Griz host Vikings as Big Sky schedule begins

The Montana softball team will open its Big Sky Conference schedule this weekend when it hosts defending tournament champion Portland State for a three-game series at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Grizzlies (12-14) and Vikings (15-10) will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m., a single game on Sunday at noon.

The three-game set is the first of six league series for Montana, which also will get Idaho State and Northern Colorado at home and face Southern Utah, Weber State and Sacramento State on the road.

The Grizzlies swept Providence in their most recent games, winning 10-1 and 10-4 on Saturday at Grizzly Softball Field.

Montana's 12 victories going into league match its second-highest pre-league win total in program history, behind the 15 of the 2017 team.

Coverage: This weekend's series will be available on ESPN+, with Paul Yarbrough calling the action. The games also can be monitored via live stats.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies will take a three-game winning streak into Big Sky play after defeating Seattle on Sunday, March 13, on the final day of the Montana Invitational, then sweeping Providence on Saturday.

Montana scored three runs in the bottom of the first in the opener, four in the bottom of the first in Game 2 and never trailed against the Argos, winning 10-1 and 10-4.

The Grizzlies batted .408 in the doubleheader to raise their season average to .266, their second-highest mark of the season.

Allie Brock threw a three-hitter in the opener for win No. 7 of the season. Dana Butterfield followed with a six-hitter to pick up win No. 5. Montana's ERA sits at 3.81.

Maygen McGrath and Kelly Sweyer both hit a pair of home runs in the sweep of Providence. McGrath is on a six-game hitting streak, the best for the team this season.

At a glance (Portland State): Playing as the No. 5 seed, the Vikings went 4-0 last May to win the Big Sky tournament in Ogden and advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013.

With six starters and 12 letterwinners back in 2022, Portland State was picked second in the preseason coaches' poll with a pair of first-place votes.

The Vikings opened the season 5-1, including a win over California, and two weekends ago won 6-1 at Oregon State, a team ranked No. 24, to end the Beavers' 17-game winning streak and give PSU its first victory over a ranked opponent since 2011.

Portland State's most recent games were a doubleheader sweep of Corban last Wednesday, 6-0 and 3-0 at PSU's home field in Hillsboro, Ore. The Vikings play at Warner Pacific on Wednesday.

Portland State's 15-10 record has been driven by junior pitcher Olivia Grey, who is 11-1 with a 1.23 ERA and 112 strikeouts. She leads the Big Sky in wins, ERA, strikeouts and opponent batting average (.190), and ranks 29th in the nation in ERA.

The rest of PSU's pitching staff is 4-9 with an ERA of 6.97.

Portland State averages 4.5 runs per game with a .258 team batting average. The Vikings lead the Big Sky in fielding at .981, with just 12 errors in 25 games.

Series history:

* Montana is 16-5 all-time against Portland State, its best winning percentage against a Big Sky opponent.

* The Grizzlies have won eight straight games against the Vikings.

* Montana is 7-2 against Portland State in Missoula, including a five-inning no-hitter thrown by Maddy Stensby in an 8-0 Montana win in 2016.

* The Grizzlies swept the teams' series last year in Hillsboro, winning by scores of 2-1, 10-1 and 9-8. The 10-1 win came against Olivia Grey.

* The teams' most recent series in Missoula came in 2019, when the Grizzlies swept three games by an aggregate score of 27-12.

Summary:

After six weekends of nonconference games, the last two in Missoula, Montana opens its Big Sky Conference schedule this weekend with a three-game series against Portland State.

The Grizzlies went 8-10 in league last season to finish in a four-way tie for third and advance to their fifth consecutive Big Sky tournament.

"Every game has a purpose throughout the season," said coach Melanie Meuchel. "The first part of our season, the nonconference, is under our belt. Now we're stepping into the meat and potatoes of our season.

"We're out to win every series we can. That starts with being present from game one, pitch one, being as present as possible and being as competitive as possible and giving it everything you've got. If we do that, good things will happen for Griz softball."

Portland State, playing as the No. 5 seed, went to Ogden, Utah, last May and won four straight games to win the Big Sky tournament.

The Vikings won two one-run games, one that went nine innings, and three times knocked off the top two seeds, Weber State and Southern Utah.

It's not unlike what Montana did as the No. 2 seed in 2017, going undefeated in Ogden and winning a title and bringing that momentum, confidence and belief into the next season.

"They definitely earned the Big Sky Conference championship last year," said Meuchel. "They played well when they needed to play well and played well long. I feel like that's carrying over.

"(Head coach Meadow McWhorter) does an excellent job with her team. They compete hard. They have good pitching, and they also have a thick batting order. When they get on a roll, they are pretty good."

Montana has won 16 of 21 games against Portland State since the Grizzlies began playing in 2015. Seven of those wins have been one- or two-run games.

"We're excited to have them in Missoula for opening weekend," said Meuchel. "We've had some success against them and also some very good battles as well.

"It's a team that our players, our coaches and our staff look forward to playing opening weekend."

One of the underlying dynamics is how much familiarity there is between the players in the two programs.

Montana's Kelly Sweyer and Portland State's Olivia Grey were teammates at Woodland High in Washington. Same with Montana's Presley Jantzi and Portland State's Ellie Babbitt at West Albany High in Oregon.

And both teams have numerous players who have come out of the Northwest Bullets travel-ball organization.

"We have players who have played in high school together. We have some Bullets kids who have played with some of their players," said Meuchel.

"Some of them are very good friends, so both teams look forward to playing with a lot of pride for their program and the team they're with."

It's likely that Montana – and every Big Sky opponent this season – will get a heavy dose of Olivia Grey, who will probably start games 1 and 3 each series.

The key to success: "As much as we can carry our game into it and have a game plan and continue to stick to the game plan, knowing the game plan we present could give us a higher chance of success," said Meuchel.

"Just kind of being the attacker and not waiting to see what is presented but presenting the style of game we want to present."

Montana notes:

* The Grizzlies are 3-3 at home this season, 74-40 at Grizzly Softball Field in its history.

* Freshman Presley Jantzi, who did not play against Providence, leads Montana in batting average at .362. She ranks seventh in the Big Sky and shares the league lead in doubles with nine.

* Maygen McGrath has a six-game hitting streak and has hit a home run in Montana's last three games, all three coming in her first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning. It's the first time in her career she's had a home run in three straight games.

* Julie Phelps opened Game 2 against Providence on Saturday with a single, double and triple. She came up in the bottom of the sixth with a chance to hit a home run and become the first player to hit for the cycle in program history. She drew a four-pitch walk.

* Phelps, who batted .214 as a freshman, .253 as a sophomore, is hitting .351 this season.

* Freshman Grace Hardy had her first two hits as a Grizzly against Providence. Her two-run, pinch-hit double in the opener gave Hardy her first RBIs.

* Presley Jantzi, Maygen McGrath and Cami Sellers share the team lead in extra-base hits with nine.

* Montana's three-game winning streak is its longest of the season.

* McGrath's six home runs this season give her 31 for her career. She ranks second in program history behind Delene Colburn's 45, hit between 2015-18.

* Kelly Sweyer hit her first career home run in the bottom of the first in Game 2 against Providence on Saturday. She added another in the bottom of the sixth. Both were solo home runs.

* Elise Ontiveros has hit safely in four of five games since taking over the starting job in left field, a position that came open when Jaxie Klucewich moved to second base to cover for Kendall Curtis, who hasn't played since March 5.

* Montana's 13 hits in Game 2 against Providence were a season high. … The Grizzlies' scored 10 runs in back-to-back games against Providence. It's the first time they've done that since scoring 15 and 10 runs against Southern Utah in back-to-back games late in the 2019 season.

* Montana has struck out more than twice just once in its last eight games. In five of those games the Grizzlies have a single strikeout.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Weber State, which has started 21-6, is off from league games this weekend. Every team in the seven-team Big Sky will have an off weekend. Montana's will be the final week, the first weekend in May.

* Northern Colorado (9-18) opens at Southern Utah (3-20) on Friday and Saturday. The Thunderbirds, who played in last year's Big Sky tournament championship series against Portland State, have wins over Army, Wisconsin and Maine, and have been outscored this season 180-36.

* Sacramento State (15-13) opens at upstart Idaho State (16-14), which is doing good things under first-year coach Andrew Rich, formerly the associate head coach at Boise State. The Bengals will be tested early with home series against the Hornets and Weber State the first two weekends of league.

* Sacramento State (.299) has the Big Sky's top batting average, Weber State (2.71) the league's best ERA. … Southern Utah ranks last in both batting average (.184) and ERA (7.73).

Upcoming: Montana will play a three-game series at Southern Utah on Friday and Saturday, April 1-2.

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Players Mentioned

Allie Brock

Dana Butterfield

Kendall Curtis

Grace Hardy

Presley Jantzi

Jaxie Klucewich

Maygen McGrath

Elise Ontiveros

Julie Phelps

Cami Sellers

Maddy Stensby

Kelly Sweyer

University of Montana Athletics