POCATELLO, Idaho – Idaho State softball (14-4) wrapped up the 2025 Texas A&M Invitational with a split of the final day of play. The Bengals started the day with the first shutout of the year, a 5-0 victory over Texas State. The Bengals then battled for 7 innings with #5 Texas A&M before falling 4-1.
The Bengals finish the tournament 4-1 with wins over winning programs and are now 14-4 on the year.
Head Coach Andrew Rich After the Tournament
"This was a great weekend for our program to show everyone, but most importantly ourselves, where we are at now. We can play with anyone and seeing that is the best thing for us. We were in tight ball games all weekend and had to grind games out and it's great to see us win games that way. Our pitching staff was phenomenal and just so proud of everything they did."
"Things don't get any easier from here. We've got some great opportunities coming up against some great programs and we can't wait to be back home in Pocatello next Saturday."
"Kasey and Lizzy were great today and really all weekend. Lizzy went toe to toe with a couple of the best lineups in the country and showed what she's capable of. I can't wait to see this pitching staff continue to grow and keep getting better and better as we keep building towards Big Sky play."
Game One | Idaho State 5 – Texas State 0
Game one started with back to back innings where neither team was able to get any footing. The Bengals had one hit from Kennedy Dudley and Kasey Aguinaga on the mound for the Bengals gave up just one of her two hits allowed in the game.
The Bengals broke through in the third. Belle Navarrete singled to right, Cameron McDonald then reached on an error and Belle scored putting the Bengals up 1-0. Alyssa Yee next drew a walk, Yee and McDonald attempted a double steal and a throwing error by the Texas State Catcher brought McDonald Home, the Bengals led, 2-0.
Gracie Smith came up to bat and singled with a bunt, moving yee to third, a throwing error then allowed Alysaa to speed home, scoring the third run of the inning.
Aguinaga and the defense quickly put away the next three Bobcat batters, capped with a swinging strikeout.
Kate Hogan got the first hit of the inning for the Bengals in the 4th, a single to right. The errors kept coming for the Bobcats in the fourth, on their 4th error of the game, allowing Hogan to speed around the bases and score the Bengals 4th run of the game.
Again in the bottom of the inning, Texas State went three up three down as the Bengal defense didn't allow any momentum at all to be built.
In the top of the 5th, with one out, Brown smashed her 5th pitch faced over the center field wall for a solo-shot homerun, putting the Bengals up 5-0 over the Bobcats. The Homerun was Browns' 7th of the year, just one shy already of her 2024 season total.
Aguinaga and the defense locked down the final two innings. Aguinaga closed out the game with a swinging strike out, winning the game for the Bengals and moving to 7-1 on the season in the circle.
Game Two | #5 Texas A&M 4 – Idaho State 1
The Bengals went into the final game of the Texas A&M Invitational against the home team, the second top-25 team of the weekend and the first top-10 team faced this season. While eventually falling, the Bengals showed that they could compete toe-to-toe with the top-teams in DI Softball.
Lizzy Tommasini got the start on the mound for the Bengals in the game, making an immediate impact, forcing two groundouts and catching the Aggie batter looking for the final out of the first inning.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Bengal catcher Jenna Kearns showed off her arm, gunning down the Aggie runner attempting to steal second for the final out of the inning. The two teams moved onto the third, still tied 0-0.
The Bengal offense started to find its feet in the top of the third inning. The Bengals loaded the bases off of a Navarrete single, a Brooke Peterson walk and an Alyssa Yee Single.
Ava Brown came up to bat and smashed a ball to deep left field, scoring Navarrete and giving the Bengals a 1-0 lead over the host Aggies.
With momentum, Tommasini and the defense grabed three-straight putouts to move onto the 4th.
The Aggies scored three runs in the bottom of the 4th off of two doubles and ended the inning with a 3-1 lead over ISU.
The Bengals would keep battling despite one more run allowed but the home team prevailed over the Bengals 4-1.
Tournament Wrap-Up
Idaho State finishes out the 2025 Texas A&M Invitational 4-1 with wins over Texas State, George Washington, Princeton and #13 Texas Tech.
The Bengals pitching staff was on absolute fire this weekend, throwing a combined 1.85 ERA while holding opponents to a .198 average. The Bengals only allowed 10 total runs, six coming in the first four games combined.
Kasey Aguinaga went 2-0 on the weekend with a dominant 0.00 ERA over her 9.2 innings pitched. Aguinaga only allowed two hits total for an opponent hitting percentage of 0.067 and struckout four batters enroute to her wins.
Megan Meracle picked up a win with a sub-one ERA at 0.88, The Bengal freshman pitched eight innings and only allowed one run and four hits.
Tommasini finished the weekend, 1-1 with a win over #13 Texas Tech. Tommasini led the team with five strikeouts.
Gracie Smith led the Bengals on the weekend with five hits on 15 at bats with two doubles and a walk-off homerun against #13 Texas Tech University.
The Begals hit three homeruns on the weekend, one from Smith, one from Ava Brown and one from Yee.
Alyssa Yee is now tied for 10th in career triples for the Bengals with 4
On Deck
The Bengals have two games on the road in Boise this week before returning home to host the Black and Orange Classic March 8-11.
