Montana opens season at Big Easy Classic

Friday, February 7

Metairie, La.

8:30 AM (MT)

Montana

Central Arkansas

Photo by: © Derek Johnson 2019

2/5/2020 4:03:00 PM | Softball

PDF Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team will open its season this week when the Grizzlies play five games in three days at the Big Easy Classic.

The seven-team tournament, which features a pair of teams that advanced to last spring's NCAA tournament, is being hosted by Louisiana Tech and played at LaSalle Park in Metairie, La.

The tournament field includes the Grizzlies and host Lady Techsters, plus Alabama A&M, Central Arkansas, Houston Baptist, Jackson State and Texas Tech.

Montana will play every opponent in the tournament field except Houston Baptist.

The schedule:

Friday, 8:30 a.m. (MT) -- vs. Central Arkansas
Friday, 1:30 p.m. (MT) -- vs. Louisiana Tech
Saturday, 8:30 a.m. (MT) -- vs. Jackson State
Saturday, 11 a.m. (MT) -- vs. Alabama A&M
Sunday, 9 a.m. (MT) -- vs. (18) Texas Tech

The field:

* Montana went 25-31 a year ago, 10-8 in league to finish third, and saw its season come to an end in the Big Sky Conference tournament. The Grizzlies, with eight position starters back and two returning starting pitchers, tied for third in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll.

* Central Arkansas went 26-28 last year, finishing eighth out of 12 teams in the Southland Conference at 12-15. The Bears return six starters and three pitchers from that team. Central Arkansas was picked to finish seventh in the Southland preseason poll.

* Louisiana Tech went 45-16 last season and shared the Conference USA regular-season title at 19-5 with North Texas. The Lady Techsters won the conference tournament and went 1-2 at the Baton Rouge NCAA regional. Louisiana Tech tied for third in the preseason coaches' poll, sophomore infielder Lindsay Edwards was voted the Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year.

* Jackson State went 13-36 a year ago and finished sixth out of 10 teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference with a 7-11 league record. The Tigers were picked to finish fourth out of five teams in the SWAC Eastern Division in the preseason poll.

* Alabama A&M went 24-19 a year ago and finished third, while topping the Eastern Division of the SWAC, at 11-7 in league. The Bulldogs were picked second in the East in the preseason poll, with senior shortstop Tamia Lee-Barbadillo being named the SWAC Preseason Player of the Year.

* Texas Tech went 42-16 a year ago and made its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2012, winning three games at the Baton Rouge regional. Texas Tech is ranked in the preseason top 25 in all three national polls (18 in two, 19 in the other) for the first time, senior centerfielder Kari Hamilton was named third-team preseason all-America by Softball America.

Montana notes:

* The Grizzlies went 5-20 through their early-season, five-tournament schedule last year, then went 19-9 through the rest of the regular season.

* Montana won its final six league games and finished 10-8 to place third behind 14-2 Weber State and 10-7 Idaho State.

* Montana lost 1-0 to Northern Colorado in its opening game of the Big Sky tournament at Sacramento, Calif., then rebounded with an 11-5 victory over Portland State.

* The Grizzlies' season came to an end with an 8-2 loss to Sacramento State.

* Maddy Stensby, who had six wins and a 3.99 ERA while batting .303, was voted first-team All-Big Sky at the pitcher/utility position. She was one of two seniors on last year's team.

* Cami Sellers, who batted a team-best .374 and led the Big Sky in extra-base hits with 31, was voted second-team All-Big Sky and the league's Top Newcomer.

* Catcher Jessica McAlister, third baseman Kylie Becker and pitcher Colleen Driscoll were all honorable mention All-Big Sky. Driscoll was the team's other senior last year.

* Montana's starting infield last season is back, with Sellers (first base), Lexi Knauss (second base), Kylie Becker (third base) and Maygen McGrath (shortstop).

* Knauss and McGrath were the only two Grizzlies to start all 56 games last season.

* Outfielders Anne Mari Petrino, Kylie Hayton and Brooklyn Weisgram all return. All started 44 or more games last season.

* Outfielder Katie Pippel, who went from tryout keeper in the fall to having the team's second-best batting average of .337 in the spring, is redshirting this season.

* Junior pitcher Tristin Achenbach returns after recording seven wins and a 3.96 ERA last season. Her 16 strikeouts in Montana's 5-1 home win over Carroll were a Big Sky Conference record.

* Senior Michaela Hood went 18-7 with a 2.31 ERA as a freshman to earn first-team All-Big Sky honors in 2017. She won nine games combined as a sophomore and junior.

* Sellers had a program-record 18-game hitting streak between March 17 and April 20.

* When Montana plays Texas Tech on Sunday, the Grizzlies will be facing a ranked opponent for the 14th time in program history. Montana is 0-13 against ranked opponents.

* Montana will be playing games against Central Arkansas, Louisiana Tech, Jackson State and Alabama A&M for the first time. The Grizzlies are 1-1 against Texas Tech.

* Montana was scheduled to play in Louisiana Tech's tournament early in the 2015 season, but the event was cancelled due to approaching weather.

* Montana tied for third with Portland State in the preseason coaches' poll. Weber State, with five first-place votes, was picked first, followed by Sacramento State. The Hornets collected one first-place vote, as did the Vikings.

* Montana gets both Weber State and Sacramento State at home this season, the Hornets on April 17-18, the Wildcats to close out the regular season on May 1-2.

* Montana went 16-3 at Grizzly Softball Field last season. That .842 winning percentage was the best in program history and upped Montana's record in home games to 66-25 (.725) all-time.

* Idaho State, Northern Colorado and Southern Utah filled out the bottom three spots in the preseason poll. ISU and SUU are both under new head coaches.

Opening week storylines:

* Mother Nature with the assist: Last year Montana was snowed off its field for the months of January and February and the first half of March. This year the Grizzlies have had almost full access to their field.

The indoor practice facility sitting behind the grandstand is nice, but there is nothing like getting outside.

"The difference has been night and day," said third-year coach Melanie Meuchel. "You can simulate, you can do different drills, you can create environments that put you in the best situation possible to be able to compete on Day 1, but the fact is our sport is meant to be played outside.

"We've spent a lot of time outside. You take it for granted until you get it taken away, like last year did to us. We're trying to take advantage as much as we can on the field."

* Meuchel returns to Louisiana: Head coach Melanie Meuchel got her start in Division I softball when she took an assistant coaching job at McNeese State for the 2003 and '04 seasons.

She is very familiar with Louisiana Tech, as the Lady Techsters formerly competed in the same conference as Nevada, where Meuchel was an assistant from 2006-12.

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are ranked No. 10 in the nation, followed one spot later by the school 40 miles to the east: LSU.

The state takes its softball seriously.

"We haven't traveled down to the South much," said Meuchel. "It will be fun to experience the environment of softball down there. It's a pretty big deal."

* When Montana plays Central Arkansas on Friday morning, it will be the first time the Griz softball team has played a game east of the Mississippi. And barely. Metairie butts up against the Mississippi, squeezed in as it is on three miles of land between the river and Lake Pontchartrain.

The tournament should be dry, with daytime highs getting warmer through the weekend, from 61 on Friday to 70 on Sunday.

* New uniforms almost all the way around: Montana has played Texas Tech twice, including the second game in program history, at Las Cruces, N.M., in 2015.

The Grizzlies would lose 8-5 but in the top of the first had a pair of firsts: When MaKenna McGill scored, it was the first run in program history and gave Montana its first lead in program history.

Montana defeated Texas Tech 8-5 in Tulsa, Okla., in 2017 in the teams' second meeting. Michaela Hood threw three scoreless innings in relief to get the win, Bethany Olea, Madison Saacke and Anne Mari Petrino each had two hits.

The other four teams Montana plays this weekend will all be first-time opponents.

"It will be fun to see different opponents. Sometimes we show up at similar tournaments and play teams we've played previously, even earlier that season," said Meuchel. "This will be a tournament when we've seen one of the opponents in the history of Griz softball.

"Our staff has done a good job trying to dig up as much information as we can for our scout stuff. We're preparing the team to be who we are, then we'll address each team as we go along. Mostly I just want to be us and take pride in what we do well."

* For as much continuity as there is from last season to this, there was an addition to the staff. Assistant coach Sarah O'Brien joined the program in August after spending the last nine years coaching in Texas.

Her last time on the field for a regular-season game prior to Friday's season opener was May 19, when Houston, where she was on staff, lost at Texas in an NCAA regional game.

"She brings a lot of intensity and a lot of excitement, and she's a good teacher of the game," said Meuchel, who didn't have a full-time assistant on her staff last season.

"She definitely strengthens our staff not only in numbers, but we all feed very well off each other. We've had the ability to spend more individual time with our players which helps in their growth in the game."

* Montana goes into the season with three pitchers, down from four last year, five in 2018.

It's a balance, between having enough arms to cover for any lost time to injury and the opportunity for development, and getting everyone the innings they need and want.

This year Montana will go with senior Michaela Hood, junior Tristin Achenbach and freshman Ashley Ward, the Gatorade Nevada Softball Player of the Year last spring at Coronado High in Henderson.

All will get meaningful innings and opportunities this weekend.

"I think we're in a very good spot with our pitchers right now. We're at a good number, and they complement each other," said Meuchel, who oversees the staff. "They're excited about the opportunities that are in front of them.

"The goal for this weekend is really for them to give us the best they can give us for the amount of time they can give it to us. With three, they'll get enough time."

Upcoming: Montana will play at UNLV's Marucci Desert Classic next week in Las Vegas, with games scheduled Thursday through Saturday. Montana will get two games against UNLV, two against Utah Valley, one against Weber State.