Griz wrap up fall scrimmages

Now they wait.

Four months out from what would be the start of the upcoming spring season, the Montana softball team held its second and final intra-squad scrimmage of the fall on Saturday afternoon at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

What the next four months -- and beyond -- look like remains to be seen. But on this day, the Grizzlies had softball. And each other.

"In life right now, you are in a wait-and-see mode. We just talk about what's sitting in front of us, and right now we know that we get time together on a daily basis, so we celebrate being together," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"We're working toward competing in the spring and anticipate that we'll get that opportunity. I'm pleased and proud of the effort that they give on a daily basis so that we'll be ready when called upon."

The first three innings -- each one broken into thirds -- of the six-inning game were dominated by the team's pitchers.

There were just two hits allowed and one run, freshman Allie Brock's home run off Ashley Ward in the third. The only other hit was Cami Sellers' double to left-center in the second.

Neither Tristin Achenbach nor Brock allowed a hit through three innings.

"The hardest thing of an intra-squad scrimmage is you can be really proud of the defense but maybe the offense isn't doing what they should be doing, but I felt like it was truly softball out here," said Meuchel.

"We had people excel on both sides of the ball. It was fun to watch it played. We had some nice hits, some back-to-back hits that created runs, some big pitches that put innings away. I thought it was very competitive. It was fun to be a part of it."

There was more scoring in the back half of the scrimmage, highlighted by freshman Kelly Sweyer's three-run home run to left-center in the fourth.

Achenbach gave up her first hit of the game in the fourth, a double by Kylie Becker down the left-field line.

Freshman Elise Ontiveros later had an RBI single off Achenbach, but the scoring was kept to a single run when Julie Phelps threw out a runner at the plate from centerfield for the third out.

In the opening third of the sixth, Toon loaded the bases with one out but got out of it with a groundout and line-drive out to short.

In the middle third of the sixth, Achenbach got touched up for four runs, all coming with two outs. Kendall Curtis had a two-run single up the middle with the bases loaded, and freshman Riley Stockton followed with a two-run single to left.

Brock worked a 1-2-3 bottom third of the sixth to end the scrimmage.

It was an impressive day for Brock, who had the home run in the third and allowed just one hit in six innings of work, an infield single by Jaxie Klucewich in the fourth.

"I think she's really catching stride and settling in. She was more like Allie Brock today," said Meuchel. "She really showed who she is on the mound today. She'll continue to really be able to control hitters' at-bats."

And if she can continue to hit with power, all the better.

"That's something she wants to do. I always tell pitchers I will never take the bat out of their hands," said Meuchel. "If they are one of the best hitters on our team, they'll continue to compete at the plate as well."

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Tristin Achenbach

Kylie Becker

Allie Brock

Kendall Curtis

Jaxie Klucewich

Elise Ontiveros

Julie Phelps

Cami Sellers

Riley Stockton

Kelly Sweyer

Ashley Ward

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