Griz drop home openers

Thursday, March 18

Missoula, Mont.

2 PM

Montana

Seattle

3/18/2021 9:07:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

Maybe playing at home for the first time in nearly two years was too much of a good thing for the Montana softball team on Thursday afternoon.

"It was exciting to be back out on the field. Everyone felt that excitement of being here. We just tried to press a little too much at times," said coach Melanie Meuchel, whose team lost 3-2 and 5-2 to Seattle at Grizzly Softball Field, where her team had won its previous 11 games.

But those wins all came in 2019, a lifetime ago. Thus, the nerves, wound tight by pent-up excitement and the want to perform for the 254 who came out on a late-winter day that felt more like spring.

"We need to not press so hard so we can continue to compete as the team and athletes we are," Meuchel said. "I love this group. I feel like we're just a small step away from having a breakout."

In two games between evenly matched teams, both were decided by a single decisive swing.

In the opener, with the score tied 1-1 in the top of the fifth, with Tristin Achenbach up 0-2 in the count and with two outs, Seattle's Bailey Thompson got the better of a rise ball that Achenbach didn't place where she wanted.

Thompson's double to the gap in left-center scored two and proved to be the winning hit.

The second game was tied 1-1 in the top of the fourth when starter Allie Brock gave up a three-run home run to Cherise Silvan that put the Redhawks up 4-1.

Achenbach and Brock both threw complete games, allowing seven earned runs between them over 14 innings. Despite the two losses, Montana's ERA dropped from 7.78 to 7.32.

"I like the presence they gave us. I like the chances they gave us today," said Meuchel. "We'll continue to compete on the mound, compete as a defense and compete as an offense."

It was at the plate where Montana wasn't quite the Montana people have come to expect when the Grizzlies are frenzy hitting all over their home field. Blame the nerves.

Montana batted .241 in the two games with just a single extra-base hit, Julie Phelps' double in the bottom of the third in Game 2.

The Grizzlies went up 1-0 in the opener in the first inning when Kylie Becker singled to center and later scored on a throwing error.

Montana would collect hits in six of seven innings in Game 1 but wouldn't score again until the bottom of the seventh, after Seattle had gone up 3-1.

Jaxie Klucewich led off the inning reaching second base on an infield error. With two outs, Klucewich advanced to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a pinch-hit infield single by Anna Toon.

With two on and two outs and trailing 3-2, the game ended on a fielder's choice.

McKenna Tjaden went 2 for 3 to lead Montana in the opener. Achenbach took the loss despite striking out 10 and allowing just six hits. It was her third time this season with 10 or more strikeouts.

Seattle starter Carley Nance, aided by a run in the top of the first in Game 2, set Montana down in order in the first two innings, getting five of the first six outs by strikeout.

The Grizzlies finally got to Nance in the bottom of the third when Phelps had a one-out double. She later scored from third on an RBI single to right by Cami Sellers.

Seattle broke the tie in the top of the fourth on Silvan's three-run home run and held the lead the rest of the way. The Redhawks went up 5-1 in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly.

Five runners reached base for Montana in the bottom of the seventh, two coming on hit-by-pitch, but Seattle got lead runners out and only allowed one run. The tying run never came to the plate.

The Grizzlies managed just four hits off Nance, three singles and Phelps' double, and didn't draw a walk.

Brock allowed 10 hits, walked just one, to take the loss in what was her second consecutive quality outing. Over her last two starts, she has taken more than four runs off her ERA.

Seattle had 16 hits in the two games. It maybe only felt like a dozen of them came on bunt singles that had Montana's infield defense under constant pressure.

"They have a ton of team speed, and they utilize it," said Meuchel. "They put a lot of pressure on you.

"They executed on some things they needed to execute on back-to-back, and that gave them an opportunity to put up a couple of crooked numbers."

Two in particular, one in each game, and that was the difference.

"We'll turn around tomorrow and be ready," said Meuchel, whose team will face Seattle in the final game of the series on Friday at 1 p.m.