BILLINGS, Mont. – Leaping ahead of the Montana State University Billings softball team with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday afternoon at Avitus Group Stadium, visiting Saint Martin's University pulled back into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference playoff picture with the wins.
 
The Saints claimed the opener 7-5, before a decisive 9-2 win in the nightcap. SMU improved to 15-14 overall and moved past MSUB into fourth place in the GNAC standings at 6-8 in league games. MSUB, which entered the day tied for fourth place, fell to 9-21 overall and is now 5-9 in conference play.
 
Entering the day having hit just seven home runs in 27 games this season, Saint Martin's broke its school record with five long balls in the opener and hit six total to storm to the doubleheader victory.
 
For MSUB, Hailee Gregerson hit her sixth home run of the season, Morgan Quimby hit her second of the year, and Brittanee Fisher hit the 29th of her career to highlight an otherwise quiet day at the plate for the Yellowjacket lineup. "Our offense made a good adjustment in the sixth inning, but it was a little too late," said MSUB head coach Lisa McKinney. "SMU did a good job of taking advantage of missed pitches, and defensively we played well. Game 2 was a similar story with our offense not making the adjustment quick enough. We had a couple of defensive miscues as well that cost us. We learned a lot as a team today, and will bounce back tomorrow."
 
Game 1 – Saint Martin's 7, MSU Billings 5
 
Britney Patrick got the scoring started with a solo home run in the top of the first, and the Saints never looked back as they started the series off with a victory.
 
Julia Lucas hit a solo homer in the second, Kylie Lopez added a solo shot in the third, Destiny Conerly hit a two-run blast in the fourth, and Patrick added her second of the game to make it 6-0 after four frames. An RBI-single off the bat of Lopez in the sixth made it 7-0, and while the Yellowjackets made a push for a comeback the deficit proved to be insurmountable.
 
SMU starter Abby Runyon threw five shutout innings to start the game, before the 'Jackets finally got to the right-hander in the bottom of the sixth. Fisher shot a line-drive home run just over the fence in the left-field corner to start the scoring, and Sidney Pollard followed with an RBI-single. Pollard's base hit plated Shelby Marquardt, who picked up her first collegiate hit with a pinch-hit triple in the seventh. Quimby capped the five-run frame with a three-run shot to left-center as MSUB pulled within two.


Runyon settled down however, and sealed her 12th complete game of the year with a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inning to end the game.
 
MSUB starter Alyssa Etheridge gave up five runs on six hits with one strikeout and three walks in three innings of work, before giving way to Jenna Kister. The freshman held steady with two runs allowed on four hits striking out one and walking two in her four innings.
 
Game 2 – Saint Martin's 9, MSU Billings 2
 
Savannah Owen kept the MSUB bats quiet, allowing just two runs on five hits while striking out a season-high six and walking two in the complete-game effort. Gregerson hit a solo home run in the first and Pollard had a two-out RBI-single in the second, but after that Owen put up five straight zeros to complete the doubleheader sweep for the Saints.
 
The Saints scored one run in each of the first two innings, before padding their lead with two runs in the third and two more in the fourth. Pinch runner Jaeden Ells highlighted the third inning with a heads-up steal of home, and Lucas delivered a two-run homer in the fourth to push the Saints ahead 6-2.
 
Leaving no doubt, SMU poured on three runs in the top of the seventh inning on RBI-doubles by Megan Convery and Lucas to make it a 9-2 ballgame.
 
Julia Qualteri started for MSUB, allowing six runs on 11 hits with four walks in 5 2/3 innings pitched. Senior Haley Couch threw the final 1 1/3 innings, surrendering three runs on four hits with one walk.
 
Emery Norwood was 3-for-5 in the leadoff spot and played stellar defense in center field throughout the doubleheader for the visitors. Kylee Vanderbout was 3-for-4 with two runs scored in Game 2 for the Saints.
 
Marquardt finished 1-for-3 with a double, and would have had another extra base hit had Norwood not made a gliding catch against the wall on her deep fly ball to center field.
 
THE BUZZ: Marquardt was picked as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…Fisher moved into a tie for fifth in the MSUB record books with Meg Harasymczuk, who hit 29 home runs in her two-year career from 2011-12…MSUB is now 37-37 all-time against SMU and is 14-17 in games played in Billings.
 
NEXT UP: The series concludes on Sunday morning with an 11 a.m. first pitch at Avitus Group Stadium. Live video will be available online here and live statistics will be available online here.