Softball state championship ends in walk-off strikeout

By Mike Bertha, Matt Monagan and Dan Wohl

June 3, 2014

When it comes to walk-off wins, is anything rarer than the walk-off strikeout -- when the team at bat does the walking off?

For that, we direct your attention to the Montana AA state softball championship game on Friday. With the game tied in the bottom of the seventh (and final) inning, Kendyl Boltz of Montana's Billings West High School struck out to seemingly send the title game into extras, only to try to make it to first on the dropped third strike. Multiple errors and lot of running later, Boltz crossed home plate for the win:

What was going through Boltz's mind during this crazy sequence of events? The 16-year-old sophomore told us:

Well, my first thought was RUN, then when I reached second, I saw my coach keep waving me on, so then I was having a crazy adrenaline rush. Then when I reached home I almost started crying because I was so happy, then my teammates tackled me to the fence ... now I am just in total shock, I guess striking out has its advantages sometimes!

Boltz, who said it's "always been a dream to play college softball," also mentioned that the first teammate she hugged in the celebration was pitcher Jalen Creech. Creech was on the mound for four and a half of Billings West's five games that day despite taking a line drive to the knee at one point.

Ed Kriskovich, who's been the head softball coach at Billings West for 29 seasons, also shared his take on the insanity with us:

I always told my team to never give up. Once I saw the catcher overthrow first base, I knew we had a chance. We watched the ball being thrown around the infield and just kept waving her around ... I've been around softball for nearly 50 years and I've never seen anything like it.

h/t Great Falls Tribune, ESPN