Bats Come Alive Late as Jackets Take Two, 5-1 and 9-4

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Photo Gallery

BILLINGS, Mont. – Cold bats early led to exciting late-inning softball action Friday afternoon at Cenex Stadium, as the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets opened their home schedule with a pair of wins against the Northwest Nazarene Crusaders, 5-1 and 9-4. The Yellowjackets moved over .500 on the season, improving to 8-7 overall and 6-4 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference Play.

Lindsey Trenary gave the Jackets another superb outing in game one to lift her season record to 5-1, while Josie Grotbo got off to a rough start in the second game, but settled down to pick up her first win of the season. Stevie Howard and Amanda Hood both had hot bats today, combining to go 8-for-15 with four runs scored.

Game 1, 5-1
MSUB struck first in the third inning after going down in order through the first two. Hood went to second on a throwing error by the Crusaders’ pitcher Chelsey Anderson with one out. Hood then took off for third as Howard laid down a perfect bunt that allowed her to reach and Hood to score on the throw to first.

NNU countered two innings later, getting a runner on when Haley Hevern was hit by a Trenary pitch then advanced to second after a single by Emily Renfrow. Hevern later scored with two away after Chelsey Anderson doubled to left field to tie the game 1-1.

The Yellowjackets broke the game wide open in the bottom half of the fifth with a pair of singles by Amanda Goings and Hood to start the inning. Both took off as Goings stole third and Hood took second with Bobbie Lee in the batter’s box.

The next pitch, Lee drove the ball to right field for an RBI single that scored Goings and put Hood on third. Howard picked up two RBI as she laced the ball into the right field gap, legging out a triple to score Hood and Lee.

After a Whitney Whittemore walk and  Kaycee Hoffman was hit by a pitch, Kelly Parsons grounded out to the short stop for an RBI that scored Howard with the bases loaded. The Jackets tacked on four in the inning to take the 5-1 lead.

Trenary was able to sit the Crusaders down in order in the sixth and pitched out of a small jam in the seventh to pick up the victory. She tossed a complete game five-hitter, allowing one earned run with three walks and fanning eight.

The Yellowjackets recorded seven hits off of Anderson who threw six innings, allowing five runs, four earned and striking out just one.  She fell to 1-4 on the season as the Crusaders left eight runners aboard and the Jackets stranded five.

Game 2, 9-4
The night cap started roughly for Grotbo and the Jackets as the Crusaders looked poised to get on the board early and often. The Crusaders loaded the bases on three-straight singles to start the game and scored their first two runs on their fourth consecutive single, when Arielle Chao drove a single to right to score Hevern and Renfrow. They struck again when Grotbo threw a wild pitch past Jenna VanEyekeren, allowing Catherine Lowery to score.

MSUB got one of the runs back in the bottom of frame when Hoffman drove the ball to right field for a single, scoring Howard from second as she had reached on an error by Renfrow.

The Yellowjackets then made the score 3-2 in the second when Goings scored on a throwing error by Nicole Grummons attempting to make an out on Lee.

After Lee started off the fourth with a walk, Howard beat out a throw on a bunt but was later out on a fielder’s choice that allowed Hoffman to reach and Lee to take third. After Kelly Parsons walked to load the bases, VanEyekeren drove a soft fly to left field that barely cleared the fence for her first grand slam of the season and gave MSUB a 6-3 lead.

MSUB extended its lead in the sixth when Hoffman reached on an error and took second to lead off the inning then scored when Angela Lingle, who went 3-for-3 in game two with a run scored and two RBI, smashed her first home run of the year over the left field fence. The Jackets added another run later in the inning to take a 9-3 lead into the seventh.

The Crusaders would push one more run across the plate, but Grotbo finished strong to earn her first victory of the season, throwing seven complete innings, allowing four runs, all earned, on nine hits and striking out three.

The Yellowjackets had nine runs, four earned, on 12 hits off of Grummons, who fell to 1-4 on the year. MSUB committed just one error as the Crusaders committed three, but the Yellowjackets stranded nine runners, loading the bases twice, while NNU left six on the bases.