Griz take their winnings to Vegas

Thursday, February 13

Las Vegas, Nev.

7 PM (MT)

Montana

UNLV

Photo by: © Derek Johnson 2019

2/12/2020 4:00:00 PM | Softball

PDF Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team, off to its best five-game start in program history, will play in its second of five early-season tournaments this week when the Grizzlies travel to Las Vegas for UNLV's Marucci Desert Classic.

Montana (4-1) will play games against UNLV (2-3), Utah Valley (3-1) and Weber State (3-2) in a tournament, for the Grizzlies at least, that runs Thursday through Saturday.

Weber State made the NCAA tournament last season. UNLV went 36-14 a year ago and missed out on the postseason despite having an end-of-season RPI of 44.

The schedule:

Thursday, 7 p.m. (MT) -- at UNLV
Friday, 1:30 p.m. (MT) -- vs. Utah Valley
Friday, 6:30 p.m. (MT) -- at UNLV
Saturday, 11 a.m. (MT) -- vs. Utah Valley
Saturday, 1:30 p.m. (MT) -- vs. Weber State

Coverage: All tournament games will have live stats with which to track the action. In addition, the games that involve UNLV will have video coverage.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies went 4-1 at the Big Easy Classic in Metairie, La., their only setback coming by a score of 2-1 in 10 innings against No. 18 Texas Tech. The Grizzlies had one-run wins over Central Arkansas and Louisiana Tech and outscored Jackson State and Alabama A&M 21-4.

At a glance (UNLV): UNLV opened its season hosting the Rebel Kickoff, one of three early-season tournaments it is holding. UNLV had wins over Cal State Northridge and Southern Utah and lost twice to Oregon State and once to Cal State Northridge.

At a glance (Utah Valley): The Wolverines went 15-31 last year and were picked fifth out of seven teams in the WAC preseason poll, so the team's 3-1 start last weekend in Mexico was a nice surprise. Utah Valley had wins over George Washington, Nevada and Long Beach State and a loss to Oregon.

At a glance (Weber State): The defending Big Sky champions and preseason favorites went 3-2 last weekend in Phoenix at Grand Canyon's tournament, with both losses coming against Stanford. The Wildcats picked up a win over New Mexico and two against the host Lopes.

Summary: Montana opened its season at the Big Easy Classic by going 4-1, the best five-game start in program history. The previous best start was 3-2, which the 2016 team did at UC Davis's tournament.

The Grizzlies went 1-9 on opening weekend the previous two years, so these are heady times indeed.

"We have to stay focused on what we're trying to do," said third-year coach Melanie Meuchel. "Last weekend is over. It was a great start for us. We're happy with where we started, but there is a long season sitting in front of us.

"We need to be able to keep the same approach to Griz softball with new opponents this weekend and understand that every time we step on the field, it's going to take a full game to be able to work toward the outcome we all want."

Montana was led defensively by Big Sky Conference Pitcher of the Week Tristin Achenbach and offensively by Big Sky Conference Player of the Week Brooklyn Weisgram.

Achenbach went 3-1 in her four appearances in Metairie -- two as a starter, two in relief -- and finished the tournament with an ERA of 0.28, with one earned run allowed in 25 innings of work.

She struck out 25 while giving up 14 hits and walking just four. Eleven of the 14 hits she allowed were singles, with teams batting .167 against her.

Weisgram was singled out from a collection of worthy players as Montana outscored its opponents 29-11 and had 19 extra-base hits, with 11 home runs.

Weisgram batted a team-best .438 with two home runs and a team-high five runs scored.

The centerfielder also threw out a runner at the plate in the top of the sixth in what would be an extra-innings loss to the ranked Red Raiders on Sunday.

Lost amidst the big numbers Montana put up in Metairie was this: the Grizzlies batted.245 in their five games, 40 points below the .285 they hit last year.

Montana hit 11 home runs at the tournament but seven of them were solo shots, three more had one runner on base.

"It's always nice to have power numbers, but it's also nice to have more than a one-run shot," said Meuchel. "There are multiple ways of getting on base. We need to produce in those ways as well and not only by one swing of the bat, although one swing of the bat is not a bad thing.

"It's something we'll continue to work on and try to develop, the full, total-team offense, being able to pass the bat back, get in big rallies, drive the ball, be able to do a little bit of everything."

Montana-UNLV history: The Grizzlies hold a 2-1 series lead over the Rebels, with all three games taking place in 2017, all at neutral sites. The teams split a pair of games in Hawaii, and Montana won 6-2 in St. George, Utah, with Bethany Olea going 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Montana-Utah Valley history: The Grizzlies have gone 6-1 against the Wolverines, with the teams meeting for the fourth consecutive season this weekend. Montana swept a three-game home series from Utah Valley in 2018 and won two of three in Missoula last year.

Montana-Weber State history: The Grizzlies are 7-12 against the Wildcats and have lost six of the teams' last seven matchups. Montana is 3-3 against Weber State in Missoula, 4-8 in Ogden and 0-1 in neutral-site games, with the Wildcats winning 6-2 at Grand Canyon's tournament in Phoenix in 2018.

Montana notes:

* Montana's 11 home runs in last weekend's season-opening tournament were more than the Grizzlies hit in their season-opening weekends in the program's first five years of existence combined.

* The Grizzlies hit one at New Mexico State's tournament in 2015, one at UC Davis's tournament in 2016, four at Northern Iowa's tournament in 2017 and none the last two years, at Grand Canyon's in 2018 and UC Davis and Sacramento State's shared tournament in 2019.

* Montana's five home runs against Jackson State last Saturday matched the national high on opening weekend. Arizona hit five in its 12-0 victory over Western Michigan, New Mexico State hit five in its 13-4 win over Bradley.

* The five home runs were a single-game program record, topping the four Montana hit in a 9-1 home win over Portland State last season.

* Montana hit at least one home run in all five games last weekend. It's the best in-season streak since hitting a home run in six consecutive games late in the 2015 season.

* Montana's home runs per game average of 2.2 ranks third nationally behind New Mexico State (3.25) and Nebraska (2.4). ... Montana's team ERA of 1.11 is tied for 21st nationally.

* Tristin Achenbach was a bang-bang play at the plate against Texas Tech from going 4-0 last weekend. If she had, she would have stood atop the nation with Utah's Sydney Sandez as the only four-game winners. As it stands, she is one of 23 players tied for second in the nation with three early wins.

* Six Division I players hit four home runs last weekend, including Iowa State's Sami Williams for former Griz coach Jamie Pinkerton. (The Cyclones also opened the season 4-1.) Maygen McGrath was among the 26 who hit three.

* Montana used the same infield starting lineup for all five games at Metairie: junior Cami Sellers at first, freshman Kendall Curtis at second, sophomore Kylie Becker at third and sophomore Maygen McGrath at short.

* Montana also used the same outfield starting lineup in all five games: senior Anne Mari Petrino in left, sophomore Brooklyn Weisgram in center and freshman Julie Phelps in right.

* Senior Morgan Johnson started all five games at designated player.

* The top five spots in the batting order did not change from game to game last weekend: Kylie Becker (1), Kendall Curtis (2), Cami Sellers (3), Morgan Johnson (4) and Maygen McGrath (5).

* Montana has now had at least one freshman starter in the lineup in five of the program's first six years.

* Montana leads the Big Sky in team ERA at 1.11 and ranks third in batting average at .245, coming in behind Sacramento State (.294) and Weber State (.273).

* Montana's three errors on opening weekend were the fewest in the Big Sky and also a program best through five games, topping the four committed by the 2017 team.

* Maygen McGrath (3), Morgan Johnson (2), Jessica McAlister (2) and Brooklyn Weisgram (2) all had multiple home runs on opening weekend.

* McGrath drove in a team-high seven runs, with Johnson adding six.

* Montana's pitchers allowed 23 hits in 38 innings at the Big Easy Classic, just five going for extra bases (four doubles, one home run).

* Tristin Achenbach's 25 strikeouts in Metairie were 11 more than any other Big Sky pitcher totaled last weekend.

* Achenbach threw two complete games in Louisiana, upping her career total to eight.

* Michaela Hood threw the 29th complete game of her career in Montana's 9-1 victory over Jackson State.

* Freshman pitcher Ashley Ward made her collegiate debut in Montana's 12-3 victory over Alabama A&M. She started and went 1 2/3 innings before being relieved by Achenbach as the Grizzlies rallied from a 3-0 deficit after three innings.

* Cami Sellers and Brooklyn Weisgram both reached base in all five games at the Big Easy Classic. ... Maygen McGrath had multiple hits in three of the five games, twice had multiple RBIs.

Upcoming: Montana will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Razorback Invitational from Feb. 21-23, with games against South Dakota State, Boston University, Marist and Arkansas, which is ranked No. 24 in this week's USA Today/NFCA poll.