CONRAD — The BCLUW softball team distanced itself from Montezuma with a high-scoring sixth inning, rolling to a 9-3 victory at Dave Lee Field on Friday night.

The Comets scored five runs in the sixth to provide plenty of run support for BCLUW starting pitcher Klayre Gallentine, who struck out five with one walk in the win.

“It’s always good to have those runs on the board to help me relax in the circle,” Gallentine said, “but most times, I know we’re going to get on the board, we’re going to make contact with the bat, so it’s just trying to go into the circle and do what I can do best for my team.”

Sarah Garber put a ball in play to score Cassie Nason in the first inning and BCLUW never trailed the rest of the way. Nason and Gallentine had two hits each and Nason, Swanson and Gallentine all had a run batted in each in the sixth inning, which was sparked by a leadoff double from Morgan Bergman.

“It was nice to see Morgan get that hit,” BCLUW head coach Megan Yantis said. “We’ve been having trouble with our baserunning too, so it was nice to see us be aggressive on the basepaths, and be able to challenge them and score when we needed to.”

Montezuma was as close as 3-2 after the top of the fourth but Gallentine and the Comet defense limited too many extra opportunities for the Bravettes. Montezuma left five runners on base on Friday.

“Klayre did a good job, even when they got runners on, she seemed to buckle down when she needed to and get the strikeouts or outs we needed,” Yantis said.

The Comets scored two runs on a two-out error in the third to take a 3-0 lead and Marrisa Grant scored on a passed ball in the fourth.

Montezuma started the seventh inning with back-to-back singles but an infield fly and fielder’s choice to get the lead runner had the Bravettes down to their last out. Chloe Snook had a run-scoring double to get Montezuma within six runs but Gallentine forced a flyout to Raegan Crawford with runners on second and third to end the threat and the game.

“It was a pretty good night on the mound and my defense was mostly behind me tonight.”

The Comets (13-14) were coming off hard-fought losses to 1A No. 12 Clarksville, 3-1, and 3A No. 8 PCM, 2-0, earlier in the week.

“We had two pretty tough games this week,” Gallentine said. “We knew we wanted to come in here and win this one to finish the week with a W.”

Yantis said the stretch run of the schedule, including a meeting with another ranked team in West Marshall next Tuesday, July 2, is meant to test the Comets ahead of their postseason opener at home against Baxter on Monday, July 8.

“These last few games aren’t going to be easy,” Yantis said. “It’s going to be a challenge and I think the girls have risen to that, and it gives us good experience going into the postseason.”