SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara softball dropped their series finale to Montana 5-3 on Sunday afternoon at SCU Softball Stadium giving up three runs in the top of the first and playing from behind the entire game. The Broncos were looking for the weekend sweep after winning both ends of the doubleheader on Saturday but the Grizzlies avoided it by taking advantage of a pair of costly SCU errors to jump to a 5-0 lead in the first three innings and held on to snap their 13-game losing streak.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Montana (5-19) got solid combined pitching efforts from Cameryn Ortega and Audri Elias along with timely hits from the middle of the order. The four through seven hitters in the lineup drove in all five runs.
- In the opening frame, Montana loaded the bases against starter Hazyl Gray, aided by a Bronco error. JoJo Christiaens was hit by a pitch to push across the first run and Madison Tarrant singled home two runs. None of the runs scored were earned.
- Mackenzie Bekofsky and Chloe Saxton drove in a run apiece in the third to extend the lead to 5-0 with one of those runs scored as the result of an error.
- Sloppy defense by Montana led to three Santa Clara (13-15) runs in the fifth to cut into the deficit 5-3. The Grizzlies committed three errors in the inning as all runs charged against Ortega were unearned. Elias came in relief and allowed just two walks the rest of the way in her 2 2/3 innings of work to pick up the save. Ortega and Elias gave up four hits combined.
- Grace Lopez had another multi-hit game, her third in the series, going 2-for-4 with a run.
NEXT UP:
- Santa Clara heads up to Portland State for a three-game series starting Sunday, March 22. They will play a doubleheader on Sunday followed by a single game on Monday.
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