Colburn returns, joins Griz in new role

Delene Colburn, one of the most exciting and accomplished players in Montana softball history, is coming back to campus, this time in a new role.

Colburn is joining the Grizzlies as one of Melanie Meuchel's assistant coaches.

"I'm ecstatic," said Meuchel, who is going into her sixth year as head coach. "I'm excited to announce this and get her going and complete our staff. I think this makes our staff really strong.

"It's exciting that she'll be coaching at the place where she wore a uniform with so much pride."

They have a shared history, Meuchel and Colburn, a bond that comes with having built something together from the ground up.

After Jamie Pinkerton was hired as Montana's first coach in August 2013, Meuchel was brought on a month later to be the program's first assistant coach.

Two months after that, in November 2013, Colburn was part of the Original Six, the first half dozen players who signed National Letters of Intent to play for a program that had yet to play a game.

In February 2015, with Colburn playing shortstop and batting sixth and Meuchel on the bench, Montana made its on-field debut.

Just two seasons later, in 2017, the Grizzlies were champions of the Big Sky Conference and playing in the NCAA tournament.

When she concluded her playing career in 2018, Colburn had started all 220 games the Grizzlies had played to that point. That pride, that connection to program and place, it runs deep.

"She was such a great ballplayer, so competitive, so determined, so knowledgeable and passionate about Griz softball," said Meuchel.

"Her passion for the sport was contagious to anyone she was around in her playing days, and I think it will be contagious within the program with her as a coach."

Colburn continues to be the program's career leader in games played, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, total bases and walks.

She was three times voted All-Big Sky Conference, first-team as a senior. She was named third-team NFCA All-Pacific Region during Montana's NCAA tournament season of 2017 when she was a junior.

When she graduated in May 2018, with a degree in elementary education, she left the Grizzlies, but the Grizzlies never left her.

Teaching the last four years at Gildo Rey Elementary School in Auburn, Wash., Colburn taught each of her classes the lyrics of "Up With Montana."

"All of my students knew the fight song. I got them shirts one year, then we did pen-pals with the Griz softball girls," Colburn said.

"They would write to us, then I'd have my students write letters back to them. They just loved it. The kids would go home and tell their parents, I'm going to go to the University of Montana one day."

She remained in the game, coaching middle-school teams for the Washington Acers, alongside her sister, Deanna. "I never really stepped away from softball. I just went in a different direction," she said.

Meuchel and Colburn kept in touch over the years, as the coach does with all her former players. Last spring, a different kind of text message arrived.

Colburn wanted back in the college game and asked Meuchel if she knew of any opportunities that might be coming available within the softball world.

Meuchel knew of one.

After losing both of her paid assistants last year at this time, Meuchel, who is selective about who she surrounds herself with, found just one suitable replacement in a short window of time: Alison Mitchell.

Along with dedicated volunteer assistant coach Dennis Meuchel, Melanie's father, Montana's staff forged ahead through the 2022 season, knowing reinforcements were coming.

It arrived with the ping of an incoming text. One of the best players in program history was asking a shorthanded coach if she knew of any opportunities. It couldn't have been more perfect.

"I told her I wanted to talk immediately," said Meuchel. "To hear that she wanted to get into college coaching was exciting because I think she's so good. I knew she was who I wanted to have here.

"She was part of this program from the very beginning and will have great stories to share of how far Griz softball has come and how we can continue to push it to new heights."

They talked, an offer was made, and Colburn said yes.

"I've always been in contact with Mel, then this idea kind of started evolving as were communicating," said Colburn. "I was like, let's do it, let's get back into softball full-time."

The ages of those she'll be instructing and leading will change, but a teacher is a teacher. "It's really the same thing. So many aspects align with teaching and coaching. It's just a different age level."

Her mom, Sally, is a principal. Her dad, Ken, recently retired after a career as a teacher. Deanna? You know it: teacher.

That she is leaving the family profession is not a point of contention. Far from it. "My parents are beyond excited. They are Griz fans through and through like me. My sister as well," she said.

"I'm beyond excited. I just went to (Anne Mari Petrino's) wedding with most of my old teammates. I was telling them and they were like, What? No way! so it's just excitement coming from all ends."

Classes on Montana's campus will start late next month. Shortly after that the 2023 edition of the Grizzly softball team – No. 9 in program history -- will come together for the first time on the field.

They'll have a new coach, someone who helped build the foundation on which they play. Someone who's been where they all want to get: atop the Big Sky Conference.

"That's our goal this year, to get to that same spot and have the girls experience that type of excitement, that level of play. I'll always be telling them it's doable," Colburn said.

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