LONG BEACH, Calif. —  After being rained out in the first game of the Long Beach Tournament against North Dakota State, the Idaho State softball team came back and lost a hard-fought 2-1 battle to South Alabama, a team ranked 27th in the latest NFCA poll and 28th in the ESPN.com poll.

    Each team had five hits and one error. Vicky Galasso led the offensive attack by going 2-3 and scoring one run. Katelyn Marquez, Amanda Fitzsimmons and Maddy Hickman each had one hit.

    Kelsi Ott threw her first complete game of the her Bengal career by tossing six innings, scattering five hits, walking five, striking out three and giving up one earned run.

    “South Alabama is a really good softball team,” said Idaho State coach Julie Wright. “That was the best pitching we have faced so far. Kelsi pitched a great game and just came up a bit short. We became a better softball team with this loss.”

    South Alabama jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the second inning, but the Bengals countered with a run in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game. Galasso led off with a double to left field and after a sacrifice but by Fitzsimmons, Hickman singled home Galasso on a single to centerfield.

    South Alabama scored its go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning and retired the side in the top of the seventh to earn the victory.

    Idaho State continues play on Saturday with a game at 12:30 p.m. against Utah and a 5:30 p.m. contest versus Cal State Fullerton. Both games can be followed with live stats and fans can listen to audio of the game against Fullerton. The links are available by logging onto isubengals.com.