Grizzlies drop both in doubleheader

Saturday, March 20

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

6-16

Utah Valley

9-11

Utah Valley

Montana

3/20/2021 7:30:00 PM | Softball

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By: Montana Sports Information

Utah Valley on Saturday accomplished what few visiting teams have done in the seven-year history of the Montana softball team's home facility. The Wolverines made Grizzly Softball Field their own.

Over four hours of competition, Utah Valley outscored Montana 20-3, sweeping a doubleheader by scores of 12-0 and 8-3.

"We didn't come out ready and prepared to play. I'll take the blame for that," said coach Melanie Meuchel, whose teams built a 66-25 home record through their facility's first six years.

What was so surprising was that it came so shortly after Montana's thrilling 7-6 victory over Seattle on Friday afternoon.

One day later, none of the momentum generated in that walk-off victory seemed to carry over.

"That's happened multiple times on the year, when we have a decent outing and then we come back with not a decent outing," said Meuchel.

"We need to have more consistency. That's our challenge moving forward."

Montana faced Brooke Carter in the opener and had just one hit in the five-inning run-rule loss, a single by Maygen McGrath through the left side in the bottom of the fourth.

The Grizzlies, who faced Carter earlier in the year, in Utah Valley's 4-3 comeback win in St. George, Utah, didn't advance a runner to second until the bottom of the fifth, when it was already 12-0.

"We saw her earlier in the year. We were undisciplined with her then and we were undisciplined today," said Meuchel.

"We knew what she was going to bring, and we allowed her to settle in and expand the zone much bigger than hitters can hit."

Utah Valley scored just five runs in two games against Weber State in a Wednesday doubleheader and entered Saturday averaging fewer than five runs per game on the season, but the Wolverines got it going early against the Grizzlies and never let up.

They had three extra-base hits in the top of the second in the opener to go up 4-0, added a solo home run in the third, then exploded for seven runs in the top of the fifth.

Utah Valley wasted little time getting its bats going again in Game 2, going up 3-0 in the top of the first on a two-out, three-run home run.

This time Montana had an answer. The Grizzlies scored one in the first on an RBI single by McKenna Tjaden, two in the second.

Brooklyn Weisgram, the hero of Friday's victory, scored on a throwing error, Jaxie Klucewich made it 3-3 when she ran home on an RBI double by Cami Sellers.

Montana would have just two hits over the final five innings, and Utah Valley was not going to be held down.

The Wolverines scored three in the third to retake the lead, then added solo home runs in the fourth and seventh.

Utah Valley out-hit Montana 20-8 on the day, nine of those going for extra bases, including five home runs. The Wolverines batted .370, the Grizzlies .190.

The great thing about sports? They frequently allow for acts of redemption after a brief stopover in purgatory. Montana and Utah Valley will close their three-game series at noon on Sunday.

"We will show up tomorrow and we will have a mission on how we're going to attack the day, the Griz way," said Meuchel.

"When we're in the box, we own the box. When we're on the mound, we own the plate. We need to pitch, defend and hit like we are in control of what we're doing."