Griz win thriller, earn road sweep

Sunday, March 28

Hillsboro, Ore.

Noon (MT)

Montana

9-18, 3-0

Portland State

3-17, 0-3

Montana

Portland State

3/28/2021 6:33:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team outscored Portland State 9-8 on Sunday to complete a road sweep of the Vikings as the teams opened Big Sky Conference play at the Gordon Faber Complex in Hillsboro, Ore.

The Grizzlies (9-18, 3-0 BSC), now on their first three-game winning streak of the season, won 2-1 and 10-1 on Saturday.

Montana built a 4-1 lead in the top of the second and would never trail over the final six innings, but it required some clutch hitting and strong pitching to secure the victory.

After the Vikings (3-17, 0-3 BSC) tied it at 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth, Cami Sellers answered with a three-run home run to right-center in the top of the sixth for the game-winning runs.

Freshman Allie Brock, who relieved starter Tristin Achenbach in the bottom of the fifth, allowed two runs in the bottom of the sixth, but she shut the door on Portland State in the bottom of the seventh.

That gave Brock her second win of the weekend and her third win in her last five decisions.

Montana joined Weber State and Sacramento State, the top three teams in the preseason poll, in opening league 3-0.

Portland State opened the scoring off Achenbach in the first on an RBI single but left the bases loaded, the first three of what would be 12 left on for the game.

The Vikings left at least one runner on base all seven innings.

Montana answered with four runs in the top of the second. With two on and two outs, Julie Phelps and Jaxie Klucewich had back-to-back doubles, followed by a single by Kylie Becker.

Becker, who drove in a team-high six runs for the series on .500 hitting, made it 6-2 in the top of the fourth on a two-run single to right that scored Phelps and Klucewich.

Phelps and Klucewich, in the No. 8 and 9 positions in the order, combined to go 5 for 6 with five runs scored on Sunday.

The Vikings scored three runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth off Achenbach and tied it with a run off Brock in the fifth.

That set the stage for Sellers, who is no stranger to coming through with big hits in big moments in Big Sky games.

Klucewich singled to right with one out, followed by Becker getting hit by a pitch. Sellers homered on a 1-1 pitch to make it 9-6, her third home run of the season, the 16th of her career.

Brock allowed two runs in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-8, but she also got an inning-ending ground out with runners on second and third.

With the potential winning run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh, she ended the game with a strikeout to improve to 3-4 on the season.

Montana will play its first Big Sky home series next weekend when it hosts Sacramento State (9-15, 3-0 BSC) at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Hornets opened league with 7-2, 5-4 and 3-2 home wins over Northern Colorado.