Softball team opens fall practices

The Montana softball team opened its fall season on Wednesday afternoon with its first full team practice at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Grizzlies will play an eight-game exhibition schedule over three weekends in late September and early October, and wrap up team practices on Oct. 20.

The team will resume team practices on Jan. 18 in the leadup to the spring championship season, which will go through the Big Sky Conference tournament the second week of May.

And beyond if things come together.

"I'm really excited for this group," said sixth-year coach Melanie Meuchel. "Our senior class is very driven and will be great leaders for this program.

"We have a ton of energy right now in some individuals who are excited to get out and play with each other."

Gone are a number of household names, players like Maygen McGrath, a two-time all-region selection and last year's Big Sky Player of the Year, two-time All-Big Sky third baseman Kylie Becker and Cami Sellers, also a two-time All-Big Sky selection at first base.

Moving up to the senior class are Kendall Curtis, Maggie Joseph, Jaxie Klucewich and Julie Phelps.

Phelps is coming off her best season, when she batted .313 and played an error-free center field. Klucewich, who batted .294, started the first half of the season in left field. She ended it as the every-day second baseman.

Curtis and Joseph both had junior seasons hindered by injuries.

"A majority of the seniors have some good experience in our program. They have been the workhorse of our program and are excited to be able to showcase that," said Meuchel.

"They are reliable, they are talented, and they bring an energy to our team that will continue to push our program in the direction it needs to go."

From the junior class, Elise Ontiveros moved into a starting role in left field midway through last season and batted .423 the rest of the way. That included a .457 batting average in league games that earned her honorable mention All-Big Sky honors.

Allie Brock, part of a two-pitcher rotation for most of 2022, started a team-high 26 games. She finished with 10 wins.

The team's biggest position of change will come in the infield, where Sellers had first base locked down for years, as did McGrath at shortstop and Becker at third base. No other player started at those positions last season.

They took over those positions from a group of stalwarts who played the infield from the program's first game in 2015 through their graduation in 2018, when last year's seniors took over and held the spots the last four years.

Klucewich, at second base, is the team's only returning starter from the infield, and even she has played more career games in the outfield.

"We've flipped the infield twice in our existence. We had people come in and step up," said Meuchel. "Now there are opportunities again.

"We have players who maybe didn't get as much as they desired, but the work level they put in and the ability to prepare themselves for this day is now going to give them opportunities."

Of this year's sophomores, Presley Jantzi and Dana Butterfield played the most as freshmen.

Jantzi batted .353, mainly as the designated player, and had 13 extra-base hits, including a team-high 11 doubles. Butterfield made 36 appearances at pitcher and won 10 games while posting a 4.68 ERA.

In addition to transfer Jessica Stanfield, Meuchel brought in four freshmen: Breiana Bonkavich (Las Vegas), Grace Haegele (Redmond, Wash.), Chloe Saxton (Seattle, Wash.) and Makena Strong (Las Vegas).

"They have talent, drive, a lot of passion for the sport and an eagerness to learn from the program and an openness to it," said Meuchel.

Montana will get two and a half weeks of practices before playing a pair of exhibition games the final weekend of September. The Grizzlies will also host games the first two weekends of October, with the final details still being worked out.

"The entire year is a process of trying to define who we are, how we'll mesh, where people will play," said Meuchel.

"Fall is an opportunity to meet our standards, to push our standards but also an opportunity to get a look at who we will become. It gives us an opportunity to really grow as who we are and who we want to become."

University of Montana Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Kylie Becker

Allie Brock

Dana Butterfield

Kendall Curtis

Presley Jantzi

Maggie Joseph

Jaxie Klucewich

Maygen McGrath

Elise Ontiveros

Julie Phelps

Cami Sellers

Related Videos