Bengals battle but come up short in Big Sky Championship

GREELEY, Colo. — The Idaho State Bengals’ conference tournament championship drought will continue for at least one more year.

ISU finished the regular season with the Big Sky’s best record (34-15) and after adding three more wins at the Big Sky Championships, set a new program single-season wins record (37). But all that success did not yield the university’s first ever conference tournament crown, as the Bengals lost a winner-take-all game, 10-4, to Weber State, Saturday.

Behind their starter, freshman Megan Meracle, the Bengals beat the Panthers, 3-2, in an elimination game earlier Saturday to set the championship stage. But they came one win shy of the crown and an NCAA Tourney bid.

The Bengals, who led the conference in nearly every offensive category, including runs scored with 298 (6.1 per game), went cold in Northern Colorado. They scored just six runs combined in their two losses — 5-2 and 10-4 — both coming against Weber State.

ISU opened the tournament with a 10-2 victory over the reigning champ and host Northern Colorado Bears.

The followed that win with a 5-2 loss to Weber State before beating the Bears again in an elimination game, Friday afternoon, by a score of 10-3. Aside from the two 10-run outbursts, however, ISU scored just 11 runs in three games.

Idaho State could get an at-large bid into the NCAA Tourney, but that is unlikely, meaning the seniors, including Gracie Smith who led off both games Saturday with homers, have played their final games in Bengal uniforms.