Yellowjacket Softball Knocked Out of Tourney (4/28/06)
Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, TX – The Montana State-Billings softball team was bounced from the Heartland Conference Championship Tournament on Friday afternoon by St. Mary’s University, 4-1.  The Rattlers, who are hosting the tournament, accounted for both of the Yellowjackets’ losses in the last two days.  MSU Billings rallied to beat conference co-champion Incarnate Word in eight innings late Thursday night.

The Yellowjackets finish their season 20-31 overall.  They were 12-12 in the Heartland Conference during the regular season, earning the No. 5 seed in the five-team conference tournament.  St. Mary’s, a perennial power in the NCAA South Central Region, improved to 43-23.

“It was another great game,” said Yellowjacket head coach Sean McGary.  “It was tied 1-1 in the fifth when we made a bad decision on a throw and they scored.  In the bottom of the fifth we loaded the bases with one out, but we just didn’t get the hit we needed.”

Friday’s loser out game was a defensive battle from the start.  The Yellowjackets sent freshman hurler Rebekah Tsatsa (Eagle, ID) to the rubber to square off against the Rattlers’ Malissa Magee.  Tsatsa went 6 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs.  She dropped to 6-8 with the loss.  Lisa Moore (Fr., Bakersfield, CA) pitched the final 2/3 inning for the Jackets.  Magee went the distance, giving up just three hits while striking out six to improve to 25-10.

St. Mary’s struck first in the top of the third when Walker drove in Craft from second base.  The Yellowjackets tied the game in the bottom half of the third on a Jenna McCartney (Jr., Victor, MT) RBI single to right field, scoring Jessica Frank (So., Great Falls, MT) from second base.  Frank had reached on a single and was moved to second on a Lorel Palmer (Jr., Ogden, UT) sacrifice bunt.

The Rattlers capitalized on a Yellowjacket error to score a run in the top of the fifth.  After reaching on a one-out single, Tiffani Craft eventually scored when Yellowjacket right fielder Stephanie Gosselin’s (Fr., Brentwood Bay, BC) throw to the infield went awry.  The Yellowjackets loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the fifth but came away empty handed.  St. Mary’s added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh.  Craft tripled to drive in Tedlin Nieto, and Moore hit Jessica Romero with the bases loaded to plate Craft.

The Yellowjackets’ three hits off Magee were singles from McCartney, Aysha Maddox (Jr., Richland, WA) and Frank.  Craft was 3-for-3 and scored three runs for the Rattlers.  Terrie Cox was 2-for-4.