Griz use long ball to rally past Saints

Tuesday, April 19

Missoula, Mont.

3 PM

Montana

18-20

Carroll

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/UM Athletics

4/19/2022 7:33:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team matched a program record with five home runs and needed all 1,200 feet of them to rally past Carroll 9-7 at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula on Tuesday afternoon.

Trailing 7-5 in the bottom of the fifth, Montana (18-20) got a two-run home run from Elise Ontiveros, the first of her career, to pull even, then used back-to-back solo home runs from Maygen McGrath and Presley Jantzi in the sixth to pull ahead.

It was a surprisingly tight contest against an opponent that had been outscored 50-4 in its last six games, by NAIA opponents British Columbia and Southern Oregon, and had scored just six runs in its 12-game history against Montana.

"We'd love to have a shutout, we'd love to have 20 strikeouts, we'd love to walk into a game knowing we're going to beat someone by 10, but's it's staying the course when we're challenged a little bit," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"This group is staying the course and will put everything forward in some of those challenging times."

It was challenging from the start, when Kaitlynn Ayers put the third pitch of the game over the fence in right to give Carroll a 2-0 lead.

Montana answered right back when Cami Sellers hit her seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to left-center in the bottom of the first that tied it at 2-2.

Kylie Becker hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third to put the Grizzlies up 5-2, but the Saints put up four in the fourth and one in the fifth to go up 7-5.

That set the stage for Ontiveros. After McKenna Tjaden drew a one-out walk, Ontiveros hit her first home run as a Grizzly to left-center to tie it at 7-7.

"As soon as I hit it, I was like, oh yeah, that's gone," she said. "I kind of struggled my first two at-bats, so I was like, just trust your mechanics. I went up there and it all worked out for me.

"We talked in our huddle about coming together. There wasn't any pressure. We knew we had it. We just had to come together and trust each other."

She'd been part of the welcome celebration at home plate for dozens and dozens of home runs in her career. This was the first time she was the one rounding third and running toward her waiting teammates.

"My girls greeting me at the plate was definitely different. They were so happy for me," said Ontiveros. "It was amazing having all of them waiting for me to get there. Probably the highlight of my college career."

That is was McGrath who had the game-winning hit, a leadoff home run on a 2-0 pitch in the bottom of the sixth surprised no one.

It gave the shortstop the second four-hit game of her career and made her 20 for 33 over the last nine games, when she's upped her average from .318 to its current .397.

What, exactly, does the ball look like to a batter so locked in? "It's been looking pretty good," she said.

McGrath had a single in the first, a double in the third and a single in the fourth before going yard in the sixth, a blast that hit high up in the pines beyond the center-field fence.

It was home run No. 13 of the season, bringing her within one of Delene Colburn's record of 14 from 2017.

"It's just a matter of having fun and trying to do it for my teammates," she said. "I've always had family here supporting me, and that's super nice and lightens the load a little bit.

"I go up to bat every single time and just try to get a base hit, try to get a base hit, just try to get on base."

Jantzi followed with her second home run of the season, and Montana finally had a winning margin.

Dana Butterfield, who replaced starter Allie Brock with one out in the fourth, worked a 1-2-3 top of the seventh to preserve the victory and pick up win No. 9 of the season.

Butterfield allowed three hits over the final 3 2/3 innings while striking out five.

"They were aggressive at the plate and tagged us for a couple hits that put up some runs," said Meuchel.

"The confidence in our team is knowing we have the ability to do the same thing and continue to compete through the game and finish it the way we expected to when we walked in today."

Montana will resume Big Sky Conference play this weekend when it plays a three-game series at Sacramento State (22-20, 6-3 BSC).

The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, a single game on Saturday. The Hornets lost 4-2 and 5-0 at home to Stanford on Tuesday.