Griz open league with doubleheader sweep

Saturday, March 24

Pocatello, Idaho

2PM

Montana

13-17, 1-0

Idaho State

4-19, 0-1

Montana

Idaho State

3/24/2018 8:12:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

On an opening weekend when the rest of the Big Sky Conference was putting up video-game offensive numbers and no lead was safe, the Montana softball team was just fine sticking to its preferred formula: dominant pitching + timely hitting = wins.

The Grizzlies used a complete-game shutout from Michaela Hood in the opener and a five-hit complete game from Maddy Stensby in game two to win 1-0 and 6-1 at Idaho State on Saturday afternoon as Montana opened league 2-0.

The wins were the first ever for Montana at Pocatello and strikingly at odds with what was happening across the rest of the Big Sky on Friday and Saturday.

In the other nine league games that were played through Saturday, those teams combined to average more than 16 runs per game, three times combining to score 20 or more.

On Saturday alone, Weber State defeated Southern Utah 11-0 one day after giving up 13 runs to the Thunderbirds, Sacramento State scored six runs in the top of the seventh to rally for a 13-12 win at Northern Colorado, and North Dakota came back from a 9-1 deficit to win 11-9 at Portland State.

Offensive fireworks may win the ratings game, but Montana will face Idaho State on Sunday at 1 p.m. with a chance to be the only team sitting without a loss after the opening weekend of Big Sky play.

"You have to be able to have some run production, but defense is always going to win championships," said coach Melanie Meuchel. Indeed: the Grizzlies allowed just six runs in three games last spring as they won their first Big Sky title.

Facing a team on Saturday that is historically near the top of the Big Sky statistics in team batting average -- Idaho State has led the league four of the last five years, hitting .308 or better each of those seasons -- the Grizzlies limited the Bengals to seven hits and one run over 14 innings.

"As a collective unit, on the mound and on defense, we kind of stopped them and didn't allow them to get on any roll they were ready to get on," said Meuchel.

"We made pitches or we made a great defensive play when we needed to. We talk about that quite a bit, and we show a lot of confidence in our ability to do it."

Montana scored the only run it would need in the opener in the top of the first. Ashlyn Lyons singled up the middle with two outs and advanced to second on a walk to Jessica McAlister. Madison Saacke drove Lyons in with a single to left-center.

That's all Hood would need, as she kept Idaho State without a hit until the fifth.

"She owned the zone and owned everyone's at-bat," said Meuchel. "She just really had control of her pitches and control of the count."

The Bengals didn't collect their second hit of the game until the seventh, and it was followed by a walk, putting the tying run in scoring position with one out, the winning run at first.

Rather than give her hitters two chances against Hood, ISU coach Candi Letts opted to sacrifice her runners to second and third, giving up the out and making it an all-or-nothing confrontation between Hood and Shayna Dahlen.

Hood struck her out swinging to finish off her seventh career shutout and Montana's fourth in 11 games.

"Michaela has proved that if you put pressure on her, she's going to step up and make pitches," said Meuchel. "She has a lot of poise on the mound, and I felt like our team had a lot of confidence as well at that point."

If Idaho State thought the worst of it was over, Stensby showed the Bengals the depth of Montana's pitching staff in the second game. All three outs in the bottom of the first came by strikeout, an opening salvo that let everyone know it wasn't going to get any easier just because Hood was out of the circle.

Idaho State put a runner on base in each of the first four innings against Stensby, but the Bengals wouldn't get on the board until Ashlyn Ames' solo home run in the bottom of the sixth made it 3-1.

"We have a good pitching staff, and they are competitive," said Meuchel. "It felt like they had a lot of confidence going into today.

"Idaho State is always a team that's going to come at you. They always swing the bat well and put pressure on you. I felt like we kept our composure even when they gave us pressure."

Montana went up 2-0 in the third, when Delene Colburn doubled in MaKenna McGill and Kylie Hayton, and 3-0 in the fifth, when Colburn drew a two-out walk and circled the bases on a double to left-center by Lyons.

The only run Idaho State would score on the day came an inning later, and it was unearned after a dropped foul ball was tagged as an error and extended Ames' at-bat.

Montana put up three insurance runs in the top of the seventh, all scoring after a two-out infield error by the Bengals. Hayton scored on the error, and with the bases still loaded, Saacke singled to left-center to drive in two more.

Colburn went 3 for 3 in the second game, driving in two and scoring twice. Saacke had three of Montana's six RBIs in the doubleheader.