Butler Softball opens season at the Battle of the Bosque tournament

Story by Wyatt Ebersole

The Morgan Bohanan era of Butler Softball began this past weekend against stiff competition down in Waco, Texas. The Grizzlies won their season opener over the 20th ranked San Jacinto College Ravens 4-3 in dramatic fashion on a walk-off two run home run from Ryanna Valdivia on Saturday, but would fall 0-8 to #2 McLennan later that day and then would fall 3-11 to #3 Odessa on Sunday, meaning that after the opening the weekend slate, the currently 7th ranked Grizzlies are 1-2.

San Jac Recap

The Grizzlies season opener began as a pitching duel, between Butler Allyson Montgomery and San Jac's Reanna Nieman. The two went back-and-forth setting down batters through the first five innings and the only run scored was by the Ravens in the top of the fifth giving San Jac a 1-0 lead on the Grizzlies. The Grizzlies would get their first runs of the season on a two-run blast by Ryanna Valdivia in the top of the sixth that gave the Grizzlies a 2-1 lead.  San Jac would score two of their own in the top of the seventh to take 3-2 advantage and setting up a must score situation for the Grizzlies in the bottom half. Kaylah Newman would get on with a one out single and then would steal second to put the tying run in scoring position, but Ryanna Valdivia wasn't playing for extra innings, she was playing for the win. With two outs, tying runner at second, and facing a 3-2 count, Ryanna would deliver her second two-run homer of the game to give the Grizzlies a 4-3 walk-off win in the head coaching debut of Morgan Bohanan.  

McLennan Recap

The Grizzlies would face the #2 ranked and tournament host McLennan Highlassies in their second game of the tournament. The Grizzlies never got off the ground in this game and were run-ruled 8-0 in five innings by the #2 team in the country.  

Odessa Recap

The Grizzlies would play again on Sunday morning, this time against the #3 ranked Odessa Wranglers. The Grizzlies would once again struggle early and faced an 11-0 deficit heading into the fifth inning. Butler would find some offense in the top half, scoring three runs on a bases loaded double by Valdivia, but the Grizzlies couldn't avoid the run-rule and fell for the second game in run-rule fashion, this time 3-11.

Second McLennan Game Recap

Butler Softball was again slated to face tournament host McLennan in the final game of their season opening tournament. The game was halted in the third inning due to inclement weather conditions due to cold and rain in the area. Since the game didn't go to five innings, it didn't meet the minimum requirements of a complete game, and the NJCAA has declared this game will be a no contest, meaning it won't affect either McLennan or Butler's overall record.

The Grizzlies will get a couple weeks off and then will make another trip to Texas, this time to Denison, where they will compete in the THF Winter Blast Tournament on February 10th and 11th where they will play four teams in two days.

NOTES: The 8-0 shutout the Grizzlies suffered in the first McLennan game was their first time being shut out since Feb. 29th, 2020, against Three Rivers CC. This Three Rivers game was also the last time the Grizzlies had been run-ruled in five innings…The Grizzlies were one-hit in the first McLennan game, the first time that has happened since March 3rd, 2018, in 0-2 loss against Bossier Parrish CC…The victory over San Jac was the Grizzlies third straight win over the Ravens and the Grizzlies have not lost to San Jac since 2015…