Montana splits Friday doubleheader

Friday, March 22

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

11-16

North Dakota

5-28

North Dakota

Montana

Photo by: Coral Scoles-Coburn/University of Montana

3/22/2024 9:40:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana and North Dakota split a doubleheader on Friday as the teams opened their three-game series at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

Montana (11-17) won the opener 9-1 in five innings, its first run-rule victory over a Division I opponent since the 2022 season.

The Fighting Hawks (6-28) jumped out to a 5-0 lead in Game 2 and held on for a 5-4 victory as the Grizzlies left 11 runners on base, including five in the last two innings.

Montana went up 2-0 in the bottom of the first in Game 1, then scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth and four in the bottom of the fifth for a walk-off victory.

Kelly Sweyer had a two-run double in the first inning, Presley Jantzi and Jocelyn Eisen had RBI singles in the fourth as Montana went up 5-1.

Montana won it in the bottom of the fifth. With the bases loaded, Elise Ontiveros drew a walk to make it 6-1. Madison Tarrant later pinch hit with the bases loaded and drove in three with a drive to the fence in center.

The victory was Montana's sixth in its last nine games and came 12 days after its most recent outing.

"Just real excited with the way we came out to play. We got the rest and recovery we needed but also it had been a while since we stepped on the field against an opponent," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"We were hungry to play against another opponent. I thought we really attacked the opportunities that sat in front of us."

Sweyer had three hits, while Jantzi and Eisen, at the top of the order, both went 2 for 3.

That was plenty of offense for freshman starter Rylee Rehbein, who threw a three-hitter to improve to 5-3 on the season.

She gave up a pair of doubles in the second for North Dakota's only run. Over the final three innings, she faced only 10 batters.

"They came out aggressive and we made some adjustments pretty quickly," said Meuchel. "She threw very well the rest of the game, kept them at bay, then our offense really turned it up a notch and struck the ball really well."

North Dakota struck early and often in Game 2, going up 1-0 in the top of the first, 4-0 in the top of the third on a three-run home run off Griz starter Grace Haegele.

It was 5-0 entering the bottom of the fourth when the Grizzlies hit themselves back into the game, scoring four runs on five hits, four of those hits going for doubles.

Tarrant had an RBI double, Grace Hardy a two-run pinch-hit double and Jantzi an RBI double.

But that's where the scoring would end.

Montana had a runner at third with two outs in the fifth, had the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth and two on with two outs in the seventh but could not get to North Dakota's Camryn Lasota, who threw the final 3 2/3 innings to pick up the win and improve to 2-11 on the season.

Montana out-hit North Dakota 12-7 but left 11 runners on base, at least one every inning. The Grizzlies struck out a season-high 12 times.

"This is our game. You play doubleheaders a lot. Game 1 matters and means something but after 30 minutes it's a new game," said Meuchel.

"We were present, we just gave up some opportunities and gave ourselves a bit of a hole to have to work through."

Emmalyn Brinka allowed three hits over the final 4 2/3 innings in relief of Haegele (4-6).

Jantzi had three more hits. Her 12th multiple-hit game of the season upped her season batting average to .414. Hannah Jablonski had the third three-hit game of her career, Ontiveros went 2 for 4.

"I like our talk, I like our competitiveness, I like our belief that we always have a chance," said Meuchel. "We clawed our way back and gave ourselves chances to win that game but came up a little bit short."

The teams will wrap up their series with a game on Saturday at 1 p.m.