ISU’s Meracle finishes Bengal season in perfect fashion

POCATELLO — The Idaho State Bengals finished their most successful regular season in program history in style, Saturday.

After dropping one of two at Portland State, Friday — just their second loss in conference play this season — the Bengals bounced back with a mercy-rule 11-0 victory in five innings over the Vikings.

Despite all the offense, which included an Alyssa Yee grand slam, though, it was pitcher Megan Meracle who stole the show.

The freshman Borah High School grad struck out six Viking hitters while never allowing one to reach base. She finished the first perfect game in ISU history with a swinging strikeout of Portland State shortstop Alapese Matautia.

After the game, Mercale and ISU head coach Andrew Rich spoke in a Facebook live video.

The right-hander described the “incredible” feeling coming off the mound before admitting that she was unaware of the historic feat she faced entering the final inning — something more common than most fans may realize.

“I was just playing the game. I just want to win, that’s all,” she said.

“It’s been coming,” Rich added. “She’s been figuring some things out … it all culminated today.”

Just a freshman, Meracle finished the regular season with a 3.35 ERA — third-lowest on the team and sixth in the Big Sky Conference — to go with a 6-1 record. Her batting average against (.213) was best in the Big Sky, more than 50 points better than any other conference hurler.

“She’s got a huge career ahead of her,” Rich said.

The Bengals will enter next week’s Big Sky Conference tournament one win shy of matching the program single-season record (35), in search of the program’s first-ever tournament title.

Meracle spoke about how Saturday’s season-finale victory sets her team up for what it hopes will be a Big Sky title and deep NCAA run.

“It just proves to us that we can do it. We can win everything. We’ve got this,” she said.

Things to watching going forward

With two wins, the Bengals would set a new team record for victories in a season. … Ava Brown hit three homeruns during Friday’s doubleheader and now leads the entire NCAA with 24 longballs on the season — records for both ISU and the Big Sky Conference. … As the one-seed, Idaho State will open their Big Sky Softball Championship Tournament run Tuesday at 4 p.m. They will face the winner of the 4-5 matchup of Portland State and host, reigning champion Northern Colorado. … The tournament champion, which will be crowned Friday, May 9, will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA tourney.

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