BILLINGS, Mont. – Taylor Anderson delivered the first Great Northwest Athletic Conference series victory of the 2021 season for the Montana State University Billings softball team on Sunday evening at Avitus Group Stadium, with a walk-off single to cap a doubleheader sweep of visiting Western Oregon University.
 
Anderson's winning swing of the bat finished off a six-run seventh inning, as MSUB stunned Western Oregon and turned a 6-1 deficit into a 7-6 triumph. Anderson's heroics came after a walk-off sacrifice fly off the bat of Marin Penney, as she delivered with the bases full to end Game 1 5-4 in favor of the hosts.
 
Hailee Gregerson hit her fifth home run of the season in Game 1, while Brie Frazier went 6-for-8 and Penney went 4-for-6 in the doubleheader.
 
The Yellowjackets improved to 9-19 overall and 5-7 in conference play, pulling even with WOU for the fourth and final playoff spot in the GNAC standings with eight games left in the regular season. Western Oregon fell to 9-11 overall and 5-7 in league play with Sunday's defeats.
 
Game 1 – MSU Billings 5, Western Oregon 4
 
Frazier reached on an error, stole second, and moved to third on a ground out by Gregerson to put the winning run 60 feet away with the score tied 4-4 in the bottom of the seventh. WOU strategically walked both Brittanee Fisher and Allie Hughes – the GNAC's leading home run hitters – intentionally, before Penney rode a long fly ball to right field that easily plated Frazier for the winning run.
 
Penney bookended the back-and-forth affair with RBIs, as her second-inning single got the Yellowjackets on the board before Anderson doubled the tally with a knock in the bottom of the fourth.
 
MSUB starter Alyssa Etheridge meanwhile silenced the Wolves over the first four innings, stranding six baserunners during that period while allowing no runs.
 
Aleya Turner led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run, before Zoie Recolan and Sydney Bowers gave the Wolves their first lead of the day.
 
Gregerson's home run – a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth – temporarily put MSUB before Recolan kept the Wolves alive with a solo blast to tie it at 4-4 in the top of the seventh.
 
WOU starter Chandler Bishop allowed five runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and five walks, going the distance in the circle for the visitors.
 
Senior Haley Couch earned her first win of the year, giving up just one run on three hits with a strikeout and no walks in the final three innings of the game. Etheridge finished with three runs allowed on five hits with one strikeout and five walks in her four innings of work.
 
Game 2 – MSU Billings 7, Western Oregon 6
 
Sidney Pollard started the wild bottom of the seventh with a walk, and 11 batters later the Yellowjackets raced onto the field to celebrate Anderson's game-winning swing of the bat. One of the biggest hits of the day came from senior Payton Reynolds, who lofted a game-tying, two-run single to left field two batters before Anderson. Frazier, Gregerson, and Hughes each also had RBIs during the six-run inning.
 
Western Oregon appeared to seal the game in the top of the sixth, scoring four times highlighted by a two-run, pinch-hit double off the bat of Maddie Brandner in her first at-bat of the season.
 
Recolan had a sacrifice fly in the top of the first to put WOU ahead, before a Gregerson sacrifice fly in the third evened the score.
 
WOU starter Jada Young and MSUB starter Jenna Kister engaged in an exciting pitcher's duel over the first five innings of the night. Young finished with a final line of three runs allowed on seven hits, with one strikeout and three walks in six innings of work. Kister meanwhile gave up five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 5 1/3 innings. Julia Qualteri finished the game for the 'Jackets, giving up one unearned run on two hits in the final 1 2/3 innings of the game.
 
THE BUZZ: Anderson was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day.
 
UP NEXT: After a bye next week, the Yellowjackets remain home to host Saint Martin's University in a four-game series April 24-25 at Avitus Group Stadium.