DePaul wins twice as Montana Invitational opens

Friday, March 11

Missoula, Mont.

11:30 AM

Montana

9-12

DePaul

8-11

DePaul

Montana

Photo by: Derek Johnson

3/11/2022 6:36:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team dropped a pair of games to DePaul on Friday as the Montana Invitational got under way at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

The Blue Demons (9-11) outscored the Grizzlies 11-8 in the opener, rallying from a 4-1 deficit after three innings.

In Game 2, Erin Hocker, of Great Falls, limited Montana (9-13) to five hits as DePaul won 4-0 for its third shutout of the season.

"We didn't put it all together when we needed to put it all together," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"We played one side of the ball really well at times, made some excellent plays and had some big hits, but for it to be a complete game we just didn't finish the way we needed to finish."

Montana scored its first run of the season at home in the bottom of the first in Game 1 when Jaxie Klucewich reached on an error, then raced home on a Cami Sellers double to center.

Klucewich's speed would make it 4-1 in the bottom of the second.

With two on and one out, Klucewich slapped a line drive into left that got under the glove of DePaul's left fielder and rolled to the fence.

Hannah Jablonski scored from second, Brooklyn Weisgram from first, and Klucewich didn't stop running until she crossed the plate to put Montana up 4-1.

DePaul got to Game 1 starter Allie Brock for two runs in the top of the fourth, then had three singles and a walk off Brock to open the fifth.

Meuchel's plan had been to throw Brock in Game 1, Dana Butterfield in Game 2, but with the opener still tight and still winnable, Meuchel opted to bring Butterfield on in relief.

"We let things get away from us as a collective defense that inning, and I felt like I needed to make a change," said Meuchel.

DePaul would come out of the top of the fifth with a 7-4 lead, and the Blue Demons wouldn't trail again the rest of the day.

Montana added one in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Kylie Becker and two in the sixth on Brooklyn Weisgram's third home run of the season to bring the Grizzlies within one, 8-7.

With two outs in the top of the seventh and nobody on base, DePaul went single-single-home run to add three insurance runs.

Montana loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh and made it 11-8 on a wild pitch, but the game ended on a ground out with two on.

Weisgram, Maygen McGrath, Julie Phelps and Riley Stockton all had two hits. Brock took the loss to drop to 5-7.

Brock, in an impressive bounce-back performance, got the start in Game 2 and went the distance, allowing seven hits while striking out six to match a season high.

DePaul scored two in the second on three hits. Brock would keep the Blue Demons hit-less over the next four innings to give her team a chance.

"I'm proud of the way Allie responded in Game 2," said Meuchel.

Hocker was up for the challenge of facing her home-state team. She pitched out of trouble in the third and set down the final 10 batters she faced while throwing a complete game.

Up 2-0 going into the seventh, DePaul used a two-out, two-run double to make it 4-0.

Klucewich had two of Montana's five hits.

DePaul will face Seattle (12-10) at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Montana will face the Redhawks at 2 p.m. That schedule will repeat on Sunday, with games scheduled for 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

"That's one thing about our sport. We have another day and another game sitting in front of us," said Meuchel. "It's just completing games and having a belief in what we're able to do."