Griz to face Bengals in Pocatello

It's three Big Sky Conference series down for the Montana softball team, two to go.

The Grizzlies will play their final road series of the season this week when they travel to Pocatello to face Idaho State at Miller Ranch Stadium.

The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 1:30 p.m., the finale at noon on Saturday.

Montana will wrap up its regular-season schedule by hosting Weber State next week at Grizzly Softball Field.

The six-team Big Sky Conference Championship will open on Wednesday, May 10, in Ogden, Utah.

Coverage: The Montana-Idaho State games will stream on ESPN+ with live stats also available.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies dropped their third Big Sky series of the season last weekend when they went 1-2 at Northern Colorado.

The Bears won Games 1 and 3 comfortably, 10-2 and 7-1. Montana won Game 2 9-8, holding on after building a 9-1 lead. The game ended with runners on second and third in the bottom of the seventh.

Montana is 2-7 in league, having been outscored 64-21 on .357 opponent batting, 8-31 overall. The Grizzlies are 4-31 against Division I opponents, all four wins coming by one-run margins.

Montana and Northern Colorado played a single game last Friday.

The Grizzlies went up 2-0 in the top of the second on a Kelly Sweyer home run and Hannah Jablonski RBI single but wouldn't collect another base hit against UNC starter Erin Caviness.

The Bears scored three in the second, four in the fourth and three in the fifth to hand the Grizzlies their 13th run-rule loss of the season.

Montana opened Saturday's doubleheader with its best offensive showing of the season. The Grizzlies had a season-high 15 hits, matched a season high with nine runs.

It was the most hits in a game for Montana since April 2, 2022, just the fourth time this season the Grizzlies have had 10 or more.

The Grizzlies scored two in the first, one in the second, three in the third and fourth innings to go up 9-1 and position themselves for their first run-rule victory over a Division I opponent in more than a year.

Grace Hardy had a two-run home run in the fourth, one of Montana's season-high seven extra-base hits. The team's six doubles were one off the program record.

After being held to two runs through five innings by Griz starter Grace Haegele, the Bears scored three in the bottom of the sixth, then added three more in the bottom of the seventh.

The game ended with Allie Brock, in relief, getting a foul out to first base with runners on second and third. It was Brock's first career save.

Kendall Curtis, had three hits, the fourth game of her career with three or more. Julie Phelps, Elise Ontiveros, Riley Stockton, Presley Jantzi and Hannah Jablonski all had two-hit games.

Haegele got the win, her team-leading fourth of the season.

Northern Colorado jumped on Montana early in Game 3, going up 4-0 in the bottom of the first before two outs had been recorded.

That was more than enough support for Caviness, who held Montana to one unearned run and three hits over seven innings for her second win of the weekend.

Julie Phelps had all three of Montana's hits, making her 8 for 14 over the Grizzlies' previous four games and upping her batting average to a season-high .250.

Montana has won just two of its last 14 Big Sky series.

Montana ranks last in the Big Sky in batting average (.231), 261st nationally out of 295 teams. It ranks 276th in scoring (2.6/g). The Grizzlies' ERA of 6.53 ranks 285th nationally.

At a glance (Idaho State): The Bengals went 25-27 last season under first-year coach Andrew Rich, which included a series win over Montana at Grizzly Softball Field.

Picked fifth out of six teams in this year's preseason poll, Idaho State is 11-22 and off to a 3-3 start in league despite playing just two games between March 12 and April 7 because of weather.

The Bengals opened league going 2-1 at home against Northern Colorado, winning 1-0 and 3-2 in eight innings behind the pitching of Jordan Schuring.

Schuring pitched ISU to a 7-3 win at Portland State last week in the teams' series opener. The Vikings took the next two games, 10-3 and 10-2.

The Bengals are hitting .272 on the season and are just one off of Portland State's Big Sky lead with 70 extra-base hits. Idaho State has an ERA of 4.89.

Freshman Alyssa Yee leads Idaho State and ranks third in the Big Sky in batting average (.357). She has six home runs, one off the Big Sky lead.

Schuring, a junior who pitched one season at Boise State, another at California Baptist, is 6-8 with a 3.08 ERA.

Series history:

* Montana leads the series with Idaho State 13-10 though the Bengals have gone 4-3 in seven all-time series between the teams.

* The Grizzlies are 6-3 against the Bengals in Pocatello, with six straight wins. Montana swept the series at ISU in 2019 and 2021.

* In last year's series in Missoula, Idaho State opened with 7-6 and 10-1 wins. Montana came back the next day to post a 10-1 win, its most recent run-rule victory over a Division I opponent.

Around the Big Sky:

* This week's NCAA RPI: Sacramento State (136), Weber State (145), Portland State (219), Northern Colorado (225), Idaho State (236), Montana (276).

* Sacramento State took two of three at home against Weber State last weekend to remain atop the Big Sky standings at 7-2. Marissa Bertuccio won Games 1 and 3 with one run allowed over 14 innings.

* Portland State won two of three at home against Idaho State last week to move to 6-3 in league. The Vikings have gone 2-1 in each of their series.

* Idaho State and Weber State, who were supposed to play the opening weekend of league, are one series behind everyone else. They will play the first weekend of May, prior to the Big Sky tournament.

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

Upcoming: Montana will wrap up its regular-season schedule with a three-game home series against Weber State on Friday, April 28, and Saturday, April 29.

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Players Mentioned

Allie Brock

Kendall Curtis

Grace Haegele

Grace Hardy

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Elise Ontiveros

Julie Phelps

Riley Stockton

Kelly Sweyer

University of Montana Athletics