Saturday, April 21
Missoula, Mont.
1PM
Montana
vs
Portland State
No break for the Griz, but who cares when it’s this much fun?
4/19/2018 5:12:00 PM | Softball
Following a long (but successful) trip to Southern Utah last weekend and a midweek doubleheader against Carroll (which also was successful), the Montana softball team will be right back at it this weekend when it hosts Portland State at Grizzly Softball Field.
The Grizzlies have won six straight games, they get to play at the facility that seems to put a collective S on the front of their uniforms and a cape on the back, and the weather might, just maybe, be offering up the best version of itself more than 100 days into the 2018 calendar year.
Why wouldn't the Grizzlies want to suit up and play ball? And why wouldn't you want to be there to take it all in?
Montana (21-22, 7-5 BSC) and Portland State (12-29, 5-6 BSC) will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Montana at a glance: The team that won eight consecutive games, then lost five in a row, has now won six straight, including last weekend's road sweep at Southern Utah and Wednesday's doubleheader shutout sweep of Carroll. The Grizzlies have the longest active winning streak in the Big Sky Conference and have used it to move to within a game of first place in the league standings.
Portland State at a glance: After opening the month with a winless road trip to Sacramento State, the Vikings picked up two important wins last weekend in their weather-shortened series at Northern Colorado, winning twice, 12-4 and 3-2, to remain in the hunt for the postseason. Portland State played a doubleheader on Tuesday at Oregon State, losing twice, 8-0 and 2-1.
Weekend happenings: Saturday will be Cancer Awareness Day at Grizzly Softball Field, with a number of poignant activities and tributes scheduled to take place.
Sunday will be Little League Day. Any youth players wearing their uniform top will get in free of charge. Following the game, Montana's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be holding a home run derby, open to the first 25 people who sign up. Cost is $7 for eight pitches or five hits, whichever comes first.
Coverage: All three games of the series can be viewed at WatchBigSky.com or Pluto TV channel 237. Sunday's game also will be broadcast by SWX, which can be found on Charter channel 199, over the air on channel 23.3 or on the Watch SWX app.
What's at stake: With four weekends in the books and three to go, and with the matchups scheduled in the Big Sky this week, it could be a time for the top teams in the league to separate themselves and leave the rest behind to fight for the final few tournament spots. More below.
Week in Review:
Game 1: Montana 3, Carroll 0 -- The Grizzlies scored three runs in the first two innings off Saints starter Allison Williams, who defeated Montana 1-0 last fall in an exhibition game, and that was enough for Colleen Driscoll, who threw a shutout to win her third consecutive decision.
Game 2: Montana 9, Carroll 0 -- The Grizzlies completed the sweep and improved to 8-0 against the Saints. Montana used a seven-hit second inning to score eight runs to put the game out of reach early. Eight players had at least one hit, eight scored a run and six had an RBI.
Three to watch for:
When she's on the type of roll she's on now, Delene Colburn's at-bats alone are worth whatever the price of admission is. Carroll failed to get Colburn out in her six at-bats on Wednesday, as the senior shortstop went 4 for 4 with a pair of walks. She's seeing the ball like it's arriving at half speed.
She enters the weekend on both a six-game hitting streak and six-game RBI streak, and it's not surprising that her eruption at the plate after a rare slump has coincided with Montana's six-game winning streak.
She is 10 for 17 during her streak, with a .650 on-base percentage and a .824 slugging percentage, and nine RBIs and six runs scored. The streak has upped her batting average by more than 30 points, from .343 to .376.
Just as hot has been Ashlyn Lyons, who is 8 for 14 the last four games and has had multiple hits in six of the last seven games. That production has spiked Lyons' average as well, taking her from .336 to .366.
Montana's dynamic duo combined to go 8 for 10 on Wednesday against Carroll.
Colleen Driscoll got the opening-game start on Wednesday and went the distance for her second shutout of the season, allowing just four hits while striking out three. It gave Driscoll, who won two games at Southern Utah in relief, three wins in six days.
She enters the weekend with a streak of 13.1 scoreless innings worked and has an ERA of 0.45 during her three-appearance winning streak, with one run and eight hits allowed in 15 2/3 innings.
Montana notes:
* The Grizzlies picked up win No. 100 in program history on Wednesday with their first of two victories over Carroll.
* Montana, at 21-22, is one win away from getting to .500 this season, that after opening the season 1-10.
* The Grizzlies, at 101-107, are six wins away from reaching .500 for their all-time record for the first time. Montana, which went 16-34 in its first season and has been playing catchup ever since, was within three of .500 after improving to 80-83 after winning the Big Sky tournament last spring in Ogden.
* Montana's two wins on Wednesday gave the Grizzlies an 8-2 home record this season and upped their overall record at Grizzly Softball Field to 48-18.
* Gabby Martinez played in her 200th career game on Wednesday night in the second game of the doubleheader. That ranks second on the team behind Delene Colburn's 208. Colburn has started every game Montana has played in its short history.
* With its two shutouts on Wednesday, Montana dropped its league-leading ERA to 3.06. The Grizzlies also lead the league in team fielding percentage (.970).
* Montana batted .375 against Carroll, good enough to lift the Grizzlies out of last place in the Big Sky statistics for team batting average. Montana ranks seven out of eight teams at .245.
* Colburn (.376) and Lyons (.366) both rank in the top five in the Big Sky in batting average. Driscoll has moved up to fourth in ERA (2.52).
* In its sweep of Southern Utah last weekend, Montana scored nine of its 13 runs in the fifth inning or later. In Wednesday's sweep of Carroll, the Grizzlies scored all 12 runs in the first two innings.
* Colburn went 3 for 3 in the opener against Carroll, the 23rd time in her career she has had three or more hits in a game.
* Jessica McAlister had hits in both games against Carroll and finished the doubleheader 3 for 6.
* Lyons' pair of multiple-hit games on Wednesday gives her a team-leading 16 for the season.
* Katie Jo Waletzko's fourth-inning triple in the second game on Wednesday was the sixth hit of her career. Four of her six career hits have gone for extra bases: two doubles, two triples.
* Montana's eight-run second inning in Wednesday's second game was its highest-scoring inning since posting a 10-run fourth against Nevada in early March in Cedar City.
* Haley Young pitched the final three innings of Wednesday's second game. It was her first appearance since March 10 and gave Young her first win of the season, the seventh of her career.
* Montana has held its opponent to three or fewer runs in 17 of its last 19 games.
The state of Montana:
It has the potential to be a weekend of separation in the Big Sky Conference standings as three of the league's top four teams are at home for series against teams from the bottom half of the standings.
League leader Weber State (8-4) hosts Idaho State (5-7), Sacramento State (7-5) hosts Southern Utah (3-9) and Montana (7-5) hosts Portland State (5-6).
The important series between North Dakota (7-5) and Northern Colorado (5-6) in Grand Forks has already been cancelled. That means the Bears are down four league games already, the most games lost to weather for a single team since Montana joined the Big Sky.
If the three leaders who are playing at home this weekend sweep or win two of three, it should help to give further structure to the standings, as in who's playing for a top seed and who's just playing to get into the tournament over the final two weekends of games.
"You might start to see some separation this weekend, and if not, then it's going to be a real cluster," said coach Melanie Meuchel.
"The conference has been a little wild. That's why it's so important to focus on each game. You can't let any games get by you, because those could really matter or dictate toward the end."
Portland State may be in the bottom half of the standings, but the Vikings are one of the Big Sky's better teams.
Had the Vikings held on for a win in a game they led 9-1 over North Dakota or the game they led 4-2 against Idaho State entering the sixth, PSU could quite easily be 7-4 right now and sitting alone in second place in the standings.
Portland State got swept on the road by Sacramento State two weeks ago but dropped three competitive games. The Vikings then traveled last weekend to Northern Colorado, which had been surging, and won the two games that could be played in Greeley.
Portland State is in season No. 2 under coach Meadow McWhorter, who was tasked with returning the Vikings to among the Big Sky's top programs, which is where they were not too many years ago under coach Tobin Echo-Hawk, who took the team to the NCAA tournament in 2013, then bolted for UTEP.
"They've come a long way. Coach Meadow has done a great job with them," said Meuchel. "They're going to be competitive. It will be a good matchup."
Junior right-hander Alyssa Burk started two of the team's three matchups last season and held Montana to three runs over 15 innings as the teams played three one-run games. Burk has eight wins this season and an ERA of 3.55.
"They have a kid who is pitching it well for them, who keeps them in games, and they have some kids who are striking the ball well," said Meuchel.
"We'll need to work defensively to keep them off base or limit their opportunities on base, then take advantage of the opportunities we're given offensively."
Montana leads the all-time series 7-3 and is 3-0 in the teams' games in Missoula. One of those wins at Grizzly Softball Field, a five-inning, 8-0 decision in 2016, was a no-hitter by Maddy Stensby, the first of what is now three no-hitters in program history.
In the series last season at Portland, Montana opened with tense 4-3 and 2-1 eight-inning victories. The Vikings won the third game 2-1.
This weekend's home series will start on Saturday with Cancer Awareness Day, as the program brings additional light to a scourge that has hit (too) close to home for multiple Griz players.
"The day will have a lot of meaning for our team, because it's something that has impacted players on our team, who are our family members, and their extended family members, who are family to our Griz family," said Meuchel.
Meuchel was presented with the idea of holding a Pink Game as an awareness of breast cancer. Since multiple forms of cancer have impacted Montana's players' families, they decided to go with a more all-encompassing approach.
"We talked about a Pink Game, but we wanted to represent different types of cancers for our awareness game," said Meuchel.
"We've had our players pick someone in their life who they've been touched by or that they want to play for or represent. Our players will wear a bow in the color of the cancer that they want to spread awareness for."
Upcoming: Montana will play a three-game series at Northern Colorado next week, then wrap up the regular season with a three-game set against Sacramento State the first weekend of May.
The Grizzlies have won six straight games, they get to play at the facility that seems to put a collective S on the front of their uniforms and a cape on the back, and the weather might, just maybe, be offering up the best version of itself more than 100 days into the 2018 calendar year.
Why wouldn't the Grizzlies want to suit up and play ball? And why wouldn't you want to be there to take it all in?
Montana (21-22, 7-5 BSC) and Portland State (12-29, 5-6 BSC) will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and a single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Montana at a glance: The team that won eight consecutive games, then lost five in a row, has now won six straight, including last weekend's road sweep at Southern Utah and Wednesday's doubleheader shutout sweep of Carroll. The Grizzlies have the longest active winning streak in the Big Sky Conference and have used it to move to within a game of first place in the league standings.
Portland State at a glance: After opening the month with a winless road trip to Sacramento State, the Vikings picked up two important wins last weekend in their weather-shortened series at Northern Colorado, winning twice, 12-4 and 3-2, to remain in the hunt for the postseason. Portland State played a doubleheader on Tuesday at Oregon State, losing twice, 8-0 and 2-1.
Weekend happenings: Saturday will be Cancer Awareness Day at Grizzly Softball Field, with a number of poignant activities and tributes scheduled to take place.
Sunday will be Little League Day. Any youth players wearing their uniform top will get in free of charge. Following the game, Montana's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will be holding a home run derby, open to the first 25 people who sign up. Cost is $7 for eight pitches or five hits, whichever comes first.
Coverage: All three games of the series can be viewed at WatchBigSky.com or Pluto TV channel 237. Sunday's game also will be broadcast by SWX, which can be found on Charter channel 199, over the air on channel 23.3 or on the Watch SWX app.
What's at stake: With four weekends in the books and three to go, and with the matchups scheduled in the Big Sky this week, it could be a time for the top teams in the league to separate themselves and leave the rest behind to fight for the final few tournament spots. More below.
Week in Review:
Game 1: Montana 3, Carroll 0 -- The Grizzlies scored three runs in the first two innings off Saints starter Allison Williams, who defeated Montana 1-0 last fall in an exhibition game, and that was enough for Colleen Driscoll, who threw a shutout to win her third consecutive decision.
Game 2: Montana 9, Carroll 0 -- The Grizzlies completed the sweep and improved to 8-0 against the Saints. Montana used a seven-hit second inning to score eight runs to put the game out of reach early. Eight players had at least one hit, eight scored a run and six had an RBI.
Three to watch for:
When she's on the type of roll she's on now, Delene Colburn's at-bats alone are worth whatever the price of admission is. Carroll failed to get Colburn out in her six at-bats on Wednesday, as the senior shortstop went 4 for 4 with a pair of walks. She's seeing the ball like it's arriving at half speed.
She enters the weekend on both a six-game hitting streak and six-game RBI streak, and it's not surprising that her eruption at the plate after a rare slump has coincided with Montana's six-game winning streak.
She is 10 for 17 during her streak, with a .650 on-base percentage and a .824 slugging percentage, and nine RBIs and six runs scored. The streak has upped her batting average by more than 30 points, from .343 to .376.
Just as hot has been Ashlyn Lyons, who is 8 for 14 the last four games and has had multiple hits in six of the last seven games. That production has spiked Lyons' average as well, taking her from .336 to .366.
Montana's dynamic duo combined to go 8 for 10 on Wednesday against Carroll.
Colleen Driscoll got the opening-game start on Wednesday and went the distance for her second shutout of the season, allowing just four hits while striking out three. It gave Driscoll, who won two games at Southern Utah in relief, three wins in six days.
She enters the weekend with a streak of 13.1 scoreless innings worked and has an ERA of 0.45 during her three-appearance winning streak, with one run and eight hits allowed in 15 2/3 innings.
Montana notes:
* The Grizzlies picked up win No. 100 in program history on Wednesday with their first of two victories over Carroll.
* Montana, at 21-22, is one win away from getting to .500 this season, that after opening the season 1-10.
* The Grizzlies, at 101-107, are six wins away from reaching .500 for their all-time record for the first time. Montana, which went 16-34 in its first season and has been playing catchup ever since, was within three of .500 after improving to 80-83 after winning the Big Sky tournament last spring in Ogden.
* Montana's two wins on Wednesday gave the Grizzlies an 8-2 home record this season and upped their overall record at Grizzly Softball Field to 48-18.
* Gabby Martinez played in her 200th career game on Wednesday night in the second game of the doubleheader. That ranks second on the team behind Delene Colburn's 208. Colburn has started every game Montana has played in its short history.
* With its two shutouts on Wednesday, Montana dropped its league-leading ERA to 3.06. The Grizzlies also lead the league in team fielding percentage (.970).
* Montana batted .375 against Carroll, good enough to lift the Grizzlies out of last place in the Big Sky statistics for team batting average. Montana ranks seven out of eight teams at .245.
* Colburn (.376) and Lyons (.366) both rank in the top five in the Big Sky in batting average. Driscoll has moved up to fourth in ERA (2.52).
* In its sweep of Southern Utah last weekend, Montana scored nine of its 13 runs in the fifth inning or later. In Wednesday's sweep of Carroll, the Grizzlies scored all 12 runs in the first two innings.
* Colburn went 3 for 3 in the opener against Carroll, the 23rd time in her career she has had three or more hits in a game.
* Jessica McAlister had hits in both games against Carroll and finished the doubleheader 3 for 6.
* Lyons' pair of multiple-hit games on Wednesday gives her a team-leading 16 for the season.
* Katie Jo Waletzko's fourth-inning triple in the second game on Wednesday was the sixth hit of her career. Four of her six career hits have gone for extra bases: two doubles, two triples.
* Montana's eight-run second inning in Wednesday's second game was its highest-scoring inning since posting a 10-run fourth against Nevada in early March in Cedar City.
* Haley Young pitched the final three innings of Wednesday's second game. It was her first appearance since March 10 and gave Young her first win of the season, the seventh of her career.
* Montana has held its opponent to three or fewer runs in 17 of its last 19 games.
The state of Montana:
It has the potential to be a weekend of separation in the Big Sky Conference standings as three of the league's top four teams are at home for series against teams from the bottom half of the standings.
League leader Weber State (8-4) hosts Idaho State (5-7), Sacramento State (7-5) hosts Southern Utah (3-9) and Montana (7-5) hosts Portland State (5-6).
The important series between North Dakota (7-5) and Northern Colorado (5-6) in Grand Forks has already been cancelled. That means the Bears are down four league games already, the most games lost to weather for a single team since Montana joined the Big Sky.
If the three leaders who are playing at home this weekend sweep or win two of three, it should help to give further structure to the standings, as in who's playing for a top seed and who's just playing to get into the tournament over the final two weekends of games.
"You might start to see some separation this weekend, and if not, then it's going to be a real cluster," said coach Melanie Meuchel.
"The conference has been a little wild. That's why it's so important to focus on each game. You can't let any games get by you, because those could really matter or dictate toward the end."
Portland State may be in the bottom half of the standings, but the Vikings are one of the Big Sky's better teams.
Had the Vikings held on for a win in a game they led 9-1 over North Dakota or the game they led 4-2 against Idaho State entering the sixth, PSU could quite easily be 7-4 right now and sitting alone in second place in the standings.
Portland State got swept on the road by Sacramento State two weeks ago but dropped three competitive games. The Vikings then traveled last weekend to Northern Colorado, which had been surging, and won the two games that could be played in Greeley.
Portland State is in season No. 2 under coach Meadow McWhorter, who was tasked with returning the Vikings to among the Big Sky's top programs, which is where they were not too many years ago under coach Tobin Echo-Hawk, who took the team to the NCAA tournament in 2013, then bolted for UTEP.
"They've come a long way. Coach Meadow has done a great job with them," said Meuchel. "They're going to be competitive. It will be a good matchup."
Junior right-hander Alyssa Burk started two of the team's three matchups last season and held Montana to three runs over 15 innings as the teams played three one-run games. Burk has eight wins this season and an ERA of 3.55.
"They have a kid who is pitching it well for them, who keeps them in games, and they have some kids who are striking the ball well," said Meuchel.
"We'll need to work defensively to keep them off base or limit their opportunities on base, then take advantage of the opportunities we're given offensively."
Montana leads the all-time series 7-3 and is 3-0 in the teams' games in Missoula. One of those wins at Grizzly Softball Field, a five-inning, 8-0 decision in 2016, was a no-hitter by Maddy Stensby, the first of what is now three no-hitters in program history.
In the series last season at Portland, Montana opened with tense 4-3 and 2-1 eight-inning victories. The Vikings won the third game 2-1.
This weekend's home series will start on Saturday with Cancer Awareness Day, as the program brings additional light to a scourge that has hit (too) close to home for multiple Griz players.
"The day will have a lot of meaning for our team, because it's something that has impacted players on our team, who are our family members, and their extended family members, who are family to our Griz family," said Meuchel.
Meuchel was presented with the idea of holding a Pink Game as an awareness of breast cancer. Since multiple forms of cancer have impacted Montana's players' families, they decided to go with a more all-encompassing approach.
"We talked about a Pink Game, but we wanted to represent different types of cancers for our awareness game," said Meuchel.
"We've had our players pick someone in their life who they've been touched by or that they want to play for or represent. Our players will wear a bow in the color of the cancer that they want to spread awareness for."
Upcoming: Montana will play a three-game series at Northern Colorado next week, then wrap up the regular season with a three-game set against Sacramento State the first weekend of May.
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
C/INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
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