Griz to host Tuesday doubleheader

The Montana softball team will wrap up a four-game home stand on Tuesday when it hosts Providence of Great Falls for a doubleheader at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Grizzlies (4-23) and Argos (2-17) will start Game 1 at 2 p.m. Game 2 will begin around 4:30 p.m.

Montana has won two in a row and four of its last seven after opening the season 0-20.

Providence won at Bushnell on Saturday in its most recent game, 9-7, and closed that four-game series by scoring 28 runs over the final three games.

The Grizzlies will travel later in the week to Oregon for four games over three days.

Montana will open its Big Sky Conference schedule with a weekend series at Portland State (8-16), with a doubleheader on Saturday, the series finale on Sunday.

The Grizzlies will play a single game at Oregon (20-10) at 1 p.m. (MT) on Monday in Eugene, after the Ducks play a Pac-12 series at Oregon State Friday through Sunday.

Monday's game will be Kids Day at Jane Sanders Stadium.

Montana will then be all in on the Big Sky, hosting Sacramento State (April 7-8), playing at Northern Colorado (April 14-15) and Idaho State (April 21-22), and hosting Weber State (April 28-29).

Coverage: Tuesday's doubleheader can be watched on ESPN+ or SWX with Riley Corcoran calling the action.

At a glance (Montana): After picking up a pair of wins at the Seattle Invitational two weekends ago, the Grizzlies doubled their season wins total from two to four with a home sweep of Carroll last Monday.

Montana used a one-hitter from Allie Brock, her 17th career complete game, to win Game 1 9-1. Brock didn't allow a hit until there were two out in the top of the fifth.

With the Grizzlies leading 7-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, Presley Jantzi led off with a double to center. Hannah Jablonski followed three pitches later with a walk-off home run down the left-field line.

It was Montana's first walk-off home run since Kylie Becker hit a two-run shot to defeat Idaho State at Grizzly Softball Field 10-1 last April.

Jantzi, who had a bases-loaded triple in the bottom of the first, drove in three to up her season total from one to four. Jantzi, Elise Ontiveros and Kendall Curtis all had two-hit games.

Montana never trailed in Game 2 but allowed Carroll to tie the score at 4-4 with three runs in the top of the fifth. The Grizzlies answered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and went on to win 7-5.

Maggie Joseph got the start and departed after throwing four innings and Montana holding a 4-1 lead.

She returned in the top of the seventh with two runners on and nobody out. She gave up an RBI ground out to make it 7-5, then got back-to-back game-ending strikeouts with runners on second and third.

Grace Haegele got the win, her second of the season. Joseph picked up the save, the first of her career.

Curtis had another two-hit outing, her fourth in five games. Jaxie Klucewich also had two hits, her second multiple-hit game of the season.

Curtis had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the fifth. Her single to right-center with one out and runners on second and third gave Montana a 6-4 lead.

Jantzi later made it 7-4 with a sacrifice fly to left, her fourth RBI of the doubleheader.

At a glance (Providence): The Argos went 6-34 last season, 4-26 in the strong Cascade Collegiate Conference, and are 2-17 this season, 1-11 in league.

Providence was 26 games over .500 between 2013 and 2016, without a losing season, but has finished at least 10 games under .500 every season since then.

From the start of the 2021 season, the Argos are 13-80.

Providence opened the season 0-13, with 22 runs scored through 13 games, before breaking through with a 5-4 win over the University of British Columbia on March 18 at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Argos picked up win No. 2 on Saturday at Bushnell, 9-7, in the final game of a four-game series.

Through 19 games, Providence has an ERA of 8.99 and has allowed 176 runs, an average of more than nine per game. Its opponents are batting .398.

The Argos are batting .241 and have scored 60 runs through 19 games (3.2/g).

Senior outfielder Taylor Mathews, of Helena, leads Providence in batting average (.333), runs (11), hits (21), extra-base hits (11) and RBI (11).

Both of Tuesday's game are being counted as exhibitions for the Argos, who play four games at 27-2 College of Idaho on Friday and Saturday.

Providence is in 10th place out of 11 teams in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, ahead of Warner Pacific (1-18, 1-14 CCC), who the Argos are scheduled to host in Great Falls April 6-7.

In last week's NAIA national poll, Oregon Tech is No. 1, Southern Oregon No. 5, College of Idaho No. 12, Eastern Oregon No. 25. Those are the top four teams in the Cascade Collegiate Conference standings.

Series history: Montana has gone 10-0 against Providence, sweeping home doubleheaders in 2015, '16, '18, '19 and '22. The Grizzlies outscored the Argos in those games 85-13.

In last season's sweep, Montana won 10-1 behind a three-hitter by Allie Brock and 10-4 behind a complete game from Dana Butterfield.

Montana defeated Providence twice in the fall during the exhibition season, 8-5 and 6-4.

Montana notes:

* Hannah Jablonski added a home run in Game 2 against Carroll. Her four home runs lead the team. Jablonski, Kelly Sweyer (3) and Kendall Curtis (2) are the only Grizzlies with multiple home runs.

* Curtis had seven hits through the season's first 22 games. The last five games she is 9 for 12. From March 4 through the Carroll doubleheader, she raised her batting average from .109 to .250.

* Elise Ontiveros leads Montana with six multiple-hit games. Hannah Jablonski and Kendell Curtis both have four. Curtis's have all come in the last five games.

* Curtis will take a five-game hitting streak into Tuesday's doubleheader. It's the longest hitting streak by a Grizzly this season.

* Last Monday's Game 2 win against Carroll was Montana's 80th all-time at Grizzly Softball Field. Montana is 80-46 at home.

* Jaxie Klucewich went 2 for 3 in Game 2 against Carroll, giving her 100 hits for her career.

* Allie Brock's last three starts, against UNLV, Seattle and Carroll: 19 2/3 innings pitched, 14 hits, three earned runs allowed. Over those games her ERA has dropped from 6.26 to 4.49.

* Riley Stockton has hit safely in the last five games she's started.

* The Grizzlies rank sixth out of six teams in the Big Sky in batting (.221), fifth in ERA (6.85).

* Montana's leading hitter, Elise Ontiveros (.300), ranks 19th in the Big Sky in batting average.

* Julie Phelps, who did not play against Carroll, leads the Big Sky in walks with 14.

* Montana pitchers have hit 35 batters this season. Out of 295 NCAA Division I teams, only Memphis (38) has hit more.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Sacramento State, behind the pitching of Marissa Bertuccio (8-5, 2.11 ERA), last year's Big Sky Pitcher of the Year, is the only Big Sky team above .500 at 15-11.

* Northern Colorado, at 12-14, is the only other Big Sky team with more than eight wins.

* Not surprisingly, those two teams lead the Big Sky in ERA. The Hornets have an ERA of 3.36, the Bears an ERA of 4.65.

* Those two teams open league facing each other Friday and Saturday in Sacramento.

* Also on Friday and Saturday, Idaho State (8-17) opens at Weber State (6-20).

* The Wildcats went 38-12 last season, won the Big Sky at 13-1 and the league tournament, going 3-0 by a score of 27-0. Weber State lost to Texas, 6-0, and Lehigh, 5-4, at the NCAA's Seattle Regional.

* Big Sky RPIs: Sacramento State (125), Weber State (139), Northern Colorado (193), Portland State (199), Idaho State (246), Montana (268).

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Players Mentioned

Kylie Becker

Allie Brock

Dana Butterfield

Kendall Curtis

Grace Haegele

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Maggie Joseph

Jaxie Klucewich

Elise Ontiveros

Julie Phelps

Riley Stockton

Kelly Sweyer

University of Montana Athletics