Another split for Montana softball team

Sunday, February 19

Santa Clara, Calif.

10:00 AM (MT)

Montana

4-4

Santa Clara

1-4

Montana

Santa Clara

2/19/2017 4:34:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

For anyone still questioning the importance of starting pitching in college softball, another example for the argument that good pitching beats good hitting.

One game after Montana opened its Sunday schedule at the Bronco Classic with a 7-2 victory over host Santa Clara, Seattle's Andie Larkins pitched a one-hit shutout as the Redhawks blanked the Grizzlies 2-0, Montana's first time being shut out in 45 games.

It was the fewest hits Montana has had in a seven-inning game in its short program history.

"She had really good stuff," said UM coach Jamie Pinkerton. "She kept the ball down, and when you keep the ball down and hit spots, two things that are difficult to do, you can have a lot of success."

Larkins, who held No. 9 Oregon in check last weekend, allowing only three earned runs and six hits to the Ducks in six innings of work in a 4-2 loss, wasn't overpowering. She had just three strikeouts. The other 18 outs for Montana all came by groundout.

The Grizzlies' lone hit, Ashlyn Lyons' leadoff single in the fifth that went off the first baseman's glove, was the only ball that made it out of the infield.

"We're usually a good low-ball-hitting team, but she had good stuff. We only had three strikeouts, so we were putting the ball in play, but we didn't sting anything," said Pinkerton. "She was on today."

The split on Sunday gave Montana a 2-2 record at the rain-shortened tournament and leaves the Grizzlies with a 4-5 mark through its first two weeks of the season.

In four games at Santa Clara against the Broncos and Redhawks, Montana's pitchers had an ERA of 2.59, which will normally result in a 4-0 record, but the Grizzlies hit just .252. In what might be a first for the program, its hitting is lagging behind the pitching.

"We're still a little out of sync," said Pinkerton, "and I think a lot of that has to do with being a team from a northern climate.

"We haven't really hit on all cylinders yet. When we get outside and work on some things as the weather warms up, we'll be fine."

One good sign for Montana's offense was a return of the bat of Sydney Stites in the opener against Santa Clara. Stites, who batted .383 last season, had just five hits through the season's first seven games.

In game No. 8, she drove in Montana's first six runs as the Grizzlies raced out to a 7-0 lead through four innings.

With two outs and runners on second and third in the top of the second, Stites singled to right to drive in two. One inning later she came up with two outs and the bases loaded. Home run, 6-0.

"I still don't think Sydney had what she would consider a great weekend, but she was very efficient with the hits that she had," said Pinkerton.

"It's her second year, and people have scouting reports now. She's been pressing and trying to do more than she's capable of doing, but toward the end of the tournament she started to relax and find herself. That will be a good sign for our offense if that's the case."

Tori Lettus made it 7-0 in the top of the fourth when she drove in Bethany Olea with a sacrifice fly, and that was more than enough for starter Haley Young (1-0), who kept the Broncos off the board through five innings to pick up her first win of the season.

After giving up three hits in the top of the sixth, Young was relieved by Colleen Driscoll. It was the only inning Santa Clara would score and two of just three runs the Broncos scored in two games at the tournament against the Grizzlies.

In game two against Seattle, which defeated Montana 6-3 on Saturday, starter Sara Stephenson allowed the first three batters to reach in the top of the first -- single, walk, walk.

She gave up a sacrifice fly to the next batter and would later issue another walk, but she got out of the bases-loaded jam with her team trailing only 1-0.

"Sara was around the zone, but she wasn't sharp," said Pinkerton. "She was able to pitch her way out of it and ended up giving us five pretty good innings.

"I commended her when I took her out. I told her, 'Hey, you didn't have your best stuff today, but you kept us in the ball game.' She pitched today, she didn't throw, and there's a big difference. She gave us a chance to win."

Except Larkins was just too good. She allowed only a walk through four, then gave up Lyons' single to right leading off the fifth. That base runner was erased with a groundout double play by the next batter.

Montana's best chance to break through came in the bottom of the sixth. Gabby Martinez led off with a walk, which brought up the top of the order. But MaKenna McGill, Stites and Delene Colburn all put the ball on the ground to end the threat.

"We hit a lot of ground balls today, more than normal. We're a fly-ball team. We like to get the ball elevated, and she kept us on the ground," said Pinkerton, whose team had scored four or more runs in six of eight games prior to facing Larkins.

"You're not going to score five, six or seven runs every game. We had the pitching and defense to win today, but we couldn't string any hits together."

Stephenson (1-2) gave up a solo home run in the top of the fourth and took the hard-luck loss. She was relieved by Maddy Stensby after giving up two runs and six hits in five innings. Stensby pitched two innings of no-hit relief.

Montana will travel to Hawaii on Thursday for the Bank of Hawaii Invitational. The Grizzlies will play Oregon on Friday, Oregon and UNLV on Saturday, and UNLV and Hawaii on Sunday.