The goal of the Idaho State softball team is to learn and grow through the regular season, so that the Bengals are ready to compete for a Big Sky championship when conference play and the post-season tournament come around.

So two losses to a good UNLV team over the weekend is not catastrophic. Rather, Bengal head coach Andrew Rich hopes they are learning experiences.

“We did a lot of things well this past weekend,” said Rich, after ISU went 3-2 in the tournament in Las Vegas, with three wins over winless Monmouth, and two close losses to the host Rebels. “I thought we pitched really well as a whole staff, especially in the two UNLV games. We had chances on Friday against them to add on to our lead that would have given us more cushion in the seventh inning and then on Saturday had even more opportunities to score and just couldn’t cash in. That’s a good learning lesson for us moving forward and something that we will work to improve.”

Idaho State started off the tournament with a 10-1 five-inning victory over Monmouth. Outfielders Gracie Smith and Ava Brown homered as ISU put up seven runs in the second inning on the way to a comfortable win. Freshman Megan Meracle pitched all five innings for the Bengals to get the win, giving up just one run and one hit and striking out six.

Then the Bengals jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the host Rebels in Friday’s night cap, powered by a three-run homer by first baseman Kennedy Dudley. UNLV scored two in the fourth inning, and ISU clung to a one-run lead heading into the seventh and final inning. But Bengal closer Lizzy Tommasini, who finished all three Idaho State wins last weekend, couldn’t close the door on the Rebels this time.

UNLV scored two runs on first baseman Ariana Martinez’s single with two on in the seventh inning to escape with the win.

The Bengals put together another route against Monmouth on Saturday, 16-4, behind shortstop Camryn McDonald’s four hits, including a home run, and six runs batted in by left fielder Alyssa Yee, including a home run. ISU’s Riley Wickum got the win out of the bullpen with three and two-thirds innings of one-run, one-hit pitching.

UNLV, who ended the tournament with a 7-2 mark, got out to a quick start in their second matchup with Idaho State, scoring two runs in the first and third innings. Idaho State responded with single runs in the second and fourth innings, but couldn’t turn 10 hits and four walks into more run production.

Meracle came out of the bullpen to throw two and two-thirds innings of scoreless ball for ISU. Third baseman Brooke Peterson had three hits and scored a run and McDonald had ISU’s only RBI in the game.

“Playing a tough team like that in a true road game is a great experience for us in the long run,” Rich said of ISU’s two losses to UNLV. “We have to learn what it takes to put those kinds of teams away and I think our group learned a lot from those two games against UNLV that we will be able to take with us for the entire season.”

The Bengals wrapped up the tournament with an 8-1 win over Monmouth on Sunday. Yee hit another homer, had four hits, drove in three runs and scored three to lead the ISU offense. Wickum pitched scoreless ball for three innings to get her second win of the weekend and Kaliann Scoresby finished the contest, giving up one run over four innings of work.

Yee was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for her efforts in Las Vegas. She hit .563, going nine for 16 at the plate with six runs scored, three doubles, two homers and 11 RBIs. She finished the weekend with 11 total bases and a 1.125 slugging percentage. She also stole two bases.

Wickum, meanwhile, was named Big Sky Pitcher of the Week with her two wins. In eight and two thirds innings pitched, she had an 0.81 earned run average, held opponents to an .080 batting average, gave up two hits and no extra base hits. She struck out eight and walked four.

The Bengals, now 6-3, will continue play Saturday in a tournament in St. George, Utah, hosted by Utah Tech. Idaho State will play San Diego at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, followed by a contest with Utah Tech at 2:30 p.m. On Sunday, ISU faces UC San Diego at 9:30 a.m. and Utah State at noon.