Softball team heading to Southern California

The Montana softball team will head to Southern California this week to play four games over three days at UC Riverside's Amy S. Harrison Classic.

The Grizzlies will face the Highlanders twice, with single games against Nebraska-Omaha and Michigan State.

Montana is 6-9 on the season after going 1-4 last weekend at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark.

The team's lone win was a 5-0 shutout of No. 23 Arkansas, giving the program its first victory over a ranked opponent in 15 tries.

The Amy S. Harrison Classic is early-season tournament No. 4 of 5 for Montana, which will play at the Grand Canyon Lopes Up Classic in Phoenix from March 6-8.

Montana will play five games in three days on a trip to Utah Valley and BYU in mid-March before opening its Big Sky Conference schedule at Idaho State the last weekend in March.

The schedule:

Friday, 10 a.m. (MT) -- at UC Riverside
Saturday, 10 a.m. (MT) -- vs. Nebraska-Omaha
Saturday, 12:30 p.m. (MT) -- vs. Michigan State
Sunday, 12:30 p.m. (MT) -- at UC Riverside

The field:

UC Riverside has the same record as Montana at 6-9. The Highlanders opened 0-3, then won six in a row before losing six straight. UCR is scoring 5.4 runs per game on .305 batting. Against Big Sky opponents, UC Riverside is 1-1, splitting with Idaho State on its home field two weeks ago.

The Highlanders went 26-27 last season and finished sixth out of eight teams in the Big West at 8-13. UCR was picked sixth in the Big West preseason coaches' poll last month.

Nebraska-Omaha, a Division II powerhouse years ago, is 7-7 this season, with six of those games being played against New Mexico State. UNO has a team batting average of .323 and is averaging more than 6.5 runs per game but also has a team ERA of 5.87.

Nebraska-Omaha has already surpassed its number of wins from last season, when the Mavericks went 4-43 under first-year coach Amanda Eberhart. That team went 2-16 in Summit League games. UNO was picked to finish seventh out of seven teams in this year's poll.

Michigan State is 3-10 after two trips to Florida and one to South Carolina. The Spartans' wins have come against Pittsburgh, Harvard and Florida Gulf Coast. MSU has a sparkling 2.20 team ERA but is hitting .233, with just 16 extra-base hits in 13 games.

Michigan State went 16-34 last season and finished 13th out of 14 teams in the Big Ten at 4-18.

Storylines:

* Another tournament, another homecoming: When Montana plays at UC Riverside's tournament this weekend, the Grizzlies will be playing one mile from John W. North High School, which freshman Julie Phelps attended just last year.

She was raised in the Orangecrest neighborhood of Riverside, and the team will descend upon her house for dinner one of the nights it is in town.

But it's not just Phelps who is from Southern California, a recruiting hotspot that has been good to the Grizzlies over the years. Cami Sellers is from Los Alamitos, McKenna Tjaden from Murrieta.

Between that and the family members who travel with the team and other friends and relatives who live in Southern California, Montana should feel right at home at Amy S. Harrison Field.

"We're fortunate that we go to a lot of places that our current players are from," said coach Melanie Meuchel. "It becomes one big family.

"I asked yesterday how many players had people coming this weekend and all but three raised their hands. It's a sign of how many people follow our program and how many friends and relatives are in the area."

* Montana collects a first: Now that the Grizzlies have knocked off a ranked opponent for the first time, about the only thing they have left to do for the first time is for a player to hit for the cycle and for one to throw a perfect game.

Montana had its latest first on Saturday, when it knocked off No. 23 Arkansas on its home field by a score of 5-0, with Michaela Hood throwing a three-hitter to shut out the Razorbacks on their home field for the first time in nearly two years.

The Grizzlies had been 0-14 against ranked opponents, with just 10 runs scored in those games. Against Arkansas, Montana scored five runs on five hits in the top of the first, and Hood took it from there.

* When 4-1 turns to 1-4: Montana could have had the same type of success it had at its season-opening tournament in Louisiana, where the Grizzlies went 4-1, over the weekend in Fayetteville.

Montana held a lead in four of its five games. In their other, the Grizzlies were tied with Boston University entering the seventh.

Montana held its five opponents to a combined total of three runs through the first four innings of those five games. Those teams scored 20 runs in the fifth and sixth innings, as wins slipped away.

"I don't think we are playing our best on every side of the ball. We've been able to hang on and hang on and hang on, but we haven't been able to put some people away," said Meuchel.

"This team is gritty and this group is tough. I think we're close to breaking out in every aspect of the ball. We have a competitive group that is not okay losing those types of games.

"We're learning a lot about ourselves, and we're going to keep growing until we can put those games away and get the outcome we're looking for."

* How tournament formats help offset a disappointing outcome: After Montana gave up a four-run fifth to South Dakota State in a 5-2 loss in its tournament opener at Arkansas, the Grizzlies didn't have to wait long to get right back on the field.

They actually played the next game. It was less than 30 minutes before they took on Boston University.

Montana took a 3-1 lead on Marist into the bottom of the fifth on Saturday night. After that turned into a 9-5 loss, the Grizzlies had a quick turnaround. They faced South Dakota State in the first game Sunday morning.

"You never forget, but it allows you to have a short-term memory. You have a chance to kind of redeem yourself within hours or the very next day," said Meuchel.

"For our first six weeks, it's an abundance of games over a three-day period. You can kind of go through the ebbs and flows in a short period."

* The next step in the three-month process: It feels like Montana has already played a ton of games and has been through a lot, but it was less than three weeks ago that the Grizzlies were preparing for their season opener against Central Arkansas.

Unlike other sports, softball scheduling brings it hard and heavy right from the start. Five games, back home for a few practices, five games, back home for a few practices, repeat for weeks.

"We're going into Weekend 4, so teams are starting to figure themselves out a little bit now," said Meuchel.

"This can be a critical weekend. You hope you're always growing, but by Weekend 4 you hope you're starting to establish some things as you work closer to midseason."

Montana notes:

* Senior Michaela Hood earned her fourth career Big Sky Conference Pitcher of the Week award on Monday for her efforts at the Razorback Invitational.

In four appearances covering 19 2/3 innings, Hood went 1-1 with a 0.71 ERA and 20 strikeouts, with a masterpiece against Arkansas.

* Montana batted .241 in Arkansas, which raised the Grizzlies' season average to .216. ... Montana ranks second in the Big Sky in team ERA at 2.84, behind Sacramento State at 2.48, but sixth out of seven teams in batting average.

The Grizzlies continue to be the Big Sky's top defensive team, with just nine errors through 15 games, a fielding percentage of .978. Montana had three errors in its 4-2 loss to Utah Valley in Las Vegas but hasn't had more than one in any other game.

* Montana's six wins through 15 games matches the best start in program history. The 2016 team also won six games through 15 played. The 2017 NCAA tournament team won five, the 2018 team four, the 2019 team three, the 2015 team two.

* Montana also played at the Amy S. Harrison Classic in 2018, going 2-2. The Grizzlies had wins over New Mexico and UC Riverside and lost twice to George Washington.

* Montana is 1-0 against UC Riverside in its history, 1-3 against Nebraska-Omaha. The Mavericks traveled to Missoula in 2016 and split two games against the Grizzlies. UNO won twice over Montana in 2017, first at Northern Iowa's dome tournament then later in St. George, Utah.

* Montana will be playing Michigan State for the first time. The Grizzlies are 0-3 against the Big Ten, going 0-1 against Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern.

* Montana's 11 hits against Marist on Saturday night were a season high. Four of them went for extra bases, with two home runs and two doubles. It was the Grizzlies' third multiple-home run game of the season.

* Montana does not have anyone in the top 12 in the Big Sky in batting average. Maygen McGrath ranks 13th at .326. She leads the Big Sky with five home runs.

* Michaela Hood leads the Big Sky in ERA at 1.64. Tristin Achenbach leads the league in strikeouts with 55. Hood ranks second with 45.

Upcoming: Montana will conclude its tournament schedule next week at the Grand Canyon Lopes Up Classic in Phoenix. The Grizzlies will play two games against Saint Joseph's, two against Grand Canyon, one against UNLV, which is 2-0 against Montana this season.

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Players Mentioned

Tristin Achenbach

Michaela Hood

Maygen McGrath

Julie Phelps

Cami Sellers

McKenna Tjaden

University of Montana Athletics