Vikings win two close ones as series opens

Saturday, March 26

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

12-15, 0-1

Portland State

17-10, 1-0

Portland State

Montana

3/26/2022 8:23:00 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 one-run decisions on Saturday afternoon at Grizzly Softball Field as its three-game series with defending Big Sky champion Portland State opened in Missoula.

The Vikings (18-10, 2-0 BSC) won the opener 3-2 in nine innings on a home run by Logan Riggenbach.

Riggenbach hit a two-run home run in the top of the second to open the scoring in Game 2, and Portland State never trailed while holding on for a 4-3 win.

Just one hit separated the two teams over 16 innings and nearly five hours of softball on Saturday.

"I'm proud of our players. You go into this first weekend and we're playing a great team, but I think we're a great team," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"I thought we were competitive, and I thought we came out and set a tone. Emotions were high on both sides. It was very intense."

As expected, Montana (12-16, 0-2 BSC) faced Olivia Grey in Game 1, the pitcher with the 11-1 record and 1.20 ERA. And the Grizzlies got to her in the bottom of the first.

After Jaxie Klucewich led off the inning with an infield single, Maygen McGrath followed two batters later with a single to center.

Presley Jantzi, who went 4 for 8 on the day, came through with an RBI single down the left-field line to make it 1-0.

Portland State answered with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second, and the game would remain 1-1 going into the sixth.

Paetynn Lopez gave the Vikings a 2-1 lead with a leadoff home run in the top of the sixth off Montana starter Allie Brock.

McGrath answered with a leadoff home run in the bottom half of the inning in a nine-pitch at-bat to even the score at 2-2.

It would remain that way until Riggenbach led off the ninth with a home run to right center.

Grey worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth for win No. 12 of the season. She struck out 13 against a team that had had 13 strikeouts over the previous eight games combined.

Montana left seven runners on base in the game, 15 in the doubleheader.

"We need to be the aggressor and continue to be the aggressor," Meuchel said. "We need to be able to play full team offense in whatever situation we're presented with.

"We have to enjoy competing in that situation to have execution and get the big hit."

Klucewich, McGrath and Jantzi all had two hits in the opener and accounted for six of the team's eight hits.

Riggenbach gave her team an early 2-0 lead in Game 2, and the Vikings went up 3-0 on an RBI triple off Montana starter Dana Butterfield in the fifth.

After McGrath drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth and Jantzi followed with a single through the left side, Kylie Becker made it 3-2 with a two-run triple to right-center, the fifth of her career.

Riggenbach had what turned out to be a huge two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh that gave the Vikings a two-run cushion, 4-2.

Klucewich and Cami Sellers opened the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back singles, which had Portland State coach Meadow McWhorter bringing in Grey to keep PSU in front.

McGrath had an RBI ground out to short to make it 4-3, which left the tying run on second base with one out.

Grey got a swinging strikeout and a ground out to short to pick up her second save of the season.

Brock threw a complete game in the opener, allowing eight hits over nine innings while striking out five. Butterfield allowed eight hits in Game 2 while striking out six.

"I thought they competed really hard. I thought they threw well. They gave us a chance. And I thought our defense played really well behind them as well. We played great defensively," said Meuchel.

Jantzi and Becker both had a pair of hits in Game 2. It was Jantzi's fourth straight game with two hits, her eighth multiple-hit game of the season. It was Becker's second.

The teams will play the third game of the series on Sunday at noon.

"I'm looking forward to getting back on the field tomorrow and being able to answer back and know that being at the field gives us an opportunity," said Meuchel.