Box Score Box Score
LAS VEGAS – The Montana State Billings softball team got off to a hot start in the late desert evening Friday night at they took down Hawaii Hilo 8-5 in their first game of the MSUB Desert Stinger. The second game against Dixie State was postponed until Saturday morning due to the lights being shut off at the 11 o'clock curfew.
“I'm happy with the way Kasie (Conder) came in for Amanda (Todd) and finished the game out,” said head coach Anthony Stone. “I thought we did a great job of battling throughout the game, hitting the ball well and bouncing back on the defensive side. It took some time to get used to being on the field for competition in the first game, but the team played very well. In the Dixie State game, we've done a nice job of jumping out to a lead and getting some big hits from (Kaycee) Hoffman. We just have to have ourselves at the field tomorrow to finish the game and then look toward the two scheduled games in the early afternoon.”
The Yellowjackets had eight runs on nine hits with five RBI, while taking advantage of five mistakes by the Vulcans throughout the game. The Jackets stranded six runners on the bags, while UHH left 13 aboard the base paths.
Amanda Todd started the game for the Yellowjackets, but fell behind early, loading the bases by walking the first three batters in the lineup. An error in the fourth at bat led to an early Hilo lead with nobody with one out when Tarn Potter fired a frozen rope from centerfield to home plate to get the runner out.
Todd would eventually work her way out of the inning with a strike out and catching a balled that was lined back into the circle to end the Vulcan threat.
Becca Frank got the bottom of the inning started with a triple into right center field that excited the over 100 fans in attendance. Jenna VanEykeren then knotted the score with a shot up the middle to score Frank from the corner.
The Jackets would take the lead in the second when senior Kelly Parsons hit a blooper down the right field line that got passed the Hilo right fielder allowing her to go to third on a triple. She scored on the very next play when Amanda Hood rolled a ball down the first base line and it was mishandled by the first baseman for a UHH error.
Kasie Conder came in for Todd in the third inning as the first two runners got aboard on the corners to start. After a sacrifice fly scored a run, Conder shut down UHH to close out the inning with minimal damage.
MSUB broke the game open in the third when Meg Harasymczuk lined the ball back up the middle with one out to start the offense. Kaycee Hoffman reached on an error and then Rachel Eisenmann was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Potter then sent a ball into centerfield to score Harasymczuk and give the Jackets a 3-2 lead. They scored again after Parsons walked with the bases still loaded and then another error on the Vulcans allowed Hood to reach and score Potter.
The Yellowjackets added a run each in the fourth and fifth innings and then staved off a comeback attempt by UHH in the late innings to take the win.
Conder moved to 1-0 on the season after tossing 5.0 innings, allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits and four walks. She struck out five of the 25 batters she faced in the relief effort. Todd tossed 2.0 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on a single hit, but six walks, fanning two.
The Jackets will look to start 2-0 as they try to finish off Dixie State, needing just two outs in the bottom of the seventh and leading by four. MSUB will then take on Augustana College at 12 p.m. and the 14th ranked Antelopes of Grand Canyon at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
