Come for the celebration, stay for the fun

The Montana softball team will open its fall exhibition schedule this weekend with a doubleheader against North Idaho at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

The Grizzlies and Cardinals will play a pair of games on Sunday starting at noon.

The game will be preceded by a special ceremony at 11:45 a.m. honoring the senior class of 2020 that had its season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

All four players in that class -- Kylie Hayton, Michaela Hood, Morgan Johnson and Anne Mari Petrino -- will be in attendance and be recognized.

Then all attention will turn to the 2022 team that will be playing its first games since the 2021 season ended in heartbreaking fashion at the Big Sky Conference tournament in Ogden, Utah, in May.

Riding the right arm of Tristin Achenbach, Montana performed as well as anybody in the field, only to come up one play short of competing for a title.

That magical weekend came to an end with a 7-6 loss to Southern Utah on Championship Saturday, a game the Grizzlies out-hit the Thunderbirds 15-4.

The effects of that ending have stuck with the program. Losses like that tend to have some staying power.

"I feel like this team could be something special," said fifth-year coach Melanie Meuchel. "We have a lot of competitive individuals and a great core coming back that feels like there is unfinished business.

"The drive they've shown from Day 1 of what they want to accomplish and what we're capable of is quite exciting to watch and be a part of. I'm excited to lead them in that direction."

Montana has to replace Achenbach, who won 35 games and totaled 396 strikeouts in her career, plus stalwarts Jessica McAlister and Lexi Knauss, but nearly everyone else is back.

That includes fifth-year senior Cami Sellers, who had a change of heart over the summer after going through senior ceremonies last spring.

The first-team All-Big Sky first baseman, whose name is all over the Montana record book, gives the Grizzlies a career .344 hitter in the middle of their lineup plus a solid defensive player in the infield.

"It just makes Griz softball stronger in 2022," said Meuchel. "Cami has the ability to play the game at a very high level. She has the ability to lead a team. She is a teammate everybody loves having around."

Sellers' return keeps intact the starting infield from Montana's final game of the 2021 season, with Kendall Curtis at second, Kylie Becker at third and all-region selection Maygen McGrath at shortstop.

Becker was voted second-team All-Big Sky last season. Her partner on the left side, McGrath, had a huge year to become just the second player in program history to earn NFCA All-Pacific Region honors.

She batted .410 with a .727 slugging percentage, a number only Delene Colburn has done better, and only once, over the years. McGrath led the league in hits and runs scored.

The starting outfield from the final game of the 2021 season -- Jaxie Klucewich in left, Julie Phelps in center and Anna Toon in right -- is back as well.

Klucewich was honorable mention All-Big Sky, Toon second team. Toon ended the season batting .395, the second-best batting average for a freshman in program history behind Lexie Brenneis's .400 in 2015.

Senior McKenna Tjaden, who started 37 of 49 games at catcher last season, returns to guide the position with the most changes: pitcher.

Allie Brock, who started 11 games last season and appeared in 23 is back. Toon made seven appearances.

They'll be joined by junior Maggie Joseph, a transfer from California, and freshman Dana Butterfield, of Hillsboro, Ore.

Joseph made just six appearances in two seasons in Berkeley.

"She is gritty, she is competitive. She has, in a good way, just a bulldog personality on the mound. She loves to get after it. That will elevate what we do as a team," said Meuchel.

Those pitchers will face a North Idaho team on Sunday that went 23-4 in the spring and topped the East Division of the Northwest Athletic Conference.

That team batted .457 and averaged more than 13 runs per game.

"They love to hit and they are always competitive," said Meuchel. "I'm excited because it's been a while since we had a fall season when we could play another opponent.

"To be able to get games under our belt, to be able to have fans in the stands, it's exciting for our program."

Even with so many familiar names and faces returning, nearly one-third of the 19-player roster is new, between Joseph and five incoming freshmen.

Two of those five freshmen are from Montana. Infielder Grace Hardy is from Missoula, catcher Kynzie Mohl, the 2021 Gatorade Montana Softball Player of the Year, is from Kalispell.

Butterfield, who went 24-4 in her career at Glencoe High with 306 strikeouts in 183 1/3 innings pitched, is from Oregon, as is outfielder Presley Jantzi, who hails from Albany.

Jantzi was named the Oregon Class 5A Player of the Year in the spring after batting .661 at West Albany High.

The other freshman is infielder Hannah Jablonski of Kennewick, Wash.

"Griz Softball is new to them. They are doing a good job learning and bringing what they have to our program," said Meuchel.

Montana will play additional exhibition games, up to six more, over the coming weekends, but that schedule has yet to be finalized.

"The season is a few months away, but every opportunity we have to make ourselves better leading up to our February start date, we're going to take advantage of it," said Meuchel.

"This weekend is an excellent opportunity for us as we continue to grow every day and for our fans to be able to come out and see our new team."

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Tristin Achenbach

Kylie Becker

Allie Brock

Kendall Curtis

Kylie Hayton

Michaela Hood

Morgan Johnson

Jaxie Klucewich

Lexi Knauss

Jessica McAlister

Maygen McGrath

Anne Mari Petrino

Julie Phelps

Cami Sellers

McKenna Tjaden

Anna Toon

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