Hawaii beckons

The Montana softball team will trade the below-zero temperatures of Missoula for the low 80s of the Aloha State this week when it competes at the Hawaii Invitational in Honolulu.

The Grizzlies (5-5) will get games against Hawaii, Abilene Christian and North Dakota in pool play, then two more games on Saturday in bracket competition at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

The tournament is the third of five multi-team events for Montana, which opened its season at Sacramento and Davis, Calif., at the Nor Cal Kickoff before playing last week at the Tracy Beard College Classic in Melissa, Texas.

At 5-5, Montana has matched its best two-weekend start in program history, equaling the starts of the 2016 and '20 teams.

The Grizzlies will travel next week to Phoenix for the Grand Canyon Invitational, then open at home with a doubleheader against CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, March 10, the first of four days of the Montana Invitational.

Schedule:

Thursday, 9 p.m. (MT) – at Hawaii
Friday, 3 p.m. (MT) – vs. Abilene Christian
Friday, 5:30 p.m. (MT) – vs. North Dakota
Saturday, 1 or 3 p.m. (MT) – Bracket play
Saturday, 5 or 7 p.m. (MT) – Bracket play

Coverage: All of Montana's games at the Hawaii Invitational can be followed via live stats. Thursday's game against Hawaii also will have radio coverage.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies went 2-3 last weekend at the Tracy Beard College Classic in Melissa, Texas.

Montana dropped games on Friday to North Texas and Nevada, then came back on Saturday to sweep Mountain West Conference opponents Colorado State and Nevada. The Grizzlies fell to Colorado State on Sunday.

Montana batted .305 at the tournament to up its season average to .262. After going without a home run through their first seven games, the Grizzlies hit four in two games on Saturday, then added two more in Sunday's loss to Colorado State.

Freshman Presley Jantzi went 6 for 10 last week with three doubles to up her season average to .438. Cami Sellers, 7 for 14 in Texas with two home runs, four RBIs and three runs scored, is batting .424.

Starting pitchers Dana Butterfield and Allie Brock both picked up a win last weekend. Butterfield threw a four-hitter as Montana defeated Colorado State 7-1 on Saturday. In Montana's tense 4-3 win over Nevada that followed, Brock struck out six and collected her fourth win of the season.

Brock had four wins all of last season as a freshman.

At a glance (Hawaii): The Rainbow Wahine are 1-4 after opening their season against a tough field at the UNLV Rebel Kickoff two weeks ago. Hawaii lost twice to BYU and twice to UNLV before picking up its first of the season against CSU Bakersfield.

Last Friday Hawaii swept an exhibition doubleheader against Chaminade, 4-0 and 12-2.

Thursday's game against Montana will be Hawaii's official home opener. The Rainbow Wahine, playing an almost all-league schedule, went 12-19 last season. Hawaii tied for fourth in the Big West Conference preseason coaches' poll, coming in behind Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and UC Davis.

At a glance (Abilene Christian): The Wildcats are 5-6. After going 2-4 to open the season at UTEP's tournament, including a split against Idaho State, Abilene Christian went 3-2 at the Tracy Beard College Classic, joining Montana at the tournament.

The Wildcats swept Colorado State, holding the Rams to two runs over two games, split a pair of one-run games against Nevada and lost 3-1 to North Texas.

Abilene Christian, playing in the Southland Conference, went 14-33 last season. The Wildcats are now a member of the Western Athletic Conference. They were picked third out of five teams in the Southwest Division in the WAC preseason coaches' poll.

At a glance (North Dakota): The Fighting Hawks are 4-6 after traveling the first two weeks of the season to South Carolina and Alabama for early tournaments.

Through 10 games, North Dakota is batting .253 but has a solid team ERA of 2.97 with four pitchers making starts thus far.

UND went 17-33 last season, 8-14 in the Summit League to finish sixth out of seven teams. The Fighting Hawks were picked sixth out of eight teams in this year's preseason coaches' poll.

Series histories:

* Montana has faced Hawaii just once, losing 9-3 to the Rainbow Wahine in Honolulu in February 2017.

* Montana will be facing Abilene Christian for the first time.

* Montana is 8-6 against former Big Sky Conference rival North Dakota. Thirteen of those games came as league opponents. The teams' last matchup was a 6-2 UND win in Fresno, Calif., in 2019.

* The Grizzlies are 0-2 against the Fighting Hawks in neutral-site games. They lost in Fresno in 2019 and 3-2 to UND at the Big Sky tournament in Ogden, Utah, in 2018, a loss that ended Montana's season.

Summary:

After going 3-2 at the Nor Cal Kickoff two weeks ago, Montana went 2-3 in Melissa, Texas, last week.

The Grizzlies opened the Tracy Beard College Classic with an 8-0 loss to North Texas, Montana's first one-sided defeat of the season, then lost 2-1 to Nevada, its second 2-1 setback of the season.

Montana rallied from first-inning deficits to defeat Colorado State and Nevada on Saturday, then lost 8-3 to the Rams on Sunday, a game the Grizzlies trailed just 3-2 entering the sixth.

"I thought we had a growing phase at North Texas. We saw some good things our team continues to do. I think we saw the ability to put some runs up and kind of get going on the offensive side of the ball," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"But then we did some very uncharacteristic behaviors at times in a couple games that got away from us.

"This group, when we present a challenge to them, they always respond, so I'm excited to be back on the field this weekend and put our best effort out there and compete to win."

Montana saw Hawaii a number of seasons ago on its home field and shared the same complex with Abilene Christian last weekend in Melissa, Texas. North Dakota has the same coach it's had since the teams first met in 2015.

"It's a competitive field. A lot of the programs play pretty similarly, gritty teams that will fight hard and are out to get wins every opportunity they can," said Meuchel.

While some of it had to do with scorekeeping and judgement, Montana was charged with just two errors in five games in Texas and now has five through 10 games.

The Grizzlies have a season fielding percentage of .982.

"We've been solid. We love to hit and love to compete at the plate. Now we've learned to love to defend the ball," said Meuchel.

"We've played with a lot of freedom on defense. We've made some killer plays, diving plays, hard line drives, double plays on balls you think are going to get through. I'm real proud of what we've put forth."

While some of her senior teammates are off to slow starts at the plate, that hasn't been the case for Cami Sellers.

She has hit safely in eight of 10 games this season and has six multi-hit games. Her season average sits at .424.

"She's a competitor. That's the place of the game she takes the most pride in," said Meuchel. "She understands the game and has a thought of what an opposing pitcher is going to try to do to her.

"She just makes it tough for pitchers to have success against her."

Sellers sparked Montana's home run revolution last week in Texas. She hit the Grizzlies' first in their 7-1 win over Colorado State, to be followed two batters later by Maygen McGrath hitting her first. The next inning, Brooklyn Weisgram led off with a home run.

Montana added three more over its next two games.

"The first weekend out, we were pressing to get that first hit of the season. I think we're starting to settle in at the plate," said Meuchel. "Seeing more live pitching from an opposing pitcher is helping us.

"It's contagious when you start hitting. We are starting to see that grow, game for game. I'm looking forward to doing that in Hawaii."

Montana notes:

* Freshman Presley Jantzi had five hits in five consecutive at-bats over Montana's last two games in Texas and went 6 for 10 overall.

* Junior Julie Phelps entered the season with eight multiple-hit games in her career. She already has four this season through 10 games and is batting .393.

* Brooklyn Weisgram had a home run against Colorado State on Saturday, then added another against the Rams on Sunday. Her high for a season is three, as a freshman in 2019.

* Montana ranks sixth out of seven teams in the Big Sky in batting average (.262), second in ERA (3.17) and fielding percentage (.982). The Grizzlies last season had an ERA of 6.34.

* Allie Brock has allowed just one home run this season in 33 innings. Dana Butterfield has allowed just one as well in 29 innings and just five extra-base hits. She has 15 strikeouts against four walks.

* Weisgram takes a team-leading four-game hitting streak to Hawaii.

* Montana got outscored 9-0 in the first inning in five games in Texas.

Upcoming: Montana will travel to Phoenix next week for the Grand Canyon Invitational. The Grizzlies will get two games against the Lopes, two against San Jose State and one against Binghamton.

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Players Mentioned

Allie Brock

Dana Butterfield

Presley Jantzi

Maygen McGrath

Julie Phelps

Cami Sellers

Brooklyn Weisgram

University of Montana Athletics