Griz drop two as series opens in Greeley

Friday, April 9

Greeley, Colo.

1 PM

Montana

9-22, 3-4

Northern Colorado

7-19, 3-4

Montana

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Derek Johnson

4/10/2021 12:25:00 AM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team dropped a pair of games on Friday afternoon as the Grizzlies' three-game series at Northern Colorado opened in Greeley. The Bears won 9-1 and 7-4.

Montana (9-23, 3-5 BSC) batted .292 in the doubleheader but left 14 runners on base over the two games.

Northern Colorado (8-19, 4-4 BSC) hit .396 and took advantage of seven walks given up by three Montana pitchers.

In the opener, the Grizzlies had a hit in every inning but didn't get a runner across home plate until the top of the fifth when Kendall Curtis and Maygen McGrath had back-to-back one-out singles.

Curtis scored when McGrath was thrown out on an attempted steal of second base.

That made it 5-1. The Bears finished off the five-inning run-rule victory with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, including a two-run, walk-off triple.

UNC scored seven runs off Montana starter Tristin Achenbach, two off Ashley Ward.

Curtis and McGrath both had two hits.

In Game 2, Northern Colorado scored three in the second, two more in the third to grab a 5-0 lead off starter Allie Brock.

Montana pulled within 5-2 in the top of the fourth on Cami Sellers' fourth home run of the season and a bases-loaded walk by Kylie Becker, but the Grizzlies also left the bases loaded.

The Bears answered right back, scoring twice in the bottom of the fourth to up their lead back to five, 7-2.

Montana concluded the game's scoring in the top of the sixth when a two-out fly ball to center by Curtis was misplayed for an error, allowing two runners to score.

Curtis had two hits in the 7-4 loss, a team-high four for the day. McKenna Tjaden had a pinch-hit double in Game 2 to up her hitting streak to nine games.

The teams will conclude the series at noon on Saturday.