Montana ends Vegas trip with a win

Saturday, February 15

Las Vegas, Nev.

11 AM (MT)

Montana

4-5

Utah Valley

6-1

Utah Valley

Montana

2/15/2020 6:26:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team dropped its first four games of the Marucci Desert Classic in Las Vegas but ended the tournament with a win on Saturday afternoon over Big Sky Conference rival Weber State.

The Grizzlies (5-5) opened the day with a 4-2 loss to Utah Valley, falling behind 3-0 after two innings and never recovering.

After a short break, Montana played its fourth extra-inning game in 10 outings this season and rallied for a 4-3, eight-inning victory over the Wildcats, who were picked to win the Big Sky.

The Grizzlies trailed 2-0 early, built a 3-2 lead after five, allowed the Wildcats to tie it in the sixth, then won it in the eighth.

After holding Weber State off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth, Montana snapped its five-game losing streak with a walk-off run in the bottom half.

With pinch runner Lexi Knauss starting the inning on second base, Julie Phelps moved her to third with a sacrifice. Anne Mari Petrino followed with a grounder to third that scored Knauss.

It was only the Grizzlies' second win over the Wildcats in the teams' last eight meetings.

In Montana's opener on Saturday, the Wolverines scored once in the first and twice in the second off of Michaela Hood and a Griz defense that had three errors, or as many as it had through the season's first eight games.

Montana pulled within 3-1 in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Brooklyn Weisgram and 3-2 in the fifth on an infield single by Kendall Curtis that plated Phelps.

Utah Valley answered right back with an insurance run in the top of the sixth to give the Wolverines a 4-2 lead, and Montana would go down in order in the sixth and seventh.

Utah Valley starter Brooke Carter limited Montana to just three hits.

Montana found itself in an early hole against Weber State as well, falling behind 2-0 in the top of the second when Faith Hoe homered to left-center off Griz starter Tristin Achenbach.

Achenbach wouldn't allow a hit in the third, fourth or fifth innings, which gave her teammates a chance to fight back.

The Grizzlies got on the board in the bottom of the second when Phelps doubled to left-center to drive in Weisgram on what would be Montana's only extra-base hit in five games in Las Vegas.

Montana took the lead in a messy fifth that saw the Grizzlies score twice on one hit and two Weber State errors.

Cami Sellers drove in the first run on an infield single. Curtis scored the second run when Ashley Ward reached on an error by the second baseman.

Weber State tied it in the sixth on an infield single with the bases loaded. With the bases still full and two outs in a 3-3 game, Achenbach forced a fly out to left.

With Weber State starting the eighth with a runner on second, Achenbach didn't allow the Wildcats anything, striking out two and forcing an infield pop-up.

That set the stage for Montana's first walk-off win since Cami Sellers had a game-ending home run against Northern Colorado last April.

Montana started all four of its true freshmen against the Wildcats, with Jaxie Klucewich leading off and playing shortstop, Curtis batting second and playing second and Ward serving as the designated player and batting cleanup.

Phelps batted eighth and made her 10th straight start in right.

Klucewich and Curtis both had a hit and scored a run, with Phelps going 1 for 3 with an RBI. Sellers went 2 for 2 to up her season average to .370.

Achenbach got the win to improve to 4-2.

Montana will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., next week for the Razorback Invitational. The Grizzlies will play five games against South Dakota State, Boston University, Arkansas and Marist.