University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Friday, May 6
Greeley, Colo.
12:00 PM
University of Northern Colorado
22-28, 0
7
vs
1
Idaho State
24-25, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Idaho State
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
6
2
Northern Colo.
1
0
0
0
1
5
X
7
6
1
Photo by: Jam David
Bears send seniors off with resounding 7-1 win over Idaho State
5/6/2022 3:10:00 PM | Softball
GREELEY, Colo. – Northern Colorado dished out a little bit of everything on Friday at Gloria Rodriguez Field. Terrific pitching and timely hitting sent its five seniors off in style with a 7-1 win over Idaho State.
With Senior Day in full effect, Riley Plogger couldn't have kicked off the celebrations in a better way. While it wasn't the first pitch she saw, the lead-off batter smacked a solo home run to centerfield to give the Bears an instant lead.
Meanwhile, freshman Isabelle DiNapoli was spinning it in the circle. The young right-hander piled up four strikeouts in just the first two innings.
Even an unearned run in the fourth didn't deter the Littleton, Colorado native. Lauren Strathearn's highlight-worthy diving play in left didn't hurt either.
Northern Colorado waited patiently until the bottom of the fifth inning to take back the lead. A double from Jayden Mercado setup up Peyton Gale perfectly to bring home the leading run on an RBI single.
Head coach Ben Garcia couldn't have asked for a better sixth frame. After DiNapoli retired the side in order, UNC's offense went right to work in the bottom end of the inning.
Again it was the Riley Plogger who sparked the Bears' offense, leading off with a single into centerfield. Two walks later, Alyssa Wenzel brought Plogger home with the sacrifice fly.
But the Blue and Gold weren't done yet.
Carson Fischer and Katie Simonsgaard each tagged two-RBI singles, extending Northern Colorado's lead to 7-1.
With DiNapoli dealing, the run support was more than enough to secure the win and the complete game. Five strikeouts on the afternoon and just a single run (unearned) capped off a resounding end to the regular season for Garcia's Bears.
What's Ahead
Northern Colorado heads west to Ogden, Utah for the Big Sky Championships. UNC will await its seed with the rest of the conference concluding conference play this weekend.
To stay up to date on all things UNC softball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
With Senior Day in full effect, Riley Plogger couldn't have kicked off the celebrations in a better way. While it wasn't the first pitch she saw, the lead-off batter smacked a solo home run to centerfield to give the Bears an instant lead.
Meanwhile, freshman Isabelle DiNapoli was spinning it in the circle. The young right-hander piled up four strikeouts in just the first two innings.
Even an unearned run in the fourth didn't deter the Littleton, Colorado native. Lauren Strathearn's highlight-worthy diving play in left didn't hurt either.
Northern Colorado waited patiently until the bottom of the fifth inning to take back the lead. A double from Jayden Mercado setup up Peyton Gale perfectly to bring home the leading run on an RBI single.
Head coach Ben Garcia couldn't have asked for a better sixth frame. After DiNapoli retired the side in order, UNC's offense went right to work in the bottom end of the inning.
Again it was the Riley Plogger who sparked the Bears' offense, leading off with a single into centerfield. Two walks later, Alyssa Wenzel brought Plogger home with the sacrifice fly.
But the Blue and Gold weren't done yet.
Carson Fischer and Katie Simonsgaard each tagged two-RBI singles, extending Northern Colorado's lead to 7-1.
With DiNapoli dealing, the run support was more than enough to secure the win and the complete game. Five strikeouts on the afternoon and just a single run (unearned) capped off a resounding end to the regular season for Garcia's Bears.
What's Ahead
Northern Colorado heads west to Ogden, Utah for the Big Sky Championships. UNC will await its seed with the rest of the conference concluding conference play this weekend.
To stay up to date on all things UNC softball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: DiNapoli, Isabelle (4-8)
L: MCMURRAY, Emma (6-8)
Batting:
2B: TAGO, Piper 1
RBI: NEWMAN, Mailee 1
SF: NEWMAN, Mailee 1
Base Running:
RUNS: CANO, Angelica 1
PO: RICHARDS, Brook 1
Batting:
2B: Mercado, Jayden 1
HR: Plogger, Riley 1
RBI: Plogger, Riley 1 ; Wenzel, Alyssa 1 ; Fischer, Carson 2 ; Simonsgaard, Katie 2 ; Gale, Peyton 1
SF: Wenzel, Alyssa 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Plogger, Riley 2 ; Gandert, Jaycie 1 ; Holland, Kaileigh 1 ; Barashkoff, Alexsi 1 ; Mercado, Jayden 2
SB: Mercado, Jayden 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
2b/ph
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
AB
1
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
P
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
INF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ SoftballOF
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