Montana uses long ball to win 8-6

Sunday, February 12

Cedar Falls, Iowa

7:00 AM (MT)

Montana

2-3

Toledo

0-4

Montana

Toledo

2/12/2017 11:01:00 AM | Softball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Bethany Olea and MaKenna McGill both had three hits and Montana had a season-high three home runs as the Grizzlies wrapped up their five-game tournament schedule at the Ramada UNI-Dome Classic at Cedar Falls, Iowa, with an 8-6 win over Toledo on Sunday morning.

Delene Colburn and Olea hit back-to-back home runs in the top of the first, and Ashlyn Lyons had her first career home run in the top of the fourth as Montana (2-3) pounded out a season-high 13 hits against the Rockets (0-4).

Colleen Driscoll pitched three effective innings of relief to pick up her first win of the season, and Michaela Hood struck out the two runners she faced in the bottom of the seventh, both the potential tying runs, to pick up her second save of the weekend.

Montana went 2-3 at the tournament but had three-run leads in two of the games it lost. In the third loss, the Grizzlies fell despite giving up just a pair of earned runs.

"It helps with our confidence, knowing we played some good competition this weekend and knowing we just as easily could have been 4-1 as 2-3," said coach Jamie Pinkerton.

"We were in every ball game, and we were competitive. We just let a couple of them get away. We'll learn from these experiences and move on."

Four times in five games this weekend McGill led off the game with a hit. On Sunday she opened with a triple to center field in the top of the first. One batter later, Sydney Stites drove McGill in with a sacrifice fly, and the Grizzlies were off and running.

Colburn followed with a home run, her second of the road trip, then it was Olea's turn. Her fourth career home run made it 3-0.

Montana scored first in four of its five games at the tournament.

"We got off to a fast start again. That's becoming a trademark early in the season, and I'm happy with that," said Pinkerton. "For the first weekend out, we're further ahead offensively than I thought we'd be."

Toledo tied it in the bottom of the second with a three-run home run off starter Sara Stephenson, but Montana answered right back, going up 4-3 in the top of the third when Olea doubled home McGill.

The Grizzlies went up 6-3 in the fourth on Lyons' solo home run to lead off the inning and later when Anna Mari Petrino stole home.

Driscoll relieved Stephenson in the fourth, as Toledo scored a pair of runs to make it 6-5. She allowed just a single hit in the fifth and sixth innings as Montana clung to a one-run advantage.

"I thought we pitched better today," said Pinkerton. "We had a little more command. I thought Sara started off strong early on, and Colleen pitched three great innings to get us to the last inning."

Montana scored twice in the top of the seventh, going up 7-5 when Olea doubled to bring home Colburn and 8-5 when Madison Saacke singled in Olea.

Driscoll, the starter in Saturday afternoon's loss to Northern Iowa, gave up a pair of doubles in the bottom of the seventh. With Toledo within 8-6, a runner on second and one out, Pinkerton brought in the hard-throwing Hood.

She finished off the Rockets with a pair of strikeouts, her 11th and 12th of the weekend.

"Michaela came in and once again had electric stuff. She got us out of a jam," said Pinkerton. "We still made a tight game out of one we could have put away early, but we learned how to win that game today, and that's going to help us down the road.

"I think it built some confidence for the kids. When the comeback was mounted, they were able to face the adversity and fight through it and get the win."

Olea and McGill both went 10 for 16 at the tournament, combining for 20 of the team's 41 hits. McGill scored a team-high six runs, Olea drove in a team-high five.

"As a senior, Beth was the calm player through the storms this weekend," said Pinkerton. "She never got rattled and came through in big situations. She drove in the big run today in the seventh inning."

Olea and McGill both hit safely in all five games, with seven multi-hit games between them.

"MaKenna is really maturing as a player. She has a plan when she goes up there, and she executed it. She was the catalyst for everything that happened this weekend," said Pinkerton.

Montana will play five games next weekend at the Bronco Classic in Santa Clara, Calif., all against Seattle and Santa Clara.