Bengals suffer power outage, fall to Weber State in second round of tourney play

GREELEY, Colo. — If the Idaho State Bengals are to win their first ever conference tournament championship, they will have to do so from the losers bracket.

Following a decisive 10-2 victory over the host Colorado State Bears in round one of the tournament, the top-seeded Bengals went silent in the batters box in round two. The result was a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the rival Weber State Panthers, Thursday night.

Weber State earned its showdown with ISU by way of a comeback victory over Sacramento State, Thursday morning. The Panthers scored the game’s final six runs — one in the fifth, three in the sixth and two in the seventh — to claim a 8-7 victory and move to 2-0 in the tourney.

That offense remained hot out of the gate against Kasey Aguinaga and the Bengals, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Panther pitcher Cali McCraw held the score there until the third, when All-Conference First-Teamer Alyssa Yee got ISU’s first and only rally started with a one-out single. Conference player of the year Ava Brown kept the action rolling when she was hit by a pitch.

Both Yee and Brown crossed the plate on an Olivia Robinson double, to make it 3-2. But the Bengals were set down in order by McCraw in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings — with several huge assists from her defense, led by second baseman Sadie Kirk.

The freshman made several diving plays to keep the conference’s highest-scoring offense from igniting any semblance of a rally. Kirk also went 4-for-4 on the day, with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Idaho State could muster just three hits all game against McCraw and the stingy Panther defense — all singles.

By virtue of their win, and 3-0 start to the tournament, Weber State moves directly into the championship round, and will have Friday off. They will not play again until noon on Saturday.

The Bengals, on the other hand, have used their only free life and must now run the table in order to claim the trophy and NCAA Tournament bid.

They will play again at 2:30 p.m., Friday, against the winner of Friday’s noon game between Northern Colorado and Sacramento State. The winner of Friday afternoon’s game will be tasked with knocking off the Panthers twice on Saturday.