Bengals advance to second round at 5A state softball tournament

May 16—NAMPA, Idaho — In Lewiston softball's first time playing at State since 2008, the sixth-seeded Bengals acted like a team that has been there before.

The Bengals won their first game of the 5A state tournament against the third-seeded Middleton Vikings 5-1 on Wednesday.

Lewiston coach Jesse Roehl said that even though it was his Bengals' first time at the state tournament, the team was unshaken.

"I think being our first time being down here at State — the girls didn't let their nerves get to them," Roehl said. "The environment wasn't too big for them. After the first few runs, the weight lifted off of us and we played the softball we know we can."

Jenna Barney pitched a complete game in seven innings and allowed one run to score on three hits while fanning eight batters as she collected the win for Lewiston (16-11).

Roehl said Barney pitched lights out.

"Jenna had the best pitching performance I can remember in her career," Roehl said. "It was really gutsy, they couldn't touch her at all — it was really nasty. Everything was working for her today. She was just dealing, especially her change-up. It was nasty today and she kept them off balance and kept hitting her spots with her curveball and drop ball."

Roehl also said that the defense behind her was solid. The Bengals only committed one error in the contest. He said that the team kept having quick defensive innings.

Anna Ready and Laila Hernandez led the Bengals with two hits apiece. Ready led the team with two RBI and Hernandez had one. Barney also added a hit.

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Roehl said that the team had quality at-bats and they were competing through the entirety of the lineup. No matter if they had two strikes or not, the Bengals did not give up any easy outs. Roehl said that is why they were able to quickly score five runs in the first half of the game.

Middleton (22-5) only scored one run in the contest and had three hits while committing two errors.

With the win, Lewiston advanced to play in the second round of the tournament against seventh-seeded Burley at 10:15 a.m. Pacific today.

If they beat Burley, the Bengals will play in the semifinals of the tournament at 2:45 p.m. Pacific today. If Lewiston loses to Burley, it will play another game at 12:30 p.m. Pacific today against the winner of Jerome and Skyview.

Lewiston 103 100 0—5 6 1

Middleton 000 001 0—1 3 2

J. Barney and L. Hernandez; M. Trimmer, A. Gustafson (4) and K. Whitlow. W — Barney; L — Trimmer.

Lewiston hits — Hernandez 2 (2B), A. Ready 2 (2B), Barney, T. Nuxoll.

Middleton hits — A. McPherson 2, S. Stafford.