Yellowjackets Drop Pair at Easton Tournament of Champions
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

MODESTO, CA – The Montana State-Billings softball team lost twice on Saturday at the Easton Tournament of Champions to finish pool play with a 1-3 record.  The Yellowjackets fell 3-2 to San Francisco State in the morning and 3-0 to Grand Canyon in the afternoon.  MSU Billings will likely be sent to the consolation round of Sunday’s bracket elimination play.  Sunday’s brackets will not be set until after Saturday’s late games.

The Jackets gave up two runs in the top of the sixth inning of a tie game against the Gators.  Each team scored a run in the third inning.  MSUB’s Christy Wankel led off the inning with a double to left field.  After Cami Rainey’s sacrifice bunt moved Wankel to third, Anna Henderson singled to tie the game at 1-1. 

San Francisco State scored its pivotal two runs in the top of the sixth inning on four singles.  The Yellowjackets manufactured one run in the bottom of the sixth when Layne Pavey’s two-out single scored Sara Hanley, who had singled with one out and advanced to third on a Stephanie Cochrun single and a Theresa Campbell fielder’s choice.  MSUB sent just three batters to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, going down with two fly outs and a groundout.

Joey Ehnes pitched a complete game for the Jackets, allowing nine hits and striking out eight in seven innings.  She was also 2-for-3 at the plate.  Wankel was also 2-for-3 with a run scored.

MSU Billings managed just five hits in its second game of the day, the three-run loss to Grand Canyon, the West Region’s tenth-ranked team.  The Antelopes’ Krista Jacob drove in a pair of runs in the fourth inning. 

Cochrun took the loss for the Yellowjackets, allowing four hits and three unearned runs in four innings.  Ehnes pitched two innings in relief, striking out three while allowing one hit.  Megan McCrae went 2-for-2 at the plate.  Henderson, Cochrun and Pavey were each 1-for-3. 

The losses leave the Jackets’ overall record at 14-25.  Following Sunday’s bracket play at the ETOC in Modesto, MSU Billings returns home to host PacWest foe Hawaii Pacific on April 10 and 11.  Saturday’s doubleheader begins at 3:00 p.m., and the first pitch on Sunday will be at 1:30 p.m.