Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BILLINGS, Mont.  – The Montana State University Billings Softball team lost both games against conference opponent Saint Martin's University by scores of 2-3 and 2-10.
 
Four Saints had a homerun as Saint Martin's University (15-13, 9-4 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) held off the Yellowjackets in the first game and then had a big seventh inning in game two to put it out of reach in the second game as the Saints picked up both wins.
 
Montana State University Billings (9-14, 4-10) was just edged out in game one.  All three of Saint Martin's runs in the first game came off of homeruns.  Lacey McGladrey, who was 3-3 in the game, hit a two-run shot over the center field fence and Sam Munger hit a solo shot off a 1-2 count to give the Saints three runs in the third inning.  MSUB would put up a run in the bottom of the third on a SMU error to get the score to 1-3.  The Yellowjackets second run of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Taylor Hoke hit a deep single to right field to bring in Cori Gammon.
 
Both team's pitchers would go the distance in game one.  SMU's Sam Munger (11-8) fanned six hits while allowing one earned run and striking out three as she picked up the win.  Jessyka MacDonald (4-3) recorded the loss on five hits and three runs.
 
Game two featured hits by both teams as MSUB had nine while SMU had 11, but the Yellowjackets stranded eight batters as the Saints were able to push across five runs in innings two and four, and then another five in the top of the seventh.
 
MSU Billings' two runs came in the third and sixth innings.  Lead-off hitter Bella Rovens hit her first career homerun at the top of the third inning and Taylor Hoke would come in from third off a Brittney Sanders single in the sixth. 
 
For the Saints, shortstop Dani Wall and designated player Riko Toyama both had homeruns in game two.  Up by three runs in the top of the seventh, Taviah Jenkins would produce an RBI from a single into right.  Wall would step to the plate and hit a 3 RBI homerun over the right field fence.  The Saints would add a run off a walk and with bases loaded the Yellowjackets would get their third out on a strikeout to end the seventh inning.
 
Munger would earn her second win of the day for the Saints on the pitcher's mound.  Jessica Campbell (0-2) who went 6.2 innings before being relieved by Amanda Todd, picked up the loss for the Yellowjackets.
 
"In game 1 today we had a couple of mistake pitches combined with a struggling offense," Head Coach Lisa Allen said.  "We needed to make an adjustment sooner and needed to string the hits together. In game 2 of the day we had similar problems.  We gave them 8 of their 10 runs on mistake pitches and errors. Again our offense struggled stringing the hits together. Saint Martin's did a good job of turning double plays in order to kill our rallies. Tomorrow we will focus on hitting in order to help support our pitching staff. The defense still played very well today. The important thing is that we need to feed off the positives that we had today and learn from the negatives and apply that knowledge tomorrow."
 
Today was also "Strikeout Cancer" Day at the Avitus Group Stadium.  MSU Billings student-athletes collected donations, and wore the color lavender in the game to raise money and awareness for cancer research.  All proceeds are to benefit the American Cancer Society.
 
Tomorrow, Montana State University Billings will again host Saint Martin's University in another double-header.  Due to weather, the game time has been moved up to a 10 am start.  Live stats should be available at MSUBSports.com.
 
Saint Martin's 3, MT State Billings 2 (Mar 28, 2014 at Billings, Mont.) (Game 1)
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Saint Martin's...... 003 000 0 -  3  5  2      (14-13, 8-4 GNAC)
MT State Billings... 001 001 0 -  2  6  0      (9-13, 4-9 GNAC)
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Pitchers: Saint Martin's - Munger,Sam and Schmaeling,Jackie. MT State Billings -
MacDonald,Jessyka and Sanders,Brittney.
Win-Munger,Sam(10-8)  Loss-MacDonald,Jessyka(4-3)  T-1:37  A-127
HR SMU - McGladrey,Lacey (1); Munger,Sam (1).
 

Saint Martin's 10, MT State Billings 2 (Mar 28, 2014 at Billings, Mont.) (Game 2)

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Saint Martin's...... 030 200 5 - 10 11  1      (15-13, 9-4 GNAC)

MT State Billings... 001 001 0 -  2  9  2      (9-14, 4-10 GNAC)

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Pitchers: Saint Martin's - Munger,Sam and Schmaeling,Jackie. MT State Billings -

Campbell,Jessica; Todd,Amanda(7) and Sanders,Brittney.

Win-Munger,Sam(11-8)  Loss-Campbell,Jessica(0-2)  T-1:45  A-76

HR SMU - Wall,Dani (1); Toyama,Riko (1).

HR MSUB - Rovens,Bella (1).