Bats come alive, Griz win 7-3

Thursday, March 15

Missoula, Mont.

4PM

Montana

10-17

Utah Valley

7-13

Utah Valley

Montana

3/15/2018 8:13:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

Former Montana softball coach Jamie Pinkerton liked to call it frenzy hitting, those sequences when his batters got on a roll and put up crooked numbers -- also a favorite descriptor -- on the scoreboard.

His replacement, first-year coach Melanie Meuchel, is fine with sticking with that term, as long as it continues, like it did on Thursday afternoon when the Grizzlies used a five-run third and back-to-back home runs in the fourth to power their way to a 7-3 victory over Utah Valley at Grizzly Softball Field.

"Sure, I'll call it frenzy hitting," said Meuchel, whose team has opened its home schedule this week with three straight wins while outscoring its opponents 18-4.

"It just relaxes them when they see someone have a great at-bat in front of them. It's contagious. They want to match it. We've had a few of those innings, and they are starting to happen with more frequency. It's giving us a lot of confidence."

Trailing 2-0 going into the bottom of the third, Montana scored five runs on five hits, all five hits coming in order, followed by a pair of walks, which signaled the end for Utah Valley starter Lauren Frailey.

Delene Colburn singled in the team's first run, and Ashlyn Lyons followed with a two-run double to right-center. Jessica McAlister added a run-scoring single up the middle, Lexi Knauss an RBI on a bases-loaded walk.

It continued one inning later, when Colburn ripped a solo home run to left, her second in as many games, the 42nd of her career and her 16th at Grizzly Softball Field.

In three home games this week, Colburn is 7 for 10, with six driven in and five runs scored. And the schedule continues on Friday and Saturday with two more home games against the Wolverines.

"I get more hyped when we play at home because of all the people in the stands and all the love and support we feel around us," said Colburn, whose team drew 234 fans for a chilly Thursday afternoon game.

"It makes me want to hit the long ball and always have good at-bats. They get me amped up."

While Colburn's power numbers are no surprise, they have been for Lyons, who followed Colburn's home run in the fourth with one of her own, four pitches later, a no-doubt-about-it drive to nearly straightaway center.

Of Lyons' four career home runs, three have come in the last 13 days.

"I've always been a real consistent hitter, but it was kind of a trap. I'm going to meet the ball, I'm going to put the ball in play. That was kind of my game," said Lyons, who finished the day 3 for 4, with three runs batted in and two runs scored.

"This year I wanted to have more fun with it, so I'm taking big swings at the plate and looking to drive the ball. I've hit a few balls well, so I've really taken on that role."

That would be all Montana would need in support of Colleen Driscoll, who threw her second complete game of the season on 102 pitches.

If all this reads like it was a one-sided game, it wasn't, unless you were there for the opening inning, when it looked like Utah Valley was going to run away with it.

Skylar Cook had a bunt single on the game's second pitch and didn't waste any time stealing second. Karly Bunderson followed with an infield single, advancing Cook to third.

The Grizzlies cut Cook down at the plate on a double steal attempt, but Brianna Moeller singled sharply into left. The ball was misplayed, allowing Bunderson to score and Moeller to advance to third.

She scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly, and Montana trailed 2-0.

"It was probably batter four when we started to settle in, and it felt like it was too late. They were the aggressor. That's something we need to be better at, coming out pitch one and being ready," said Meuchel.

It took Driscoll 22 pitches to work her way out of the first, but from there she was her usual efficient self. The Wolverines only had one more inning with more than one hit, the sixth when a single and triple to the right-field corner made it 7-3.

She struck out three and walked one, allowing her teammates behind her to collect the putouts on balls put in play.

"I just focused more on hitting my spots and getting the ball to where they can hit it to my defense and not leaving it up in the zone or a little fat," said Driscoll.

"I wasn't as sharp as I wanted to be at the start, and they got the momentum right away. It kind of caught us all off guard."

But it was only temporary, no match, at least on this day, for a team getting used to frenzy hitting and going yard.

Montana has won six of its last nine games, six of its last seven when teams ranked in the top five in the nation are excluded.

The Grizzlies will try to extend that run when they face the Wolverines at 4 p.m. on Friday and at noon on Saturday.