Montana opens league with series at Idaho State

The Montana softball team, on a season-high five-game winning streak, will open its seven-week Big Sky Conference schedule this week with a three-game series at Idaho State.

The Grizzlies and Bengals will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 2 p.m. at Miller Ranch Stadium and a single game on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m.

Where they stand:

Montana is 12-17 after going 5-0 last week in its first home games of the season. The Grizzlies swept a Tuesday doubleheader against Providence, then a three-game series against Utah Valley. Montana's five-game winning streak is its longest since winning seven consecutive games last April.

Idaho State is 4-18, with three of those wins coming in the last five days. The Bengals defeated Purdue twice over the weekend at UC Riverside's tournament and picked up a 7-5 victory over Utah State on Tuesday on Utah Valley's field.

Montana notes:

* The Grizzlies enter league in fifth place in the Big Sky standings and are one of five teams with 12 or more nonconference wins, along with Sacramento State (14-8), Northern Colorado (18-15), Weber State (12-13) and North Dakota (14-17).

* Montana's five-game winning streak marks the fifth time since the start of the program in 2015 that it has produced a winning streak of at least five games. The program record is eight, set in 2016.

* The Grizzlies batted .328 in five home games last week while limiting their opponents to .180 hitting. Delene Colburn (.556) batted over .500, while Ashlyn Lyons (.471), MaKenna McGill (.412) and Madison Saacke (.400) all hit .400 or better.

* Colburn had at least one hit in all five games, including three home runs, to raise her batting average from .328 coming out of the Oregon Invitational to .376. She had a slugging percentage for the week of 1.111 and an on-base percentage of .556.

* Colburn is tied for the Big Sky Conference lead in home runs (7) and hits (32) and ranks second in RBIs (24). She is tied with three other players for the league lead in hits, including McGill.

* Lyons had a pair of home runs last week and now has four in her last 13 games played. She had one in her first 150 games played as a Grizzly.

* Tristin Achenbach threw the third no-hitter in program history on Tuesday in Montana's five-inning 8-0 victory over Providence. All three of the program's no-hitters have come in five-inning games. The other two came from Maddy Stensby, against Portland State and Great Falls in 2016.

* Achenbach faced 17 batters against the Argos, walking one and hitting another with a pitch. She made it two straight wins and consecutive complete games on Saturday in Montana's 8-2 win over Utah Valley. For the week she had a 0.58 ERA and allowed hitters to bat .105.

* Michaela Hood also started a pair of games last week and delivered two complete-game victories. She defeated Providence 3-1, then out-dueled Addie Jensen on Friday in the Grizzlies' 2-1, nine-inning win over the Wolverines. She struck out 14 in her two starts and had a 0.88 ERA.

* Colleen Driscoll got Montana's other start last week, Thursday's 7-3 victory over Utah Valley. Driscoll gave up two runs on three hits in the first inning, then held the Wolverines to one run and five hits over the final six innings.

* On the list of things Montana has yet to achieve in its three-plus-year history, cross off walk-off home run. Jessica McAlister became the first to do that on Friday evening when she led off the bottom of the ninth with a game-winning homer in the Grizzlies' 2-1 victory over the Wolverines.

* Still waiting on: someone hitting for the cycle and someone throwing a perfect game.

* In five games last week, Montana allowed a single run after the third inning and had a team ERA of 1.00. ... The Grizzlies had just a single error on their home stand. Their season fielding percentage of .972 ranks first in the Big Sky. ... Montana ranks third in ERA (3.34) and fourth in batting (.257).

* Montana has an RPI of 135 with a strength of schedule of 37. The Grizzlies have played two games against Oregon (No. 1 in RPI), one against Oklahoma (8) and one against Arizona (10).

* Montana went 1-3 against the other teams on its schedule with a current RPI in the top 100. The Grizzlies lost twice to Boise State (85), defeated UC Riverside (86) and lost to Colorado State (92).

* Other teams of note with a higher RPI than Montana: Northern Colorado (104), Grand Canyon (107), Seattle (118), Nevada (122) and Weber State (128).

* Kylie Hayton has started the last 10 games in right field, taking over after Alex Wardlow was injured in Montana's victory over Nevada on March 4. Hayton is batting .304, with four runs scored, two driven in and two stolen bases in those 10 games.

* Montana is 8-1 in its last nine games that don't include the team with the highest RPI in the country. ... The Grizzlies did not allow more than two earned runs in any of its home games last week.

* Lyons' seven total bases in Thursday's win over Utah Valley, on a home run, double and single, were the most for Montana in a game this season. ... Hood's nine innings pitched on Friday were the most by a Grizzly since Hood's 10-inning outing against Weber State in last year's Big Sky tournament.

History: Idaho State leads the series against Montana 6-5 and is 3-0 against the Grizzlies in Pocatello. Montana won two of three at home last year against Idaho State during the regular season, then defeated ISU 8-0 at the Big Sky tournament in Ogden.

The state of Montana:

After six weeks and 29 games, the Big Sky Conference portion of Montana's schedule has arrived. It's not that the games already played have less meaning or value, but when a team's goal is a conference championship, that's something that can only be achieved by going up against fellow Big Sky programs.

The Grizzlies will play -- fingers crossed, hopeful for weather that cooperates -- seven three-game series between this weekend and the opening weekend of May. Only then will teams know if they've done enough to qualify to advance to the league tournament in Ogden, Utah, on May 10-12.

"From the beginning of the year, everyone dreams they're going to win their conference, so we understand how important these games will be on the final part of our season," said first-year coach Melanie Meuchel.

"If we can be ourselves and put every facet together and show up for every game, then we have a chance to put ourselves in a very good place throughout the conference season."

Of the differences between previous Montana coach Jamie Pinkerton and Meuchel, the former talked openly about the big picture of the seven-week schedule. He wanted to win every series, meaning taking at least two out of three, and pick up as many home sweeps as his team could.

Montana got it done last season, going 2-1 against six of seven opponents and throwing in a home sweep. That was enough to get the No. 2 seed at the Big Sky tournament and earn an opening-round bye.

Meuchel likely has the same outlook, but her approach is more day-to-day, if not inning-by-inning or pitch-by-pitch. She's got her team focused on Idaho State, not so much what it will take to make a return trip to Weber State the second weekend of May.

"Instead of looking at the overall big picture and saying this is what we have to do in each conference series, we try to look more at what we have in front of us," said Meuchel.

"What are we going to be presented with this weekend, and what are we going to need to come out ready for and what are we going to have to bring? It's more about Idaho State and making that our overall objective."

After weeks of coming close to putting it all together, Montana did so last week, hitting .328 in five games against Providence and Utah Valley, all wins, compiling a 1.00 ERA and committing just a single error.

"It often felt like we were one step away from putting it all together, whether it was one-run losses or competing well against nationally ranked teams," said Meuchel.

"I felt like we were right there, and I didn't feel like we were right there last week. It kind of felt like we overstepped that, and it let people settle in and feel a little more comfortable with where their game is at this point. We could breathe just a little bit easier knowing that we're in a very good spot."

First up is Idaho State, a team that opened the season 0-12 and with 15 losses in its first 16 games. But the Bengals are 3-3 in their last six, with two wins over Purdue and a victory on Wednesday over Utah State.

Going into its games against Utah State and Utah Valley on Wednesday in Orem, Utah, Idaho State had a team batting average of .245 and an ERA of 7.83, second-worst in the Big Sky ahead of only Southern Utah (8.66). The Bengals also had the Big Sky's worst fielding percentage of .934.

Of course Montana was just 7-17 going into its first home games of the season last week, the same position Idaho State is in this week. And the Grizzlies have yet to win a game in Pocatello.

Montana won two of three against Idaho State last season in Missoula, but all three games were tight, with the Grizzlies winning the first two games, 1-0 and 6-3, with the Bengals winning the third, 5-3.

"Idaho State is a team that always fights well and is feisty. They've always put up very good series against us, and that's led to very competitive games," said Meuchel. "It's always been a fun battle with them.

"Anything that's happened prior to conference really doesn't indicate what you will be presented with when you face a team. Idaho State has a talented bunch of kids, so we have to be ready for them. We'll need to be ready to go pitch-for-pitch and be good defensively and offensively."

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Sacramento State has matched Montana and will take a five-game winning streak into its Big Sky openers this week at Northern Colorado. The Hornets lead the Big Sky in both team batting average (.308) and team ERA (2.77).

* Northern Colorado was picked to finish in a tie for last place with Portland State in the preseason poll, but the Bears have a league-leading win total of 18, already within two of last year's total. They've done it from the mound, dropping their team ERA from 4.43 last season to 2.77 through 33 games this year.

* North Dakota has 14 wins, thanks to the pitching of Kaylin VanDomelen. She has a Big Sky-leading 110 strikeouts in 101 2/3 innings of work and has thrown a pair of seven-inning no-hitters, against Cleveland State and Santa Clara.

* Weekend series: Montana at Idaho State, Sacramento State at Northern Colorado, Weber State at Southern Utah, North Dakota at Portland State.

Upcoming: Montana will face North Dakota next week in Grand Forks, with a doubleheader on Friday, March 30, and a single game on Saturday, March 31.

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Players Mentioned

Tristin Achenbach

Delene Colburn

Colleen Driscoll

Kylie Hayton

Michaela Hood

Ashlyn Lyons

Jessica McAlister

MaKenna McGill

Madison Saacke

Maddy Stensby

Alex Wardlow

University of Montana Athletics