The Montana softball team opened its fall exhibition schedule with a two-game sweep of North Idaho on Sunday afternoon at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula, winning 5-1 and 7-4.
Montana never trailed in the opener, getting home runs from Kelly Sweyer and Grace Hardy, three hits from Elise Ontiveros, three RBIs from Presley Jantzi and shutdown pitching from Grace Haegele and Rylee Rehbein.
After falling behind 2-1 in the top of the third in Game 2, the Grizzlies answered with three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and two in the sixth to rally back and pull ahead.
Jantzi had five hits on the day in seven at-bats and Ontiveros went 4 for 6 with three runs scored as seventh-year coach Melanie Meuchel got innings for four pitchers in the doubleheader, with Allie Brock starting Game 2, Emmalyn Brinka finishing.
“It was fun to get back and compete with the team,” said Meuchel, “their excitement for it, their intent for what they are trying to do individually and collectively.”
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Haegele got the start in Game 1 and allowed four hits over five innings, striking out three. Rehbein made her collegiate debut in relief, allowing two hits over the final two innings.
Montana got on the board when Ontiveros tripled to the corner in left in the bottom of the third with two outs. Jantzi followed with a hard-hit double to the fence in right.
Sweyer led off the bottom of the fourth with an inside-the-park home run. Her drive to left-center was hit to the warning track, where the NIC left fielder and centerfielder collided, allowing Sweyer to circle the bases.
With runners on second and third in the bottom of the fifth, Jantzi struck again, this time singling through the right side to drive in two and make it 4-0.
Hardy made it 5-0 in the sixth with a no-doubter over the fence in left.
Montana opened the scoring in Game 2 as well when Jantzi singled up the middle with one out in the bottom of the first and later scored on an RBI single by Mohl down the right-field line.
The Grizzlies wouldn’t score again until the bottom of the fourth. That allowed North Idaho, which won 39 games last season, went 28-4 in league and batted .369 as a team, to take its only lead of the game, 2-1 with a two-run double to left-center in the top of the third.
Ontiveros put Montana back up 3-2 with a two-out, two-run double to left-center in the bottom of the fourth, then made it 4-2 when she raced home on an error when North Idaho threw short on a stolen base.
North Idaho wasn’t done, tying it at 4-4 in the fifth on a two-run triple to right-center, and Montana wasn’t done coming through with big two-out hits.
With Kelly Sweyer on third and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Hannah Jablonski lined a shot to third that couldn’t be controlled. Sweyer scored on the play. The Grizzlies would not trail again.
“There wasn’t a lot of passing the bat, but there was clutch hitting when we needed it, with runners in scoring position and maybe two outs and people stepping up and helping us offensively,” said Meuchel.
Montana added two more in the sixth when Jantzi singled to left, then chased Jessica Stanfield all the way home when the ball was misplayed, allowing it to roll to the fence.
Brock threw the first five innings, striking out six. Brinka pitched two innings of hitless relief on just 19 pitches, striking out three.
For the day, over 14 innings, Montana allowed 11 hits and four earned runs.
“I thought our pitchers were so ready to go today,” said Meuchel. “They won their league last year. They’re competitive and love to hit. They came out aggressive and I thought we held them quite well today at the plate.
“When it came time to make a change, Rehbein and Emmalyn came in and did an excellent job of stopping them as well. They came in and threw competitive strikes. We had some big defensive plays as well.”
Montana’s eight-game fall exhibition schedule will continue on Sunday, Oct. 8, with a doubleheader against Carroll.