Hornets power past Grizzlies in finale

Saturday, April 3

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

9-21, 3-3

Sacramento State

12-15, 6-0

Sacramento State

Montana

Photo by: Derek Johnson

4/3/2021 4:50:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

Sacramento State hit six home runs on Saturday and won 9-4 to complete a three-game series sweep of Montana at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Hornets (12-15, 6-0 BSC) won 2-1 in eight innings and 5-4 on Friday and have now won 10 straight games against the Grizzlies (9-21, 3-3 BSC). Sacramento State is 7-2 against Montana in Missoula.

Sacramento State entered the series with just seven home runs through its first 24 games of the season. The Hornets hit eight in three games against the Grizzlies, and those hits proved to be the difference.

Sacramento State hit five solo home runs on Saturday and got a pinch-hit, three-run home run from Milan Machado-Buckley in the top of the sixth that proved to be the decisive blow.

It was Machado-Buckley's first collegiate hit in her fifth at-bat as a Hornet.

"They got a few more hits this weekend, a few more bigger hits," said coach Melanie Meuchel, whose team got out-hit in the series by just two, 26-24.

The Grizzlies trailed 2-0 in the third before they got on the board with an RBI single by Kendall Curtis that made it 2-1. Curtis would lead the team with a pair of hits.

The Hornets extended their lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth on back-to-back home runs to lead off the inning.

McKenna Tjaden answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth that made it 4-3. It was her third of the season, the fifth of her career.

After the teams played a scoreless fifth, Machado-Buckley had the game's big blow in the top of the sixth. It came with two outs.

As they did leading off the fourth, Lewa Day and Alondra Mejia hit back-to-back home runs to lead off the seventh to make it 9-3.

Montana scored in the bottom of the seventh when Brooklyn Weisgram led off with a single and Anna Toon followed with a pinch-hit RBI double to right-center.

"All of the talk in the dugout was, we're still in it, even though the score would separate a little bit," said Meuchel. "We always felt like we could do this. Our players showed the ability to have grit."

The sweep cast a shadow over what was a well-played series by Montana. The Grizzlies struck out just five times in three games and had a single error, on a stolen-base attempt on Saturday.

"It was a competitive 0-3," said Meuchel. "Although we walked away 3-0 last weekend (at Portland State), I felt like we played maybe a little bit cleaner ball this weekend.

"We didn't get the outcomes against a team sitting higher in the rankings, but we really competed and played some good softball."

Marissa Bertuccio went the distance to collect the win in both Games 1 and 3. She induced 17 fly outs in Friday's opener, 19 more on Saturday.

The only other outs for Montana in Game 3 were a ground out in the first and a strikeout in the fourth.

She needed just 86 pitches to throw an eight-inning complete game in Friday's opener, 96 to go the distance on Saturday, when she once again outdueled Tristin Achenbach, who took the loss.

Montana will play a three-game series at Northern Colorado (6-19, 2-4 BSC) next Friday and Saturday in Greeley.

The Bears opened league getting swept in a competitive series at Sacramento State, then won two of three at home over Portland State this weekend.

The Grizzlies and Bears will play at doubleheader on Friday starting at 1 p.m., a single game on Saturday beginning at noon.