Griz seeking turnaround in Phoenix

The Montana softball team, still seeking its first win of the 2023 season, will play five games in three days this weekend at the Purple Classic in Phoenix.

Montana (0-10) will get one game against South Dakota (3-5), two against host Grand Canyon (9-1) and two against Utah State (4-6).

All 10 games of the tournament will be played at GCU Softball Stadium.

The schedule:

Friday, 1:30 p.m. – Montana vs. South Dakota
Friday, 6:30 p.m. – Montana at Grand Canyon
Saturday, 11 a.m. – Montana vs. Utah State
Saturday, 4 p.m. – Montana at Grand Canyon
Sunday, 9:30 a.m. – Montana vs. Utah State

Coverage: Montana's two games against Grand Canyon will be streamed on ESPN+. All five of Montana's games can be tracked via live stats.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies take a 0-10 record to Phoenix, where they are playing for the fourth straight year and for the fifth time in six years. It's the first time in program history that Montana has started a season 0-10.

The Grizzlies went 0-5 at the Lynn Russell Miller Classic in Riverside, Calif., to open the season, then went 0-5 again last weekend at the UNLV Desert Classic in Las Vegas.

Montana has a team batting average of .194, a team ERA of 7.08. The Grizzlies have been outscored through 10 games 76-23 and have allowed seven or more runs in eight of 10 games.

At a glance (South Dakota): The Coyotes, who had their season-opening games in Conway, S.C., canceled because of weather, are 3-5.

South Dakota was able to get a pair of games at the UNI Dome Classic in place of its trip to South Carolina and picked up wins over Drake and Northern Iowa. At last week's North Texas Invitational, USD went 1-5, with losses to No. 22 North Texas and No. 16 Kentucky and an 8-1 win over Sam Houston.

The Coyotes have a team batting average of .263, a team ERA of 6.57.

South Dakota went 28-25 last season, finished fourth in the Summit League with an 11-10 record. The Coyotes were picked fourth in this year's preseason poll, behind South Dakota State, Omaha and North Dakota State.

At a glance (Grand Canyon): The Lopes, who played their first 24 games at home last season, went 39-16 in 2022 and made the NCAA tournament for the first time after winning the WAC tournament.

They are looking strong again, racing out to a 9-1 start, which has included a 16-8 thumping of Portland State and 6-0 shutout of Weber State last weekend. Grand Canyon's lone loss was a 5-4 setback against Oregon State.

Grand Canyon, which is scoring nearly eight runs per game, has a robust batting average of .329. The Lopes have allowed just 19 runs through 10 games, a .213 opponent batting average and have a sparkling 1.13 ERA, which ranks seventh in the nation.

Grand Canyon topped the WAC preseason poll, outpointing upcoming opponent Seattle. Katelyn Dunckel was voted the WAC Preseason Player of the Year, Ariel Thompson the Preseason Pitcher of the Year.

At a glance (Utah State): The Aggies are 4-6 after going 2-3 in Southern California two weekends ago, 2-3 at Saint Mary's tournament last weekend.

Against a common opponent that Montana also has played, Utah State swept CSU Bakersfield 10-2 and 3-2 in nine innings. The Grizzlies lost 3-2 to the Roadrunners in nine innings last weekend in Las Vegas and 7-3.

Utah State has scored just 24 runs through 10 games, been shut out five times and has a .208 team batting average. Keeping the Aggies in games is their 2.82 ERA. Seven times in 10 games Utah State has held its opponent to two or fewer runs.

Utah State went 28-28 last season and finished fourth in the strong Mountain West at 13-11. The Aggies were picked ninth (last) in this year's poll.

Series histories:

* Montana will be playing South Dakota for the first time on Friday.

* Montana is 4-6 against Grand Canyon, with all 10 matchups coming on GCU's home field. The Lopes have won the teams' last three matchups.

* Montana is 1-6 all-time against Utah State. The Aggies have won the last five matchups and have scored 34 runs in the last three. Montana's lone win came in 2015, in the first year of the program. It was the Grizzlies' fourth win as a program.

Summary: Montana went 0-5 last weekend in Las Vegas, allowing 38 runs over its final four games, the last of which was a 7-0 loss to Hawaii. The Rainbow Wahine no-hit the Grizzlies as freshman Key-annah Campbell-Pua faced the minimum 21 batters over seven innings.

That led to an 0-10 start to the season, the first time that's happened in program history.

While sixth-year coach Melanie Meuchel's Grizzlies are discouraged, they are still fighting.

"I'm encouraged by the will, the want and the drive of this team, their desire to push on knowing we have more to show, knowing we haven't settled into who we are whatsoever," she said.

"This team, this staff, continues to be in the trenches together, working through our struggles that we currently have. I'm really proud of the efforts and the commitment that everyone has to this program.

"The challenge is to create an environment in which we will settle into the softball players that we are."

Hindering Montana's efforts to get untracked is this: The Grizzlies have allowed at least one first-inning run in eight of 10 games, and they've been outscored 47-5 through the first three innings. They've held a lead in only two games, never more than a one-run advantage.

For a team that's pressing, playing from behind is only making it more difficult.

"It's one thing chasing another thing chasing another thing right now. It's really just emphasizing the task that is sitting in front of you and working collectively to get that task completed," Meuchel said.

"Continue to have pride, continue to have confidence, continue to show up and compete. That's one thing you can see us trying to do."

Case in point: After falling behind UNLV 12-1 through three innings on Saturday night, Montana scored three in the fourth and two in the fifth to force the game to go to the bottom of the fifth.

"That's why I'm very proud of them through this challenging time. There is continued effort, continued competitiveness, continued fight to keep going, to keep doing it for each other," said Meuchel.

"It feels at times like it's so close to changing in a direction it needs to change. Things we're seeing in practice are things we're not necessarily seeing in the games. We're trying to get those to translate during competition, then putting it together for multiple innings.

"One side (offense) presses, then the other side (defense) presses, and it's kind of chasing each other. We need to put some competitive, solid innings together back-to-back to be able to catch a little fire. When we start to put a few innings together, things will release."

That will be a challenge this week at another tournament with a stout field of opponents. But it's a stadium that Montana knows well and is comfortable in, and the Grizzlies are always well supported in Phoenix.

"We aren't catching any breaks, so we've been talking about making our own breaks, making it happen instead of waiting for somebody to hand it to us," said Meuchel.

"We're going to have to create those breaks, and that's by being prepared and creating the right situations. They will come but sitting and waiting for them isn't necessarily the answer we're looking for."

Montana notes:

* Through 10 games, Allie Brock and freshman Grace Haegele both have started four games. Maggie Joseph has started the other two. Dana Butterfield has yet to pitch this season.

* Freshman Evelyn O'Brien has made five appearances in relief.

* Brock made two appearances last weekend and finished with a 0.75 ERA. She went the distance in Friday's 3-2, nine-inning loss to CSU Bakersfield without an earned run allowed.

* O'Brien had her best appearance of the season in Sunday's loss to Hawaii. Entering the game in the top of the third, she got that inning's final two outs, then shut out the Rainbow Wahine in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings before giving up two runs in the seventh on a two-run home run.

* Montana was no-hit against Hawaii on Sunday. It was the sixth time that's happened in program history, the second time it's come in a seven-inning game.

* UNLV's 10-run third inning on Saturday night was the highest-scoring inning by an opponent in program history.

* Hawaii hit three home runs in its 7-0 no-hit win on Sunday. Montana pitchers had allowed four home runs in the nine games prior.

* In Montana's 14-6 loss to UNLV on Saturday night, Grace Hardy hit a three-run home run in the fourth, a two-run single in the fifth. It was only the 10th time in program history a Montana player has driven in five or more runs in a game. It was Hardy's first collegiate home run.

* Hannah Jablonski has hit two of Montana's four home runs this season. She hit one against Middle Tennessee, one against CSU Bakersfield.

* Jessica Stanfield, a transfer from Yakima Valley College, made her Griz debut over the weekend. She pinch hit against Hawaii, pinch ran against CSU Bakersfield and got the start in right field on Sunday against Hawaii.

Upcoming: Montana will head to Southern California for the San Diego Classic and games against Boston University, Long Beach State, San Diego and San Diego State.

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Players Mentioned

Allie Brock

Dana Butterfield

Grace Haegele

Grace Hardy

Hannah Jablonski

Maggie Joseph

Evelyn O'Brien

Jessica Stanfield

University of Montana Athletics