifth inning. Boise State would score three runs off of five hits in the fifth. Seng started with a lead-off single, followed by Butler who doubled to left field. Jalen Ervin then grounded out to second base, scoring Seng from third. Bobbiann Pratt then sent a pinch-hit groundout to shortstop to bring Butler home to make it 5-2 Fresno State.

With two out and no one on base, Karlee Johnson tripled up the middle. Adams then singled, but Johnson did not advance. Rocco was next sending a single to left field to score Johnson making it 5-3 Bulldogs. Boise State was unable to score again in the inning leaving two on base.

Boise State would threaten again in the sixth, but came up short stranding two base runners. The Broncos left another on base in the seventh as the Bulldogs held on for the win.