Griz to play first Big Sky road games

The Montana softball team will play its first Big Sky Conference road series of the season this week when it travels to Cedar City to face Southern Utah for a three-game set.

The Grizzlies (13-16, 1-2 BSC) and Thunderbirds (3-23, 0-3 BSC) will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 1 p.m., a single game on Saturday at noon at Kathryn Berg Field.

Montana opened its league schedule at home last weekend against Portland State and went 1-2 against the Vikings.

Southern Utah was swept at home by Northern Colorado, getting run-ruled twice and outscored 24-5 over three games.

The Grizzlies will host Idaho State next week at Grizzly Softball Field with games on Friday and Saturday, April 8-9.

Coverage: This week's games will be streamed on ESPN+.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies opened their league schedule at home last weekend with a series against defending Big Sky tournament champion Portland State. The Vikings won two out of three games, all of which were decided by one run.

G1: Portland State 3, Montana 2 (9 innings) – The Grizzlies opened the scoring in the first, then used a Maygen McGrath solo home run to tie it at 2-2 in the sixth. The Vikings won it with a solo home run in the top of the ninth as PSU's Olivia Grey outdueled Allie Brock to improve to 12-1.

G2: Portland State 4, Montana 3 – The Grizzlies never led, falling behind 3-0 and 4-2. Montana scored twice in the fifth on a Kylie Becker two-run triple and added one in the bottom of the seventh, when it had the tying run on second with one out but couldn't force a second straight extra-inning game.

G3: Montana 5, Portland State 4 – The Grizzlies managed just three hits off Grey but one was a grand slam by Brooklyn Weisgram in the second, another the game-winning solo home run by Cami Sellers in the fifth. Montana handed Grey just her second loss of the season, her first in more than a month. Dana Butterfield didn't allow a run over the final three innings to pick up her sixth win of the season in relief.

Montana batted .217 in the series and is hitting .261 on the season, which ranks fifth out of seven teams in the Big Sky. The Grizzlies lowered their team ERA to 3.75, which ranks fifth.

At a glance (Southern Utah): The Thunderbirds, who played in the Big Sky tournament championship game in May, will go into April with just three wins, over Army, Wisconsin and Maine. SUU has been outscored this season 194-41.

Southern Utah ranks last in the Big Sky in all three team statistics, hitting (.191), pitching (7.52 ERA) and fielding (.941). The Thunderbirds rank 286th out of 293 Division I teams in ERA, 286th also in batting average.

Southern Utah lost 10-0 and 10-2 on Friday at home to Northern Colorado, collecting just seven hits in the doubleheader. On Saturday, the Thunderbirds lost 4-3 and had the tying run on second when the game ended.

Series history:

* Montana has gone 14-7 against Southern Utah, playing 18 games in six league series and three times matching up in the Big Sky tournament.

* The Thunderbirds have won four of the teams' last five games, all of which came last year, a three-game series in Missoula and two games in Ogden at the Big Sky tournament.

* Montana is 8-1 against Southern Utah in Cedar City and on a seven-game winning streak on SUU's home field.

* Southern Utah won two of three in Missoula last season, then twice defeated the Grizzlies in the Big Sky tournament in Ogden. The second, a 7-6 win, ended Montana's season.

Summary:

The less-than-good news is that Montana was only able to win one of three games last weekend at Grizzly Softball Field over Portland State, and the goal is to win every series.

The good news is that it was a tense, well-played series and that the two games Montana lost were by one-run decisions, meaning a play here or a play there could have flipped one or two of the losses in the Grizzlies' favor.

"It was awesome to watch us have a chance in all three games, just the competitive drive, the presence of what we were doing and who we want to continue to be," said coach Melanie Meuchel. "I'm really proud of our efforts and our focus.

"Everybody is out to win series, but giving ourselves opportunities to have a chance to win all three ballgames sets a good tone. We'll be in more of those games this year and we'll continue to stay the course to win those battles."

The records and statistical averages would suggest Montana is favored to win the series in Cedar City this week, but of course that's not how softball in the Big Sky Conference works.

Last week Northern Colorado was cruising toward a sweep in Cedar City after two lopsided wins, then had to sweat out a one-run win in the finale.

In Pocatello, Sacramento State swept Idaho State on Friday 3-0 and 11-4. On Saturday ISU came back and blanked the Hornets 10-0.

"It's a conference series, a conference matchup when both teams will be hungry to show who they are," said Meuchel about facing Southern Utah.

"We'll go in as Griz and know what we have that can help us execute and have success in the series."

Montana has gone 8-1 in Cedar City against the Thunderbirds. The first game the Grizzlies ever played there, in 2016, was a 14-13 win in eight innings in a game Montana trailed 12-2 after four innings.

Montana would put up 14 runs two games later as the series concluded.

In 2018, the Grizzlies didn't score more than five runs but still came away with a sweep. In 2019, Montana had back-to-back games of 15 and 10 runs scored in Cedar City.

"Looking back at our matchups, a lot of those were really high-scoring games and some have been low-scoring games," said Meuchel.

"It's a park that plays big. You're playing with wind and you're playing with high elevation, so it can play a little bit big."

Montana has now played 17 games out of 29 this season that have been decided by two or fewer runs. Of the team's 16 losses, a person could count on one hand the number of games that have gotten away from the Grizzlies.

Expect that to continue as the competitive balance of the Big Sky reveals itself in more and more games that go down to the final batter.

"We've given ourselves a pretty good chance in every game, so it's that little extra push-through. A timely hit, a big strikeout, a big play on defense can be the difference," said Meuchel.

Montana notes:

* Freshman Presley Jantzi had a team-high four hits against Portland State to inch her team-leading batting average up to .362.

* Brooklyn Weisgram (four) and Kylie Becker and Maygen McGrath (two each) drove in eight of Montana's 10 runs against Portland State.

* Becker had a double and a triple as part of her three-hit series. She led the team with two extra-base hits.

* Montana struck out a season-high 13 times against Olivia Grey in nine innings in Game 1. That was a season high and as many strikeouts as the Grizzlies had had over their previous eight games combined.

* Maygen McGrath leads Montana in both multiple-hit games (10) and multiple-RBI games (6). Nobody else on the team has more than two multiple-RBI games.

* McGrath drew a career-high three walks in Game 2 against Portland State.

* McGrath opened the series with a home run in Game 1, giving her a home run in four consecutive games. That matched the program record, set by Lexie Brenneis in 2015.

* Brooklyn Weisgram's grand slam in Game 3 was Montana's second of the season and the 11th in program history. Weisgram's four RBIs were a career high.

* Allie Brock and Dana Butterfield threw all 23 innings against Portland State and had an ERA of 3.35 for the series.

* Presley Jantzi went 2 for 4 against Portland State in both Games 1 and 2, giving her four straight multiple-hit games. It was the first time a Grizzly has done that since Maygen McGrath last season.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Northern Colorado sits atop the standings at 3-0 after sweeping at Southern Utah last week.

* Portland State and Sacramento State are both 2-1 after winning series on the road. The Vikings won two of three at Montana, the Hornets two of three at Idaho State.

* Weber State had the off weekend from Big Sky games, while the other six teams played. Northern Colorado has this week off from league games.

* This week's series: Montana at Southern Utah, Weber State at Idaho State, Portland State at Sacramento State.

Upcoming: Montana will host Idaho State at Grizzly Softball Field on Friday and Saturday, April 8-9.

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Players Mentioned

Kylie Becker

Allie Brock

Dana Butterfield

Presley Jantzi

Maygen McGrath

Cami Sellers

Brooklyn Weisgram

University of Montana Athletics