Bengals take top seed again in hunt for first conference tournament championship
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POCATELLO — It took a win in the final game of the regular season, but the Idaho State Bengals celebrated a second Big Sky Conference softball championship in as many years.
After an afternoon of jubilation followed by a long ride home, the Bengals have now been able to refocus on something they have never done before — win a softball conference tournament championship.
ISU dominated the conference last season and went into the Big Sky Softball Championship in Greeley, Colo., as heavy favorites. But two losses to Weber State led the Wildcats to claim the title.
By virtue of their 2025 regular-season championship, Idaho State will host this year’s tourney at Direct Communications Field at Miller Ranch Stadium, where the Bengals went 17-5 during the regular season.
Needing to win two out of three games in Montana last weekend to claim their second-consecutive conference crown, the Bengals fell 7-6 in the Friday series-opener. They handed the ball to Marley Golsukin in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, and she gave her club a complete game shutout. So they let her keep the ball for game two, and she went the distance again.
Goluskin ended up throwing well over 200 pitches, holding Montana to 12 hits and two runs across 14 innings of work. She earned a pair of wins, 6-0 then 8-2, to finish the season with an 11-4 record.
First baseman Sydney Groves carried the big stick, homering twice and driving in six runs on Saturday alone, and has been named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week.
Groves led the team in regular season homers (18) and RBIs (58), while shortstop Camryn McDonald posted a team-leading .421 batting average. Left fielder Alyssa Yee was the team leader in stolen bases with 15, while being thrown out just twice. And center fielder Ava Brown, last year’s Big Sky Player of the Year, scored 48 runs tying her with Yee for a team-high.
In the circle, Kasey Aguinaga won 14 games to lead ISU, while Goluskin’s 1.28 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) and 2.39 ERA were the best on the staff. Goluskin also led the team with 77 strikeouts.
The Bengals will need more of that balanced dominance to end the conference tournament championship drought next weeek.
ISU, as the regular-season champs, will not play in the morning slate when the tournament starts on Monday. Instead, they will make their first appearance in the 2 p.m. game, facing the winner of the 9 a.m. game between No. Montana and No. 5 Weber State.
The championship game — or games — are scheduled for Thursday at noon, and 2:30 p.m. if necessary.
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