Griz softball team opens season
1/13/2021 7:44:00 PM | Softball
When the Montana softball team flew out of Phoenix on March 8, returning home from the Grand Canyon Lopes Up Classic after winning three of five games, two weeks after picking up the first victory over a ranked opponent in program history -- 5-0 at No. 23 Arkansas -- one week after blanking another Power 5 program, this time Michigan State 6-0, little did they know what was in store for them.
None of us did. The coronavirus was a thing, but it wasn't THE THING THAT WOULD DISRUPT ALL.
After five weeks of distant tournaments, which concluded with the best start -- 12-12 -- in program history, the Grizzlies were looking forward to a rare weekend off before traveling to Utah early the next week for five games. The start of the Big Sky Conference schedule was just down the road from that.
Who knew the road would have a sharp bend that few saw coming, that came largely without warning?
As unpredictable as the games are, athletics in general are based on structure. Games form a schedule. Practices will be on these days at these times. Here is our travel itinerary for the road trip ahead. The postseason will begin on this date at this location. Please purchase your tickets in advance to guarantee your seat.
The worst a softball team might endure? A challenging trip filled with flight delays and missed connections. Maybe a rainout. Maybe the postgame pizza delivered to the hotel wasn't hot.
Now, 10 months after the team returned to Missoula, those look like the most minor of inconveniences. Shame on us for ever making mountains out of what were not even speed bumps. What can we say? We were all spoiled, overly comfortable, unappreciative. The coronavirus reset everyone's perspective.
The road trip to Utah was canceled first. A team that thrives on structure, that was in the middle of something special, was left feeling aimless, without answers, because no one had them. No games next week? What ... what are we supposed to do? They were every college athlete everywhere.
Then the start of the Big Sky Conference schedule was pushed back to mid-April, which everyone thought might give us enough time to get a handle on what exactly we were dealing with. Nope.
Then it was canceled outright. There was no safety net, just the announcement that things were over. Everyone was left to handle it the best they could.
The fall, then, became the beacon of hope, the light at the end of the tunnel, when everything would finally be back to normal. The team would reconvene, practices would commence, always under sunny skies and light breezes, exhibition games would be hosted and everything would be right once again in the world.
Then the fall was canceled, outside of practices and whatever the team could do competing against each other. Just like that, they were back on an island, just them. Together but not doing what they had been wired all these years to do. The reward, the games that they just wanted to play once again, was the carrot that could never be reached.
"They were long months," says Cami Sellers, one of the most feared hitters in the Big Sky. "Unexpected, but we were always hopeful."
A new hope is born this week, as the 2021 team begins practices for the season ahead. Should things go according to plan -- and we won't hold our breath thinking they will -- Montana will open its season back in Phoenix on Feb. 12, back at Grand Canyon for a tournament.
It would complete a circle that took 11 months to circumnavigate, but the route that circle took was one nobody was expecting. Even February won't be the true end point, just the next milepost that everyone hopes isn't the next mirage.
"This team has been put in circumstances and times that have been very challenging," says coach Melanie Meuchel. "And everything that's been asked of them, they seem to rise to the occasion and do what's asked.
"They come to practice every day hungry for softball, hungry to see what this team can be. I respect them for that. I appreciate them for that. I'm thankful we're all in this together as we navigate toward the spring."
When Montana last walked off the field of competition, following a 4-2 loss to Saint Joseph's, the Grizzlies had won 12 of their first 24 games largely because of their pitching and defense.
They led the Big Sky in both, with a 2.55 ERA and a team fielding percentage of .970, with fewer errors (20) than games played (24), the most of encouraging of signs for a part of the game that can take time to catch up as the season rolls along.
When the season was shut down, Tristin Achenbach led the league in wins, with nine, and strikeouts, with 76. Her ERA of 2.57 ranked fourth.
She overpowered high school players in Montana as a prep, putting up comic-book strikeout numbers. BAM! POW! In her first two years as a Grizzly, she was a thrower trying to learn how to become a Division I pitcher. The partial 2020 season was her breakout, a glimpse of what was to come.
"She has always been a good pitcher. It's just been learning the next level," says Meuchel. "She's continued to develop the mental structure to be an excellent Division I pitcher. Putting that all together, we were starting to see how amazing she is on the mound."
Achenbach may be soft-spoken but she is a huge presence on the team. Part of it is the position she plays. But more of it has to do with her countenance, her competitiveness, her composure, her drive to accept nothing but the best from herself and, by extension, her teammates. She brings them along as she strives for greatness.
"She has such a competitive desire, and her work ethic is unmatched by many. She puts in a lot of work to be great," says Meuchel. "She is a driven individual, and she pushes the people around her to be excellent. She just sets a tone."
Gone is Michaela Hood, who won 30 games in her career and struck out 388, both program records.
Alongside Achenbach this season will be sophomore Ashley Ward, who made just five pitching appearances in 24 games last spring but made some noise with her bat, most notably her three-run, pinch-hit home run that broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth against Michigan State.
Montana brought in a pair of freshmen, Allie Brock from La Grande, Ore., and Anna Toon of Great Falls, the latter more utility player than strictly pitcher.
Toon was voted the Gatorade Montana Player of the Year as a junior and senior, but it's Brock, the Oregon Class 4A Pitcher of the Year as a sophomore and junior, who quiets Meuchel when the coach is asked about her freshman.
She is excited about her and doesn't want to give away any secrets. So she keeps it general and quite bland, poker-facing it along the way in a nothing-to-see here tone. "She is a very talented pitcher. She has a lot of tools," Meuchel says succinctly but wanting, wanting so badly, to say so much more. You can just tell.
Sometimes saying less reveals the most of all.
What will make Montana's pitchers even better is what they have behind them. And that's a rock-solid defense, the first line of which is the infield, which by this point feels like it's been together for half a decade.
Sellers at first. Lexi Knauss at second. Kylie Becker at third. Maygen McGrath at short. It feels like they've been playing together their entire lives.
Sellers is the pitcher whisperer. Knauss the fun, irrepressible one. Becker the one who only looks right if her uniform is dirty. And McGrath the tall, smooth destroyer of wanna-be hits into the hole and up the middle.
"We went through two years in the program with a very youthful group that has solidified positions," said Meuchel. "Those players now have a lot of experience, a lot of game time and have really molded into a unit."
McGrath was doing it all at the plate through 24 games last season. She not only led the team with a .338 batting average, she had a .662 slugging percentage, with 11 of her 25 hits going for extra bases, including a team-leading six home runs.
That Sellers was batting a (for her) middling .297 put her on a parallel track to 2019, when she started (for her) slowly, then batted .455 over the final 32 games of the season.
She became so automatic, so destructive, it was actually surprising when teams got her out. And even when they did, it felt like it was on a line drive. She was locked in like few in program history have been.
"She just has a presence in the box. Everyone knows it when she comes up. She is a hitter, a true offensive competitor, and people know that," says Meuchel.
"She's pretty hungry to enjoy the year that's sitting in front of her. I expect great production, offensively and defensively. I think we'll continue to see a maturity level in her game."
That's not to say that quartet possesses a hegemony over the infield positions. If there is anything that has defined the program over the years, it's this: nobody's spot is safe. It needs to be earned, earned and then earned again, because Meuchel only recruits players who won't sit back. They want to play now.
Which can be antithetical to the concept of team, but it's done in a healthy way, in an environment that thrives on competition but also support of one another, in equal measure. It's a fine line, one Meuchel obsesses over.
"I think healthy competition within a team makes a team grow," she says. "If everyone understands that we're attempting to get the best out of every single individual within our program, then we're all in a good place. Then we're all getting better and growing within that."
No matter what happens, she tells them, be ready. You never know when I'll call your number. It might be tomorrow, the next game, the next inning, the next at-bat. "Take your role and do the best with what your role is today. But know your role could change tomorrow. It could change partway through today."
Kendall Curtis filled in ably for an injured Knauss in the fall of 2019, then got eight starts last season at second base, three more in right field.
She is the latest epitome of what Meuchel most cherishes in her athletes: versatility and a desire to be on the field, in whatever position or role that that means. Add Jaxie Klucewich to that group.
And freshman Kelly Sweyer, a player without a preferred position except the one she's playing that day. Put her somewhere and she'll own it.
"I'm excited for the new additions who will compete and push the people who have played a large number of games in their careers," says Meuchel.
"We brought in some great, young talent that will push our veteran infield. We're always looking for who is going to produce and who is going to fit in best offensively and defensively."
Two-thirds of the outfield is covered by returners. Brooklyn Weisgram started 21 of 24 games in center last season, Julie Phelps started 19 games in right.
That's not to say they are shoo-ins to slot right back into a starting position. Such thinking is anathema to Meuchel and the ethos of her program, but they were starting for a reason.
Weisgram has shown she has a big bat and a bigger arm. Phelps had a respectable start to her career, picking up a dozen hits in her first 23 games played.
Klucewich spent some time in left during the team's two intra-squad scrimmages in the fall. And then there is the Ontiveros factor, as in Elise Ontiveros, who Meuchel has been raving about since the day the outfielder from Bakersfield, Calif., committed. The one Power 5 programs missed out on.
She is 5-foot-11 of ground-covering speed, the type of player who would have been just fine playing in Eddie Feigner's court: one pitcher, one catcher, an infielder, one outfielder, who covered from foul line to foul line, dirt to warning track. That's Ontiveros.
"I'm excited about that group," said Meuchel. "It's a group that works so hard at continuing to elevate their skillset, and I think they are already pretty skilled."
If there is one I-have-no-idea position, according to Meuchel, it's at catcher. She has three players, each with her own strengths, unique from the others. Each has the game to start. Only one can.
Jessica McAlister, with 115 games played, 102 started both at catcher and third base, is the most experienced. But it was McKenna Tjaden who got the start in 16 of 24 games last season.
Then there is freshman Riley Stockton, who you did not get the pleasure of seeing in person last fall like you normally would have. She hits the ball so hard you feel sorry for it.
"It's a very competitive position for us," said Meuchel. "They excel in certain areas, and each of them has a skillset over the others, so they really complement each other.
"I'm excited by the arm strength we have, the communication, the ability to help control the pitchers. And all of them have shown great production at the plate. It will be fun. I would feel comfortable with any one of them in the game."
You might be wondering, what about the lost exhibition games last fall? Will that impact Montana as it gears up to play next month?
Meuchel doesn't think so. In fact, she thinks it may have been an even better fall playing against themselves. In the fall of 2019, Montana won its eight exhibition games by a score of 156-3. That's fun but where is the shared challenge, from where comes the growth when weaknesses are never exposed?
Last fall Sellers had to face Achenbach, and Achenbach had to face Sellers, two of the Big Sky's best, during the team's two scrimmages.
"We didn't have the outside competition, but we had the opportunity to compete against Division I athletes, and I think we really gained from that level of competition," says Meuchel.
What was lost is the camaraderie that is created, no matter the level of competition in the other dugout, teammate cheering on and supporting teammate.
"Being able to compete against ourselves and the skillsets we have within our team made us great competitors. It elevated our game and showed us areas we need to continue to develop and work on," said Meuchel.
"The one thing we didn't have was Griz Softball all in one dugout, competing against an opposing team. But I think more was gained than what was lost."
It's opening day and once again hungry eyes look forward. Montana hopes to kick off the season at Grand Canyon's tournament, hopes to see there Oregon, which was 22-2 when last March rolled around. The Grizzlies are up for some Duck hunting.
There are more things in the works, but they are not yet under contract. Everything is in the "If we can ..." stage. If we can play, we'll be there. If we can host, we'll let you know. If, if, if.
It's not the ideal way to go into a season, but the coronavirus is still having the final say on so much, especially athletics and its schedules. It leaves athletes twisting in the wind, in control of themselves and little else.
But these Grizzlies have been hardened, in a good way. What was so promising last spring was taken away. They accepted and adapted. Same thing in the fall. If they have to do it again, they will.
"I hope when we look back, we'll see the inner strength that we were able to find at the hardest time in pretty much everybody's life," said Meuchel.
"This has altered everybody's life in some fashion, so we try to talk about being grateful for what we have."
Softball season, in whatever form that takes, is here. And for that we can all be grateful.
None of us did. The coronavirus was a thing, but it wasn't THE THING THAT WOULD DISRUPT ALL.
After five weeks of distant tournaments, which concluded with the best start -- 12-12 -- in program history, the Grizzlies were looking forward to a rare weekend off before traveling to Utah early the next week for five games. The start of the Big Sky Conference schedule was just down the road from that.
Who knew the road would have a sharp bend that few saw coming, that came largely without warning?
As unpredictable as the games are, athletics in general are based on structure. Games form a schedule. Practices will be on these days at these times. Here is our travel itinerary for the road trip ahead. The postseason will begin on this date at this location. Please purchase your tickets in advance to guarantee your seat.
The worst a softball team might endure? A challenging trip filled with flight delays and missed connections. Maybe a rainout. Maybe the postgame pizza delivered to the hotel wasn't hot.
Now, 10 months after the team returned to Missoula, those look like the most minor of inconveniences. Shame on us for ever making mountains out of what were not even speed bumps. What can we say? We were all spoiled, overly comfortable, unappreciative. The coronavirus reset everyone's perspective.
The road trip to Utah was canceled first. A team that thrives on structure, that was in the middle of something special, was left feeling aimless, without answers, because no one had them. No games next week? What ... what are we supposed to do? They were every college athlete everywhere.
Then the start of the Big Sky Conference schedule was pushed back to mid-April, which everyone thought might give us enough time to get a handle on what exactly we were dealing with. Nope.
Then it was canceled outright. There was no safety net, just the announcement that things were over. Everyone was left to handle it the best they could.
The fall, then, became the beacon of hope, the light at the end of the tunnel, when everything would finally be back to normal. The team would reconvene, practices would commence, always under sunny skies and light breezes, exhibition games would be hosted and everything would be right once again in the world.
Then the fall was canceled, outside of practices and whatever the team could do competing against each other. Just like that, they were back on an island, just them. Together but not doing what they had been wired all these years to do. The reward, the games that they just wanted to play once again, was the carrot that could never be reached.
"They were long months," says Cami Sellers, one of the most feared hitters in the Big Sky. "Unexpected, but we were always hopeful."
A new hope is born this week, as the 2021 team begins practices for the season ahead. Should things go according to plan -- and we won't hold our breath thinking they will -- Montana will open its season back in Phoenix on Feb. 12, back at Grand Canyon for a tournament.
It would complete a circle that took 11 months to circumnavigate, but the route that circle took was one nobody was expecting. Even February won't be the true end point, just the next milepost that everyone hopes isn't the next mirage.
"This team has been put in circumstances and times that have been very challenging," says coach Melanie Meuchel. "And everything that's been asked of them, they seem to rise to the occasion and do what's asked.
"They come to practice every day hungry for softball, hungry to see what this team can be. I respect them for that. I appreciate them for that. I'm thankful we're all in this together as we navigate toward the spring."
When Montana last walked off the field of competition, following a 4-2 loss to Saint Joseph's, the Grizzlies had won 12 of their first 24 games largely because of their pitching and defense.
They led the Big Sky in both, with a 2.55 ERA and a team fielding percentage of .970, with fewer errors (20) than games played (24), the most of encouraging of signs for a part of the game that can take time to catch up as the season rolls along.
When the season was shut down, Tristin Achenbach led the league in wins, with nine, and strikeouts, with 76. Her ERA of 2.57 ranked fourth.
She overpowered high school players in Montana as a prep, putting up comic-book strikeout numbers. BAM! POW! In her first two years as a Grizzly, she was a thrower trying to learn how to become a Division I pitcher. The partial 2020 season was her breakout, a glimpse of what was to come.
"She has always been a good pitcher. It's just been learning the next level," says Meuchel. "She's continued to develop the mental structure to be an excellent Division I pitcher. Putting that all together, we were starting to see how amazing she is on the mound."
Achenbach may be soft-spoken but she is a huge presence on the team. Part of it is the position she plays. But more of it has to do with her countenance, her competitiveness, her composure, her drive to accept nothing but the best from herself and, by extension, her teammates. She brings them along as she strives for greatness.
"She has such a competitive desire, and her work ethic is unmatched by many. She puts in a lot of work to be great," says Meuchel. "She is a driven individual, and she pushes the people around her to be excellent. She just sets a tone."
Gone is Michaela Hood, who won 30 games in her career and struck out 388, both program records.
Alongside Achenbach this season will be sophomore Ashley Ward, who made just five pitching appearances in 24 games last spring but made some noise with her bat, most notably her three-run, pinch-hit home run that broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth against Michigan State.
Montana brought in a pair of freshmen, Allie Brock from La Grande, Ore., and Anna Toon of Great Falls, the latter more utility player than strictly pitcher.
Toon was voted the Gatorade Montana Player of the Year as a junior and senior, but it's Brock, the Oregon Class 4A Pitcher of the Year as a sophomore and junior, who quiets Meuchel when the coach is asked about her freshman.
She is excited about her and doesn't want to give away any secrets. So she keeps it general and quite bland, poker-facing it along the way in a nothing-to-see here tone. "She is a very talented pitcher. She has a lot of tools," Meuchel says succinctly but wanting, wanting so badly, to say so much more. You can just tell.
Sometimes saying less reveals the most of all.
What will make Montana's pitchers even better is what they have behind them. And that's a rock-solid defense, the first line of which is the infield, which by this point feels like it's been together for half a decade.
Sellers at first. Lexi Knauss at second. Kylie Becker at third. Maygen McGrath at short. It feels like they've been playing together their entire lives.
Sellers is the pitcher whisperer. Knauss the fun, irrepressible one. Becker the one who only looks right if her uniform is dirty. And McGrath the tall, smooth destroyer of wanna-be hits into the hole and up the middle.
"We went through two years in the program with a very youthful group that has solidified positions," said Meuchel. "Those players now have a lot of experience, a lot of game time and have really molded into a unit."
McGrath was doing it all at the plate through 24 games last season. She not only led the team with a .338 batting average, she had a .662 slugging percentage, with 11 of her 25 hits going for extra bases, including a team-leading six home runs.
That Sellers was batting a (for her) middling .297 put her on a parallel track to 2019, when she started (for her) slowly, then batted .455 over the final 32 games of the season.
She became so automatic, so destructive, it was actually surprising when teams got her out. And even when they did, it felt like it was on a line drive. She was locked in like few in program history have been.
"She just has a presence in the box. Everyone knows it when she comes up. She is a hitter, a true offensive competitor, and people know that," says Meuchel.
"She's pretty hungry to enjoy the year that's sitting in front of her. I expect great production, offensively and defensively. I think we'll continue to see a maturity level in her game."
That's not to say that quartet possesses a hegemony over the infield positions. If there is anything that has defined the program over the years, it's this: nobody's spot is safe. It needs to be earned, earned and then earned again, because Meuchel only recruits players who won't sit back. They want to play now.
Which can be antithetical to the concept of team, but it's done in a healthy way, in an environment that thrives on competition but also support of one another, in equal measure. It's a fine line, one Meuchel obsesses over.
"I think healthy competition within a team makes a team grow," she says. "If everyone understands that we're attempting to get the best out of every single individual within our program, then we're all in a good place. Then we're all getting better and growing within that."
No matter what happens, she tells them, be ready. You never know when I'll call your number. It might be tomorrow, the next game, the next inning, the next at-bat. "Take your role and do the best with what your role is today. But know your role could change tomorrow. It could change partway through today."
Kendall Curtis filled in ably for an injured Knauss in the fall of 2019, then got eight starts last season at second base, three more in right field.
She is the latest epitome of what Meuchel most cherishes in her athletes: versatility and a desire to be on the field, in whatever position or role that that means. Add Jaxie Klucewich to that group.
And freshman Kelly Sweyer, a player without a preferred position except the one she's playing that day. Put her somewhere and she'll own it.
"I'm excited for the new additions who will compete and push the people who have played a large number of games in their careers," says Meuchel.
"We brought in some great, young talent that will push our veteran infield. We're always looking for who is going to produce and who is going to fit in best offensively and defensively."
Two-thirds of the outfield is covered by returners. Brooklyn Weisgram started 21 of 24 games in center last season, Julie Phelps started 19 games in right.
That's not to say they are shoo-ins to slot right back into a starting position. Such thinking is anathema to Meuchel and the ethos of her program, but they were starting for a reason.
Weisgram has shown she has a big bat and a bigger arm. Phelps had a respectable start to her career, picking up a dozen hits in her first 23 games played.
Klucewich spent some time in left during the team's two intra-squad scrimmages in the fall. And then there is the Ontiveros factor, as in Elise Ontiveros, who Meuchel has been raving about since the day the outfielder from Bakersfield, Calif., committed. The one Power 5 programs missed out on.
She is 5-foot-11 of ground-covering speed, the type of player who would have been just fine playing in Eddie Feigner's court: one pitcher, one catcher, an infielder, one outfielder, who covered from foul line to foul line, dirt to warning track. That's Ontiveros.
"I'm excited about that group," said Meuchel. "It's a group that works so hard at continuing to elevate their skillset, and I think they are already pretty skilled."
If there is one I-have-no-idea position, according to Meuchel, it's at catcher. She has three players, each with her own strengths, unique from the others. Each has the game to start. Only one can.
Jessica McAlister, with 115 games played, 102 started both at catcher and third base, is the most experienced. But it was McKenna Tjaden who got the start in 16 of 24 games last season.
Then there is freshman Riley Stockton, who you did not get the pleasure of seeing in person last fall like you normally would have. She hits the ball so hard you feel sorry for it.
"It's a very competitive position for us," said Meuchel. "They excel in certain areas, and each of them has a skillset over the others, so they really complement each other.
"I'm excited by the arm strength we have, the communication, the ability to help control the pitchers. And all of them have shown great production at the plate. It will be fun. I would feel comfortable with any one of them in the game."
You might be wondering, what about the lost exhibition games last fall? Will that impact Montana as it gears up to play next month?
Meuchel doesn't think so. In fact, she thinks it may have been an even better fall playing against themselves. In the fall of 2019, Montana won its eight exhibition games by a score of 156-3. That's fun but where is the shared challenge, from where comes the growth when weaknesses are never exposed?
Last fall Sellers had to face Achenbach, and Achenbach had to face Sellers, two of the Big Sky's best, during the team's two scrimmages.
"We didn't have the outside competition, but we had the opportunity to compete against Division I athletes, and I think we really gained from that level of competition," says Meuchel.
What was lost is the camaraderie that is created, no matter the level of competition in the other dugout, teammate cheering on and supporting teammate.
"Being able to compete against ourselves and the skillsets we have within our team made us great competitors. It elevated our game and showed us areas we need to continue to develop and work on," said Meuchel.
"The one thing we didn't have was Griz Softball all in one dugout, competing against an opposing team. But I think more was gained than what was lost."
It's opening day and once again hungry eyes look forward. Montana hopes to kick off the season at Grand Canyon's tournament, hopes to see there Oregon, which was 22-2 when last March rolled around. The Grizzlies are up for some Duck hunting.
There are more things in the works, but they are not yet under contract. Everything is in the "If we can ..." stage. If we can play, we'll be there. If we can host, we'll let you know. If, if, if.
It's not the ideal way to go into a season, but the coronavirus is still having the final say on so much, especially athletics and its schedules. It leaves athletes twisting in the wind, in control of themselves and little else.
But these Grizzlies have been hardened, in a good way. What was so promising last spring was taken away. They accepted and adapted. Same thing in the fall. If they have to do it again, they will.
"I hope when we look back, we'll see the inner strength that we were able to find at the hardest time in pretty much everybody's life," said Meuchel.
"This has altered everybody's life in some fashion, so we try to talk about being grateful for what we have."
Softball season, in whatever form that takes, is here. And for that we can all be grateful.
Players Mentioned
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OF
/ Softball
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/ Softball
C/INF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
OF
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