Softball season opens on Tuesday

When the Montana softball team gathers at Grizzly Softball Field on Tuesday afternoon for its first practice of the 2022 season, the Grizzlies will be harboring the same feelings as the other 284 Division I softball-playing programs in the nation.

The excitement of what's to come, the hope of what could be, the belief that this is the year. And that it starts now, with this first practice, so let's get after it.

But that's not all Montana will take into the new season.

Most of the players, at least the returners, have internalized the feelings, the good and the bad, of confidence and of deep hurt and disappointment, from last May, when Montana traveled to Ogden, Utah, for the Big Sky Conference tournament and played its best softball of the season.

Tristin Achenbech was dealing like she never had before, holding five opponents to a .211 batting average while throwing 586 pitches and striking out 26. To support her, Achenbach's teammates hit .378 at the plate, well above their season average of .305.

It was a team that was clicking at just the right time, a team stepping up to the moment and embracing it, a team that had the look of an NCAA tournament squad. They knew it. Everybody who watched them play knew it. They became the team no one wanted to see in the other dugout.

The Grizzlies needed just one more timely hit, one more defensive play to get past Southern Utah and advance to face another upstart, Portland State, in the championship series. It was there for the taking, the Southern Utah game, the championship, both.

Montana was playing within a dream of its own making, inning after inning, the bats alive, the defense impenetrable, Achenbach mostly untouchable. Then the nightmare ending that's hung with them ever since arrived in the form of a misplayed ball, a 1 in 100 play that arrived at the most inopportune time.

Instead of racing off the field to get back to the plate in the top of the eighth, the Grizzlies watched the Thunderbirds celebrate after scoring the game-winning run that took even them by surprise.

As much as "stunned" is overused in sports – "Team A stuns Team B" -- it fit perfectly in this case. It was a result that left both teams and their fans in stunned did that just happen? disbelief.

The details of the play don't matter as much as what came out of the tournament, one a belief, another a vow: That Montana was the best team in Ogden that weekend and that the 2022 season is a chance to make things right.

"We showed everyone how good we can be and how tough we can be," junior outfielder Jaxie Klucewich, one of this season's 10 returning letterwinners, said in May. "We're just going to build on what we ended on. We're coming after all of them."

Given the way the 2021 season played out through February, March and April, you could be forgiven for not expecting much from Montana in the postseason. After all, the Grizzlies were the No. 6 seed in a six-team field and had only strung together three or more consecutive wins just twice all season.

But you weren't in coach Melanie Meuchel's shoes or in her dugout. She saw things every day, in victory and defeat, at practice, in the team's preparation, that suggested her team's breakthrough moment was coming. They just needed to be patient. Turns out we all did.

"We saw glimpses of greatness within individuals and within the team, and the team never gave up," she said last week. "There was always hope and belief that we had the ability. You could feel that it was just a sliver away."

Because they had prepared themselves, because they had stayed focused on the opportunities ahead and not dwelled on defeat, because of their resilience, because their faith in themselves remained steadfast, when their time came, the Grizzlies were ready.

That's what was most impressive about the tournament run: that they were ready for it, that they believed it was their time. It didn't catch them by surprise that they went from afterthought to team to beat. They played like it had been that way all along, whether it showed up in the results or not.

"I felt like when we got it, it was, okay, here we go. Nothing can really stop us. That was the feeling," said Meuchel. "Because our team was so resilient and so strong through those times, it didn't slide by them.

"Every season takes a little bit of luck, every championship takes a little bit of luck, but if you're not prepared to take advantage of the opportunity, it passes you by. We were present and prepared. We stayed the course and had some strength within us."

That it didn't lead to a championship only makes the 2022 season ahead all the more intriguing, especially with so many returners who have the experience of May to look back on, to use in whatever way they see fit.

"I think they knew the track they were on and how close they were, just the feeling they had," said Meuchel. "Even starting in the fall, you could see it every day they walked on the field."

They'll play in five early-season tournaments, including one of their own, then six Big Sky series before heading back to familiar grounds: Wildcat Softball Field in Ogden. This time to finish.

"Our biggest thing is to be ourselves as early as we can be ourselves," said Meuchel. "We know who we are individually and who we are as a team. If we're building that throughout the year, then that becomes very special.

"If you're playing your best ball in May and then June, then you're in a very good spot."

Montana lost Achenbach off last year's team, leaving the ball to be picked up by sophomore Allie Brock, freshman Dana Butterfield and junior Maggie Joseph, a transfer from California.

Brock appeared in 23 games last season, starting 11, but she took a late-season backseat to Achenbach, who was the pitcher of record in 11 of the team's final 12 games in 2021. Out of Achenbach's long shadow she emerges.

"Allie really settled in this fall to who she is and showed a ton of command and an ability to be herself on the mound and really have a dominance," said Meuchel, Montana's pitching coach. "I'm excited for Allie to be Allie Brock.

"I'm excited for her to jump in and take a major role, just like I'm excited for Maggie to jump in and take a major role, for Dana to take a major role. They are all very capable of it. We saw some great things this fall, a ton of growth. I'm really excited where they're at."

The two biggest pieces of offseason news: Maygen McGrath in May was named All-Pacific Region, joining Delene Colburn as the only Grizzlies to ever earn that honor. And later in the summer, Cami Sellers, an all-region talent herself, opted to return for another year, via COVID exception.

McGrath is a .351 career hitter, Sellers .344. They rank fourth and fifth in program history in that category, second and third in home runs, and can be found all over the record book.

For most of last season, it was Sellers batting in front of McGrath. Over the final month of the season, it was McGrath batting in front of Sellers. Whatever the lineup ends up being in 2022, it will be a nightmare situation for an opposing pitcher.

"They are both so talented, both lovers of the game. They are both contagious. Fans love watching them, teammates love playing with them, coaches love coaching them," said Meuchel. "Their desire to be great and just enjoy the game is really fun."

McGrath ended the season on a 19-game hitting streak and didn't strike out once over the final 27 games of the season to finish with a batting average of .410, second-best in program history behind Bethany Olea's .416 season in 2017.

Sellers ranked second on the team behind McGrath in doubles, home runs and extra-base hits while batting .329. "It's a threat for any pitcher throwing against them. They are very good at what they do," said Meuchel.

McGrath, voted second-team All-Big Sky before earning all-region honors, has started 127 of Montana's 129 games at shortstop the last three years, while Sellers, first-team All-Big Sky last season, has made 125 starts at first base.

Kylie Becker, second-team All-Big Sky as a junior, has made 113 starts at third base in her career. Junior Kendall Curtis split starts at second base with the graduated Lexi Knauss last season.

That experienced quartet provides a sticky-fingered defensive web behind a relatively new pitching staff, and how comforting is that when you're standing inside the circle?

Playing behind Sellers, Curtis, Becker and McGrath on the infield depth chart are sophomore Kelly Sweyer and freshmen Grace Hardy and Hannah Jablonski.

"When you have the potential of four players who have started a large number of games in their career, you know who they are and what they are capable of doing. A pitcher can really settle in," said Meuchel.

"It allows you to stay focused on just your task. All you need to do is pitch the ball, and they are going to defend everything they can. They are very good at what they do. They have a flow to them."

Catching the pitchers will be two players who made all 49 starts last season, senior McKenna Tjaden and sophomore Riley Stockton. Freshman Kynzie Mohl, of Kalispell, joins the position group.

"They are such a battery to our pitchers and really complete our pitching staff," said Meuchel. "I'm excited about their experience. They are a crucial part of our team and will definitely have a large impact on our pitchers."

Tjaden, who hit a career-best .268 last season with nine extra-base hits, started 37 games at catcher, Stockton a dozen.

"McKenna brings back the most experience, but I think Riley is really taking off. She's showing what she's capable of doing on both sides of the ball," said Meuchel. "And I look forward to the growth of Kynzie."

The outfield has the same level of experience. Klucewich, honorable mention All-Big Sky as a sophomore, made 46 starts in 49 games last season in left. Junior Julie Phelps started 46 games in center.

Senior Brooklyn Weisgram and sophomore Elise Ontiveros were two of three players who made all but one start in right last season.

Freshman Presley Jantzi, the Oregon Class 5A Player of the Year last spring at West Albany High, joins the group of returners.

"It's a deep outfield for us. Watching them this fall and the way they ran balls down and covered a lot of ground was exciting. They are going to make some big-time plays for us and save a lot of extra-base hits against us," said Meuchel.

"They set a very good tone for our team. They are the expectation-holders and are driven. They are talented and fun and work hard together with a lot of pride. I'm excited to see that shape up."

Montana's five freshmen got their Griz careers off to a beneficial five-game start in the fall during the team's exhibition season. It wasn't the full allotment of eight, but it was games when that can no longer be taken for granted.

Four of the five freshmen were in Montana's starting lineup in the exhibition finale, against MSU Billings in early October, a game won on Jantzi's three-run, walk-off home run.

"Our freshman class has some talent. They are coming into a team that has some veteran side to them with a lot of experience, but they have some talent that is pushing our veteran group," said Meuchel.

"I love the way they come every day and bring their ability and their love to compete. They will be a difference-maker for us this year, whether that's in a starting role or if we need a pinch hit or something else. They have the ability to do something for us at a high level."

The Grizzlies will play tournaments in California, Texas, Hawaii and Arizona before opening at home in mid-March with the four-team, four-day, 10-game Montana Invitational, with CSU Bakersfield, DePaul and Seattle coming to Missoula.

Montana will open league with a home series against Portland State, the team that would win the Big Sky tournament last May and go on to show well at the NCAA tournament in Seattle, losing 3-0 to regional host Washington and 6-5 to Seattle.

The Grizzlies will play at Southern Utah, the team that ended Montana's season last spring, then host Idaho State, the lone team to not make the Big Sky tournament in 2021.

Montana will face two of the Big Sky's best programs, Weber State and Sacramento State, on the road in back-to-back weekends in April before ending the regular season with a home series against Northern Colorado.

With Portland State claiming the 2021 Big Sky title, it gave the league its fourth different winner in the last four tournaments. Montana won in 2017, Sacramento State in 2018 and Weber State in 2019.

"The conference is taking a lot of pride in the sport. It's growing within our conference in a competitive way," said Meuchel.

And then it will be May once again and time to return to Ogden for the 2022 Big Sky tournament, where ghosts linger but championship dreams wait to be realized.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Kylie Becker

Allie Brock

Dana Butterfield

Kendall Curtis

Grace Hardy

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Maggie Joseph

Jaxie Klucewich

Lexi Knauss

Maygen McGrath

Kynzie Mohl

Elise Ontiveros

Julie Phelps

Cami Sellers

Riley Stockton

Kelly Sweyer

McKenna Tjaden

Brooklyn Weisgram

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