TURLOCK, CALIF. - Playing in their second day of doubleheaders ay Stanislaus State's Tournament of Champions, the Montana State University Billings Softball team dropped a close 5-3 game against Hawai'i Pacific University to begin the day, and finished Saturday with a 5-2 loss to Cal State East Bay.
 
"We are starting to put things together and we're looking forward to putting it all together for the final game," MSUB head coach Lisa McKinney said. "Brittanee Fisher continued to hit well from the plate, coming up with two of our RBIs in game two, and she did a great ko of going with the pitch and keeping the ball low. The left side of our defense played well and came up with a couple good grabs in foul territory."
 
The Yellowjackets (10-24, 4-8 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) would be led by Brittanee Fisher going 2-for-5 with a run and 2 RBIs in both games and Shelby Marquardt, who went 2-for-6 and scored a run in game two. Shelby Martin and Kilee Imada were responsible for RBI doubles in the fourth inning of game one that gave MSUB the lead against Hawai'i Pacific.
 
Game 1: Hawai'i Pacific 5, MSUB 3
 
The Yellowjackets jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Hawaii Pacific. But the Sharks would take advantage of good hitting and three errors to score five unanswered to come back and take the win.
 
After three scoreless innings, the 'Jackets would get on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of RBI doubles from Shelby Martin and Kilee Imada. Martin's double would score Brittanee Fisher, who led off the inning by working a walk, and Imada's double would go on to score pinch runner Payton Meyer. A sacrifice fly by Sidney Pollard would extend the lead to 3-0, and momentum looked to be on the side of MSUB.
 
"We made some good adjustments offensively," McKinney said. "We bunted well, highlighted by Brie Frazier, we scored off a sacrifice fly from Sidney Pollard."
 
The Sharks began to chip away at the lead immediately after, scoring a run in every inning starting in the and eventually surpassed the 'Jackets lead. A three-run inning of their own would put Hawaii Pacific in the lead in the top of the sixth, and they wouldn't look back.
 
Julia Qualteri would be charged with the loss, moving her season record to 5-7 after going 5.1 innings, allowing four runs and striking out one before being replaced by Martin. Only two runs the Yellowjackets allowed would be credited as earned runs, but three errors in the field would do them in.
 
"Julia threw a good game, and I thought Shelby came in and pitched well," McKinney said. "We made a few too many errors defensively, so we will look to clean those up while continuing to hit the ball hard."
 
Winning pitcher Maria Torres would throw a complete game for Hawaii Pacific, with five strikeouts and only allowing a single baserunner after the fourth inning.
 
Game 2: Cal State East Bay 5, MSUB 2
 
The Pioneers took an early 1-0 lead off four hits in the first inning, then after starting pitcher Alyssa Etheridge retired the side in the second, Cal State East Bay took a 4-0 lead in the top of the third.
 
The Yellowjackets would respond by scoring two runs in the next half-inning. Shelby Marquardt hit a leadoff single, then Brie Frazier's bunt and her speed got her aboard and moved Marquardt to third. After Frazier stole second, Brittanee Fisher's 2 RBI bases-clearing single pulled MSUB within two, 4-2.
 
"Shelby Marquardt also had a good game at the plate," McKinney said. "She found a way on base multiple times and gave us the opportunity to put more runs on the board."
 
Etheridge would record her third strikeout in the top of the fourth, which led to a quick inning for the Pioneers.
 
"Alyssa pitched a good game for us and got us a lot of ground-ball and fly-ball results," McKinney said. "The left side of our defense played the wind well and came up with a couple of good grabs in foul territory."
 
 MSUB would get another runner in scoring position on Marquardt's leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth, yet the 'Jackets didn't bring her home after two-straight groundouts brought Marquardt all the way to third.
 
Cal State East Bay would put up another run in the top of the sixth to take a 5-2 lead, and the score would hold from that point forward. MSUB tried to get something going with Fisher's leadoff single in the next half-inning, then Skyler Jenkins singled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but the Yellowjackets came up empty both times.
 
Etheridge (4-8) would be credited with the loss after striking out five batters and giving up five runs (three earned) on 10 hits with zero walks. Her counterpart Anamaria Beard (9-5) would be credited with the win after pitching a complete game with four strikeouts and two runs on six hits.
 
The BUZZ: Shelby Marquardt was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day for going 2-for-6 with a run scored.
 
UP NEXT: MSUB finishes off the Tournament of Champions with a game against Dominican University of California, starting at 11:30 a.m. local time. Live stats will not be provided.