Montana storms back, takes finale

Sunday, April 18

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

12-26, 4-8

Southern Utah

15-21, 7-2

Southern Utah

Montana

4/18/2021 5:40:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Southern Utah won the series but the Montana softball team may have gained something even more valuable in Sunday's 6-5 comeback victory over the Thunderbirds at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

Stuck in a weeks-long funk that saw them drop eight straight Big Sky Conference games, the Grizzlies got back to playing good old Montana softball again.

There was a big-time pitching performance right when it was needed. There was clutch, late-game hitting. The home fans were into it. And there was a vibe, an energy and enthusiasm, emanating from a team that had been decidedly lacking that certain mojo.

Never was that so apparent as Saturday afternoon, when Southern Utah opened the series with 9-1 and 10-3 victories.

"We had a lot of deep talk, hard talk, direction talk. We knew what we wanted to be today, and from the time our players stepped foot on the field, they brought exactly what we talked about," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"That's why it was different. The approach and the team drive we had today, I'm darn proud of our team. It was fun to watch them celebrate like that."

The postgame festivities were well-earned. Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Maygen McGrath tied it with a no-doubt, three-run home run that crossed three different fences to land in the soccer stadium.

After Tristin Achenbach got a big two-out strikeout in the top of the seventh with the potential go-ahead run in scoring position, the Grizzlies came through with the bats once again.

With Anna Toon on second base and one out, Lexi Knauss walked it off with a single to right-center.

And the Grizzlies celebrated, not just a single win but maybe something more, like they'd rediscovered something that had gone missing. And now that they've found it, who knows what's possible.

"This pushes us forward in a lot of different areas," said Meuchel. "A win in the column, an approach that we had, a sense of confidence we feel."

Early on it felt like it might be a repeat of Saturday, when the Thunderbirds not only put runners on with regularity but drove them in nearly as often.

Southern Utah loaded the bases in both the first and second innings and only came through with one run to show for it, coming on an infield RBI single.

Achenbach got the third out in both innings with a strikeout in pressure-filled moments.

"Tristin was really good today," said Meuchel. "She had a lot of poise, a lot of determination, a lot of grit. Every single player could feel it."

Achenbach gave up seven runs in 3 2/3 innings in her start in Game 1 on Saturday. The postgame question of what she did differently on Sunday stumped her. She didn't know how to answer.

She didn't rely on a different pitch. She didn't change her approach. What she did do was dial up that part of her that hates to lose. Always playing with it set to hot, she upped it to scorching.

"It was just competitiveness," she said. "They are good batters. They showed us that yesterday. I just tried to get them off-balance and mishit things.

"Our defense had some great plays as well. It was just coming together and trying to limit base-runners, and when there were some, keeping them there and not letting them score."

Montana went up 1-0 in the first on an RBI single by Jessica McAlister, 2-1 in the second when Knauss scored from second on a fly out to right that had a throwing error.

Southern Utah tied it in the fourth on an RBI double, went up 3-2 in the fifth on a sacrifice bunt with a runner at third base.

The Thunderbirds tried the same thing later in the inning but Achenbach fielded this one cleanly and flipped the ball right from her glove to McKenna Tjaden for what would be a key inning-ending out at the plate.

Southern Utah built a 5-2 lead in the top of the sixth on a two-run home run by Brooke Brown, who was destructive across all three games.

She finished the series going 6 for 11 with three home runs and eight driven in.

That three-run deficit may have been enough to defeat the Saturday version of Montana. Call this one version 2.0.

With nobody on and two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Jaxie Klucewich started the rally with a chopper to short that she beat out for an infield single. Kylie Becker followed with a full-count walk.

That brought to the plate the always-dangerous Maygen McGrath, who had been hitting the ball squarely all game.

After Klucewich singled, Southern Utah brought in Grace Owen, who pitched in relief in both games on Saturday, to replace starter Tyler Denhart. And McGrath was ready.

"I knew she threw us a lot of change-ups, and I tend to really like change-ups," she said. "I just looked for it, and if it was there, I knew in my head I was just going to attack it and hope for the best, and the best happened."

She took the second pitch she saw and drove it into another athletics facility. She knew it was gone when it left her bat.

"As soon as I hit it, I just dropped (my bat) and put my hands up in the air because I was so excited," she said. Her team-leading 10th home run of the season evened the score at 5-5.

That's when the feeling of we're doing this became palpable and not just to the players. It's something Montana developed over the years playing in its home facility. It had gone missing, until Sunday.

Even with a runner on second and one out in the top of the seventh, Achenbach came through one final time. She got a pop-up to McGrath at short for the second out, then struck out a pinch hitter on three pitches.

Owen walked Anna Toon on four pitches to lead off the bottom of the seventh. After McAlister sacrificed Toon to second, Owen walked Tjaden on five pitches.

She was struggling and Knauss, who came to the plate with runners on first and second, knew it. She worked the count to her favor, at 3-1, then got the pitch she was looking for.

"I wanted to be in that spot. We put ourselves in those situations a lot in practice, so I felt really confident," Knauss said.

"She had thrown a lot of balls, so I was just making sure she came to me first. I was just waiting for my pitch."

She lined a single to right-center. It didn't get into the gap, but it was placed well enough, between the fielders in center and right, that Toon scored easily from second.

And the celebration could be heard from blocks away. This one meant something, something important, something that has the potential to lead to bigger and better things going forward.

"We brought a lot of energy and a lot of excitement today. That was really the difference-maker," said Achenbach. "That's what we have to run with now. This is the energy we have to bring every single day.

"Sometimes it's frustrating when you're in that little rut. Getting ourselves out was important."

McGrath, Toon, Knauss and Klucewich all had two hits. Achenbach struck out 12, her fifth game this season with 10 or more, to improve to 8-13.

Montana will play a three-game series at Idaho State next weekend.