Yellowjackets Slug Out a Pair of Victories

Game 1

Game 2

Photo Gallery

BILLINGS, Mont. -  We’re not sure which task was tougher, clearing the entire field of snow or playing the two games.  Montana State Billings (11-3 GNAC, 18-8) took a pair of hard earned wins, 11-10 and 10-8 over Northwest Nazarene (2-8 GNAC, 4-12) Friday afternoon.  The two teams will finish the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar 14.  The games are scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.

Game one was a marathon taking 10 innings and two hours and forty-three minutes to finish.  In the second inning, Montana State Billings used a walk, error and a ground out to score a run and make it 1-0.  Northwest Nazarene came back with a pair of solo home runs in the fourth inning.

In the bottom of the fourth, Kelly Parsons walked and moved to second on a ground out.  Dawn Norcross then ripped the ball down the left field line and over the fence to make it 3-2, MSUB.  In the fifth inning, the Yellowjackets struck the first two batters out.  Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Vanessa Shaw who blasted the ball over the left center field fence for a grand slam.

Stevie Howard homered in the fifth inning to make it 6-4.  The Jackets bats erupted in the sixth.  Crystal Bentley reached on an error and moved to second on a single by Alyssa Frank.  Both runners advanced a base on a pass ball and Bentley scored on a single from Stevie Howard.

Terina Stacks singled to right field to score Frank and move Howard to second.  Whitney Whittemore laid down a bunt single to load the bases.  Steph Gosselin lifted a fly deep to centerfield with Howard scoring after the catch.  Parsons then laced a double to right field to score Whittemore and Stacks.

Leslie Davis drew a walk and then moved to third on a single by Norcross that scored Parsons.  That made it 10-6.  In the bottom of the seventh MSUB struck out the first two batters.  Déjà vu occurred as two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Haley Haven who tied the game at 10 with a grand slam.

In the bottom of the tenth, the international tie breaker rule placed Frank on second.  She moved to third on a ground out and then scored the game winner on a bunt single by Stacks.

Stacks was 3-for-6 and drove in two runs, Howard went 3-for-5, scored two runs and drove in two runs, Norcross was 2-for-4 and drove in three runs while Frank was 2-for-5 and scored two runs.  Kacie Conder (6-2) walked two batters and struck out four in three innings of work to pick up the win.  Lisa Moore struck out 11 batters in seven innings for no decision.

The Yellowjackets struck early in game two.  In the first inning, Stacks singled to left field and Shay Oberg hit a bomb to centerfield to make it 2-0.  In the third inning, Stacks hit a sacrifice fly to score Amanda Goings.

In the third inning, MSUB rallied with two outs.  Whittemore and Bobbie Lee both singled and moved a base on a passed ball.  Goings then crushed a triple to left center field to drive in Whittemore and Lee.  Howard stepped up and single to drive in Goings and then scored on a double by Stacks.

In the fourth inning, the Jackets picked up three more runs to make it 10-3.  The Crusaders began to chip away with one run in the fifth and two in the sixth.  In the seventh, Shaw was hit by a pitch and Hevern homered to right center field to make it 10-8, MSUB.  The Jackets then got a ground out, a foul out, a single and a ground out to end the game.

Stacks, Oberg, Davis, Whittemore and Howard all led the offensive charge with two hits each.  Rebekah Tsatsa (5-4) gave up 11 hits, eight runs, walked four and struck out five for the win.