MISSOULA, Mont. -- Sacramento State crushed four home runs, and put up crooked numbers in the third (6), sixth (2) and seventh (4) innings to beat Montana, 12-2, on Saturday afternoon at Grizzy Softball Field.
With the win, the Hornets complete the Big Sky Conference regular season with a 25-21 overall record and 10-5 conference mark. The win also secured the No. 2 seed at the Big Sky Tournament (May 6-9) in Greeley, Colo. The 2 seed is important because it gives Sacramento State the all-important first round bye. The Hornets will begin play at the four-day, double elimination event on Tuesday, May 6, at 5:30 p.m. PT against an opponent to be determined.
Sacramento State is 12-4 in its last 16 games heading into the regular season finale at home vs. Pacific on Wednesday at 4 p.m. That will also serve as the team's final home game of the season.
The Hornets hit four more home runs today, and over the course of the three-game series (which included a doubleheader sweep yesterday), Sacramento State hit .474 (45-for-95) with 11 doubles, 12 home runs and 37 RBIs. Four Sacramento State players had multiple home runs during the series, including
Alexa Carino (4),
Shannon Garcia (3),
Madison Evers-Lyles (2) and
Caroline Evans (2).
In today's game, the third inning saw
Jenna Birch crush a solo home run, followed by a three-run double from Evers-Lyles and a two run bomb from Carino. In the sixth,
Avery Brown had an RBI-double followed by a
Katie Marsh sacrifice fly. In the seventh inning, Evans crushed a three-run homer to right, and Garcia followed with a solo shot.
For the second straight day, right-hander
Kennedie Magorian was impressive in the circle, allowing just five hits and two runs without a walk and three strikeouts over six innings.
Alexa Ortiz threw a shutout inning of relief. In two appearances this week against Montana, the junior was 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA and .188 opponents batting average.
The Hornets had a season-high 16 hits in today's game, including multiple hits from Evers-Lyles (3),
Lafulafu Malepeai (2),
Andrea Lira (2), Carino (2), Evans (2) and Garcia (2). Sacramento State never trailed as Montana scored its lone two runs in the sixth inning when the Grizzlies already trailed, 8-0.
