Humboldt State Knocks Off Jackets, 7-6

Box Score

TURLOCK, Calif. – A late inning rally fell short for the Montana State Billings softball team as they fell to Humboldt State in the first game of the Bronze Bracket at the Mizuno Tournament of Champions Sunday morning. The Jackets finished the three day tournament with a 1-5 record as errors hampered the Jacket defense throughout the tournament.

"We've got a lot of work to do," said head coach Anthony Stone. "We didn't play the way I had expected us to throughout this tournament. There are lot of things to work on, especially on defense, as we committed too many errors throughout the weekend. We've got to get behind our pitching defensively and the offense needs to support the pitchers. We cannot let injuries affect our play and we need to get mentally tough and play to our ability as we get ready for conference play once again."

Amanda Goings continued a productive tournament, going 1-for-3 today with two runs and an RBI. Jenna VanEyekeren also had a hot bat with a 3-for-4 performance, including a run and two RBI, while Becca Frank went 2-for-3.

Josie Grotbo started in the circle for MSUB, tossing six complete innings, yielding seven runs, six earned, on 14 hits while walking two. Lindsey Trenary made an appearance in the seventh, giving up just one hit in relief. The Yellowjacket defense committed three errors in the game and committed 17 for the tournament.

MSUB jumped out of the gates when Whitney Whittemore laced a single into centerfield to score Goings from second, who had reached on a walk. VanEyekeren, who had singled prior to Whittemore, came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Kaycee Hoffman then Whittemore scored on the throw.

The Yellowjackets struck again in the second inning when VanEyekeren came to the plate with two on and ripped a single back up the middle to score Amanda Hood from second base. Leading 4-0, it looked like MSUB was going to race away with the game.

Humboldt got help from the Jackets defense to get back in the game, getting a run back in the third and turning two errors into two runs in the fourth. Grotbo was able to avoid further damage in the fourth, getting Humboldt to ground out with the bases loaded.

Humboldt again struck in the sixth, getting three runs on four hits and added another run in the seventh to stake a 7-4 lead. MSUB made a run in the final frame when Hood singled to lead-off then scored on a Goings triple to centerfield. Goings scored on the next at-bat as VanEyekeren drilled the ball to right center for an RBI single.

After Whittemore flew out to left field, VanEyekeren advanced into scoring position on a passed ball, but it was as far as the Yellowjackets could advance her. Kelly Parsons and Hoffman both hit long balls into the outfield but were caught for the final two out.

As a team, MSUB (12-15) scored six runs on eight hits and left five runners aboard. For the tournament, the Yellowjackets hit .244 as a team and scored 18 runs with five doubles, four triples and a pair of home runs. MSUB was 5-of-6 on stolen base attempts and had a fielding percentage of .910.