Bengals clean house with 11 All-Conference awards, honors

POCATELLO — Numerous Idaho State Bengals were unsurprisingly named with the announcement of this season’s Big Sky All-Conference softball honors.

Conference officials released their list of individual honorees and All-Conference performers Thursday, as voted on by the conference’s head coaches — who were not allowed to vote for their own players.

ISU head coach Andrew Rich was named a Co-Coach of the Year, joining the University of Montana’s Stef Ewing. And Junior Marley Goluskin, the hero of last Saturday’s conference championship-winning doubleheader sweep at Montana, was named the Big Sky Pitcher of the Year.

Goluskin finished the regular season with a 2.39 ERA, good enough for second-best in the conference. Her 11 wins and 77 strikeouts were both third-highest in the Big Sky.

Joining Goluskin as All-Conference performers were eight fellow Bengals, including unanimous First-Team selections Jenna Kearns and Alyssa Yee.

Yee’s 48 runs scored tied her with teammate Ava Brown for most in the conference, while her .380 average and .440 on-base percentage were both among the top seven outputs in the conference. Kearns was also among the leaders in runs scored (36) while posting a .340 average and .418 on-base percentage.

Here is the complete list of Big Sky All-Conference awards- and honors-winners:

Player of the Year: Lafulafu Malepeai, Sacramento State
Pitcher of the Year: Marley Goluskin, Idaho State
Freshman of the Year: Kailee Mejia, Montana
Co-Top Newcomer of the Year: Carah Sweet, Montana/Madi Mendoza, Sacramento State
Co-Coach of the Year: Andrew Rich, Idaho State/Stef Ewing, Montana

First-Team All-Big Sky
Catcher: Jenna Kearns, Idaho State*
First Base: Sydney Groves, Idaho State
Second Base: Katie Walling, Northern Colorado
Shortstop: Anna Cockhill, Montana
Third Base: Madison Evers-Lyles, Sacramento State
Outfield: Lafulafu Malepeai, Sacramento State*
Outfield: Alyssa Yee, Idaho State*
Outfield: Ava Brown, Idaho State
Pitcher: Marley Goluskin, Idaho State
Pitcher: Kasey Aguinaga, Idaho State
Pitcher/UTL: Sherreigh Nakoa-Chung, Portland State
Non-Pitcher/UTL: Ella Gonzales, Northern Colorado

* denotes a unanimous selection

Second-Team All-Big Sky
Catcher: Shannon Garcia, Sacramento State
First Base: Amailee Morales, Northern Colorado
Second Base: Grace Lopez, Montana
Shortstop: Camryn McDonald, Idaho State
Third Base: Breanna Lutz, Portland State
Outfield: Jordan McMahon, Weber State
Outfield: KK Christie, Northern Colorado
Outfield: Saskia Raab, Sacramento State
Pitcher: Alexa Ortiz, Sacramento State
Pitcher: Kennedie Bacon, Sacramento State
Pitcher: Carah Sweet, Montana
Non-Pitcher/UTL: Jojo Christiaens, Montana

All-Big Sky Honorable Mention
Catcher: Jordan Hart, Weber State
First Base: Kailee Mejia, Montana
First Base: Apple Maldonado, Weber State
Second Base: Sadie Kirk, Weber State
Shortstop: Madi Mendoza, Sacramento State
Shortstop: Krista Francia, Northern Colorado
Third Base: Hayden Nelson, Northern Colorado
Outfield: Jaden Moore, Idaho State
Outfield: Mackenzie Bekofsky, Montana
Non-Pitcher/UTL: Kira Day, Idaho State
Non-Pitcher/UTL: Abigail Carsley, Portland State