Glacier Country News

Montana sweeps Carroll in home openers

The Montana softball team swept Carroll on Monday afternoon at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula as the Grizzlies played their first home games of the season.

Behind a one-hitter from Allie Brock and a fifth-inning, walk-off home run by Hannah Jablonski, Montana won the opener 9-1, its first run-rule victory since April 9.

In Game 2, Montana broke a 4-4 tie with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to win 7-5, with Maggie Joseph ending the game with a pair of strikeouts with runners on second and third.

"We've been put in these situations throughout the course of the year and haven't always answered the way we answered today and controlled it today," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"I'm proud of our team to come out and get two wins. It's exciting to see the growth our team is taking and the confidence they continue to gain in each other and in themselves."

Brock took a no-hitter into the fifth inning in the opener before giving up a two-out double to the fence in left.

She allowed a run in the fourth when a walk and two hit batters filled the bases with nobody out. She got an infield fly and a fly out to right for the first two outs before walking in Carroll's only run.

With the bases still loaded, she got out of it with a fly out to center.

"She showed her maturity," Meuchel said. "She showed the ability that whatever situation she's in, she's capable to helping get our team out of it.

"Whether it's her doing it herself or whether it's feeding a ground ball and knowing our defense is going to be behind her, she just showed a lot of maturity."

Brock struck out four and threw the 17th complete game of her career for her 16th career win.

"There were times she threw really well today and controlled a lot of things. She's competitive and confident in what she's doing," added Meuchel.

Montana wasted no time getting to Carroll starter Kennedy Venner, a freshman out of Billings, scoring five runs on three hits in the bottom of the first.

Presley Jantzi, who had just one RBI on the season entering the game, drove in three on a bases-loaded triple, Montana's first of the year.

Montana went up 7-1 in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Kendall Curtis and a sacrifice fly by Kelly Sweyer.

After Brock threw a scoreless fifth, the stage was set for Jablonski to hit Montana's first walk-off home run since Kylie Becker in a win over Idaho State last April.

Jantzi led off the bottom of the fifth with a double to center, her second multiple-hit game of the season. Three pitches later Jablonski tucked her walk-off home run just inside the left-field foul pole.

"You're aware of the best possible outcome, but I was just trying to stay within myself and hit something hard and follow up what Presley did. It wouldn't have happened if Presley wasn't on," said Jablonski.

Jablonski fouled out to first and grounded out to second in her first two at-bats against Venner.

"I was trying to press a little too much, just being on our home turf for the first time this season," she said. "Maybe nerves got to me. I just wanted to go in there and do what I can do, and it worked."

Elise Ontiveros, making her first start of the season in center, Curtis and Jantzi all had two-hit games. It was Ontiveros's team-leading sixth multiple-hit game of the season.

Joseph got the start in Game 2 and allowed one run and two hits through four innings before getting relieved by Grace Haegele in the top of the fifth with Montana leading 4-1.

The Grizzlies scored twice in the bottom of the first on a two-run home run by Kelly Sweyer.

Montana went up 3-1 in the third when Ontiveros hit a sacrifice fly that scored Jaxie Klucewich, who led off the inning with a triple, the first of her career.

Jablonski made it 4-1 in the fourth with her second home run of the day.

Carroll scored three runs on two hits and a Montana error in the top of the fifth off Haegele to tie the score at 4-4. The Grizzlies answered right back.

Curtis had a tiebreaking two-run single to right-center that made it 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Jantzi later hit a sacrifice fly to left that scored Curtis, making it 7-4.

"That's been part of our process, just winning as many innings as we can," said Meuchel. "We won a lot of innings today. We have some successes that are going our way and we're creating them."

After a scoreless sixth for both teams, the Saints put runners on second and third with nobody out in the top of the seventh against Haegele, who was relieved by Joseph.

An infield single loaded the bases, a ground out to short made it 7-5 and left runners on second and third, with the potential go-ahead run at the plate.

Joseph got the second out on a swinging strikeout on a 1-2 pitch, the final out on another swinging strikeout on a 0-2 pitch.

"I still had the same mindset, just attack the batter and trust my defense," said Joseph, who threw five innings in all, four as the starter, one in relief.

"I still had the same intent. I just kept the same energy, channeled it towards the batter and trusted my defense."

Joseph was in line for her first career win as a Grizzly before Carroll came back to tie the score, making Haegele the pitcher of record when Montana retook the lead in the fifth.

The victory gave Haegele her second win of the season, Joseph her first save in a Montana uniform.

"It's just a lot of fun to be out there with all my best friends," Joseph said. "Whether it's bases loaded or bases empty, I'm still having a lot of fun out there."

Curtis and Klucewich both had two hits and both scored a pair of runs.

The wins are Montana's first back-to-back victories of the season and give the Grizzlies four wins in their last seven games after opening the season 0-20.

The doubleheader on a chilly Monday afternoon in March drew 422, the largest crowd to watch a Montana game this season, no matter the location.

"Our players, they circled this date because of our fans and the environment we have," said Meuchel. "We thank them for coming out and look forward to the next time we get to play in front of them."

Montana will get that chance on Tuesday, March 28, when the Grizzlies host Providence (MT) for a doubleheader at 2 p.m.

Original source can be found here.