OGDEN, Utah — Idaho State took advantage of three Hornet errors to the tune of seven unearned runs in an 11-1 victory over Sacramento State on the first day of the double-elimination Big Sky Conference Softball Championship on Thursday at the Wildcat Softball Complex.

Sacramento State will now be slotted into the tournament's elimination bracket where the Hornets (26-21) will play Southern Utah (13-39) tomorrow at 11 a.m. PDT. Should the Hornets win that game, they would play again tomorrow at 4 p.m. PDT against the winner of the Portland State/Montana morning game. One more loss for any of those four teams, and they would be eliminated from tournament contention. To have a shot at winning the Big Sky title and gain the subsequent automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals, Sacramento State will have to win five more games, including three on Saturday

In the winners bracket are tournament host Weber State and Idaho State, who will play each other tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. PDT. The winner of that game will play for the championship on Saturday. Idaho State went 2-0 today, winning both games in five-inning mercy rule fashion, including a 12-0 victory over Portland State.

For complete tournament information, including brackets, please check out the Big Sky Championship home page by clicking here.

Idaho State only outhit the Hornets by a 9-7 margin, but was able to score 10 more runs. The big reason was an eight-run fifth inning in which the Bengals took advantage of Hornet miscues to the tune of six unearned runs. That all but ended the game, as the Bengals were leading, 11-0, after the top of the fifth inning.

Idaho State got the early jump in the second inning with three runs on an RBI-single from Dara Kolar and passed balls that allowed Alex Portesi and Aubrey Creekmore to score.

Sacramento State had a good scoring opportunity in the bottom of the third when two of the first three batters of the inning reached via single. With Sydney Rasmussen at first and Natalie Alas at second and one out, Zamari Hinton laced a single to right field, but Alas ran through a stop sign at third base and was thrown out at the plate. That proved to be a big out as the Hornets had their best hitter, Sasha Margulies, coming up next. Margulies was then walked to load the bases before Idaho State starter Ashlyn Ames retired Jessica Ravetti on a ground ball.

The Hornets mounted another scoring threat in the fourth inning, putting runners at first and second with one out, but could not score. The Bengals' eight-run fifth inning included six hits and three Sacramento State errors. The first two runs of the inning were earned, but the remaining six were each unearned.

Sacramento State got on the board in the bottom of the fifth after Kortney Solis singled to right field to score Hinton. Hinton (2-for-3) and Solis (2-for-3) each had multiple-hit games for the Hornets while Rasmussen, Ravetti and Johnston also had one hit apiece. Margulies had a pair of walks and lined out while extending her streak of reaching base safely to a career-high 24 consecutive games.

Hornet starter Celina Matthias (19-13) picked up the loss, allowing nine hits and four earned runs with five strikeouts over five innings. For Idaho State, Ames (11-11) notched her second win of the season against the Hornets, allowing seven hits and one run over five innings.

Earlier this year, Sacramento State swept a three-game home series against Southern Utah, outscoring the Thunderbirds over those three games by a 14-0 margin.