Griz open home schedule with Montana Classic

The Griz softball team will play its first home games in nearly two years this week it hosts the Montana Classic at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

The four-day, three-team, six-game tournament will feature Montana, Seattle and Utah Valley.

The schedule:

Thursday: vs. Seattle (DH), 1/3:30 p.m.
Friday: vs. Seattle, 1 p.m.
Saturday, Utah Valley (DH), 1/3:30 p.m.
Sunday: Utah Valley, noon

The games will be the first at home for Montana since the Grizzlies swept Northern Colorado in a three-game series on April 26-27, 2019.

Montana played 24 games last season, but things were shut down two weeks before the Grizzlies were scheduled to play at home. The team's traditional eight-game fall exhibition schedule was canceled as well.

Montana will be returning home to play in a facility where the Grizzlies went a program-record 16-3 in 2019. Montana is 66-25 all-time at Grizzly Softball Field.

Follow along: Tickets for the Montana Classic are now on sale at GrizTix.com. Fans following from a distance can watch all six games on Pluto TV, channel 1056.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies enter the Montana Classic with a record of 5-13 after going 1-3 last weekend at the Texas A&M Davis Diamond Classic in College Station.

They split with Louisiana Tech, the loss a 6-5 decision in 13 innings, the longest game in program history, and dropped two to Texas A&M.

Five of Montana's losses this season have come against Power 5 opponents, two other losses have come in extra innings.

Montana entered the Davis Diamond Classic leading the Big Sky in hitting. The Grizzlies batted .214 in College Station and are now at .279 on the season, third in the league behind Idaho State (.301) and Southern Utah (.296).

Montana had an ERA in College Station of 6.92, which improved its season average to 7.78. That ranks fifth in the Big Sky. Weber State (3.78) is the only team with an ERA under 5.00.

Junior shortstop Maygen McGrath leads Montana in batting at .404, an average that ranks third in the Big Sky. She leads the league in runs scored (20), ranks second in hits (23), RBIs (22) and home runs (6).

Tristin Achenbach has four of Montana's five wins and owns the team's best ERA of 4.61. Her 70 strikeouts are 30 more than any other pitcher in the Big Sky.

At a glance (Seattle): The Redhawks are 11-13 and a perfect 6-0 against teams from the Big Sky, with 2-0 records against Southern Utah, Idaho State and Portland State.

Seattle is 1-8 against Power 5 opponents, its lone win a 2-1 victory over Oregon State in Tucson, Ariz.

The Redhawks remained (very) close to home last weekend and played four games at the Husky Classic. They lost twice to No. 7 Washington, 5-0 and 4-1, and swept a pair of games from Portland State, 5-3 and 10-4.

Seattle, which went 40-17 in 2019 and won the league by three games at 15-3 on its way to its first NCAA tournament, topped this year's WAC preseason coaches' poll, edging out New Mexico State. The Redhawks received four of seven first-place votes, the Aggies the other three.

Madison Cathcart, a first baseman and the program's career leader in home runs with 40, and outfielder Ally Choate, both made the preseason All-WAC team.

Seattle is batting .281 with 46 extra-base hits, including 32 doubles. The team has an ERA of 5.27 with 27 home runs allowed.

Seattle is coached by Geoff Hirai, who is in his sixth season.

At a glance (Utah Valley): The Wolverines, who host Big Sky favorite Weber State on Wednesday afternoon, are 7-10, which included a 4-2 start after having their opening weekend at College Station last month canceled by weather.

Part of that 4-2 start was a 4-3 victory over Montana in St. George, Utah, when Utah Valley scored twice in the top of the seventh to steal one from Tristin Achenbach, who threw a complete game.

Utah Valley was 12-7 when the 2020 season was canceled. The Wolverines were picked third in the preseason WAC poll behind Seattle and New Mexico State.

Senior pitcher Devyn Cretz and sophomore outfielder Abby Doughty were voted preseason All-WAC.

Utah Valley is 3-5 this season against teams of the Big Sky entering Wednesday's doubleheader with the Wildcats. The Wolverines went 1-3 against Idaho State, 1-2 against Southern Utah, 1-0 against Montana.

Utah Valley got an early-season, nonconference look at Seattle on March 5 in Las Vegas and came away with a 3-0, five-hit shutout. The team's lone game against a Power 5 opponent was a 17-0 loss to then No. 2 Washington.

Series history (Montana-Seattle):

* Montana leads the all-time series with Seattle 4-3, which includes a 3-0 record against the Redhawks in Missoula.

* Seattle visited Grizzly Softball Field in Montana's NCAA tournament season of 2017. Montana rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 in the opener, won 12-4, then closed the series with a 9-8, nine-inning victory. The Grizzlies trailed 6-2 entering the bottom of the seventh, then tied it with Delene Colburn's inside-the-park grand slam. They won it in the ninth on a Madison Saacke fielder's choice.

* Away from Missoula, Seattle has won three of four against Montana, all at neutral sites.

* The teams' most recent games came in St. George, Utah, in 2018. Montana won 7-6 in eight innings. The next day Seattle won 6-5 in nine innings.

Series history (Montana-Utah Valley):

* Montana leads the all-time series with Utah Valley 6-4, including a 5-1 record against the Wolverines in Missoula.

* The Grizzlies swept a three-game series from Utah Valley in Missoula in 2018 and won two of three against the Wolverines at Grizzly Softball Field in 2019.

* Utah Valley has won three of four against Montana at neutral sites, all four decided by three runs or fewer, with two one-run decisions.

* Montana was scheduled to play a doubleheader at Utah Valley last March 18 in Orem. They were the first games that were canceled before the rest of the spring schedule was called off.

Summary:

The main storyline of the week: Montana is back home. For the first time this season. For the first time at Grizzly Softball Field since April 2019.

"It will be a spark," said coach Melanie Meuchel. "The temperature, the weather, there are just so many things. It's refreshing.

"It's kind of what you need after a long grind on the road for quite some time. We're anxious to be on our field. We know our field best. We always play with a little spark to us."

Up first at the Montana Classic will be a Seattle team Montana knows quite well, though maybe not this year's personnel.

The teams played five times in 2017, three of those in Missoula, then met up twice in 2018.

"It's been a while since we've seen Seattle, but we've had them here in Missoula and we've seen them in other places as well," said Meuchel.

"I always feel like they're a competitive team. They have a pitcher or two that always do well for them, then also they love to swing the bats. Our teams will be very similar. It will be a fun, competitive matchup."

Then arrives Utah Valley, which is getting a full Big Sky Conference experience this spring. The Wolverines split with current league leader Idaho State on Sunday and are hosting preseason favorite Weber State on Wednesday afternoon.

When the teams met on Feb. 19 in St. George, it was the season opener for Utah Valley, game No. 6 for Montana after the Grizzlies got in a weekend of games in Phoenix.

Montana took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a Maygen McGrath home run and Tristin Achenbach took that lead into the seventh.

The Wolverines scored twice on four hits in the top of the seventh, all singles, to take a 4-3 lead. Montana put two on in the bottom of the inning but couldn't push across the tying run.

"They are scrappy. They have always been a very scrappy team," said Meuchel.

"No matter who our opponent is, our objective is to show up and compete for as long as we can and be as tough as we can for as long as we can to get the outcome we're looking for."

It's been an up-and-down start for Montana, which isn't a surprise given the team's long layoff and the level of competition the Grizzlies have seen at some of their early tournaments.

They've gotten shut out three times and have given up 14 or more runs on five occasions. They've also scored five or more runs in 12 of 18 games and had 11 games with one or fewer errors.

And it will always be like this for a program that starts its season on the road for weeks on end, its ability to practice outside in January and February a mostly day-to-day decision based on the vagaries of the weather, its opponents through tournament play at the discretion of the host school.

A lot is just outside of Montana's control, so the Grizzlies do the best they can and soldier on.

The good news is that seasons will never be defined by what happens in February and the first half of March. Those are just the building blocks, then largely forgotten, as the season moves into the back half of March, then April, then the championship month of May. That's what people will remember.

"We continue to see the growth in the direction we want the growth to go. We're continuing to become very comfortable with each other, who we're playing next to and understanding what they are able to do," said Meuchel.

"We've played some very, very good teams. I think those experiences and some of the situations we've been in have helped us grow as we close in on our final nonconference games before going into conference play. We're learning who we are."

Last weekend in College Station, Montana opened the Davis Diamond Classic with a classic of its own, a 6-5 loss to Louisiana Tech. It was the longest game, in terms of innings played, in program history, surpassing the 12-inning game at North Dakota in 2016.

After a game that lasted nearly four hours, Montana had to get right back at it, facing the host team, 13-3 Texas A&M, that was fresh and playing its first game of the day.

The Aggies scored five in the first, six in the second, six more across the third and fourth innings.

"We've had a few innings we've given up a large amount of runs to an opponent. We'll look to continue to sharpen up that part of our game," said Meuchel.

Montana managed just three hits in its first game of the weekend against Texas A&M.

"We always talk about the separation of having to play two sides of the ball, offense and defense, at two separate times and not letting that compound into the other. I think we're doing a better job at that," said Meuchel.

The highlight of the weekend came on Saturday morning, in Montana's 7-5 victory over Louisiana Tech.

Maygen McGrath broke a 2-2 tie with a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth, and freshman pitcher Allie Brock, who had an ERA of 14.00 entering the game, went 5 2/3 innings with five hits allowed to collect her first win as a Grizzly.

"She was better at commanding the zone, better at throwing her pitches freely," said Meuchel. "She was better at being the pitcher she is."

Montana notes:

* Montana ranks third in the Big Sky in batting average (.279), fifth in ERA (7.78). The team's lowest ERA in program history was the 2.55 it recorded last season during the shortened schedule. The highest to date has been the 5.26 ERA in 2016.

* Montana will open its Big Sky schedule next week with a three-game series at Portland State.

* After six home games this week, Montana will still have 13 home games remaining, three three-game Big Sky series against Sacramento State, Southern Utah and Weber State and doubleheaders against Providence and Carroll.

* Montana is 66-25 at Grizzly Softball Field since it opened prior to the 2015 season and will take an 11-game home winning streak into Thursday's doubleheader against Seattle.

* Maygen McGrath hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season in Saturday's win over Louisiana Tech in College Station. She hit six as a freshman, six as a sophomore (in the 24-game season) and has six this season.

* McGrath's 18 home runs rank third in program history behind Delene Colburn (45) and Sydney Stites (19).

* McGrath has had a batting average of .400 or better since the second game of the season. She was at .476 going to College Station but was held to three hits in 15 at-bats by Louisiana Tech and Texas A&M to drop her average to .404.

* Only two players in program history have batted .400 for a season: Bethany Olea (.416 in 2017, .408 in 2016) and Lexie Brenneis (.400 in 2015). (Note: Brenneis's average was not rounded up. She was 60 for 150, so right on .400.)

* McGrath has just one more strikeout this season (7) than she has home runs (6).

* Kylie Becker had a lead-off home run in Montana's win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday. It was her first home run of the season, the third of her career.

* Becker had a team-high five hits in four games at College Station to up her season average to .290. She had two two-hit games and now has multiple hits in three of the last five games.

* Cami Sellers has reached base safely in nine consecutive games, the current high on the team. Kendall Curtis holds the season standard of 10, which came to an end in Saturday's loss to Texas A&M.

* Montana is 0-12 this season when allowing six or more runs, 5-1 when giving up five or fewer.

* Tristin Achenbach threw a pair of complete games in College Station. She went the distance in Montana's 13-inning loss to Louisiana Tech, throwing 217 pitches, more than any other pitcher has thrown in program history.

* The previous record was 177, held by Michaela Hood in Montana's 2-1, 10-inning win over Weber State at the 2017 Big Sky tournament.

* Achenbach picked up career save No. 3 when she relieved Allie Brock in Montana's win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

* Montana has used Becker, Sellers, McGrath and Curtis atop the batting order in all 18 games this season.

* Sellers, at first, and McGrath, at short, have started all 18 games at their position.

* Opposing teams are batting .356 against Montana's staff this season.

Upcoming: Montana will open Big Sky Conference play next week with a three-game series at Portland State. The teams will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 27, a single game on Sunday, March 28.

After returning home from Portland, Montana will play 13 of its final 19 regular-season games at home.

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Players Mentioned

Tristin Achenbach

Kylie Becker

Lexie Brenneis

Allie Brock

Delene Colburn

Kendall Curtis

Michaela Hood

Maygen McGrath

Bethany Olea

Madison Saacke

Cami Sellers

Sydney Stites

University of Montana Athletics