Griz host Wildcats in final regular-season games

The Montana softball team will wrap up its regular-season schedule this week with a series against Weber State at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

The teams will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 2:30 p.m. The finale will be played at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Game 3 also will serve as Senior Day for four Grizzlies.

Montana enters the series with a record of 9-33, a league record of 3-9 that has the Grizzlies in sixth place in the six-team Big Sky standings.

Weber State, the defending Big Sky champion, is an uncharacteristic 9-27, 3-6 in league, which has it sitting in fifth place. The Wildcats have a makeup series with Idaho State next weekend.

All six league teams will travel to Ogden, Utah, the second week of May for the Big Sky Championship. The tournament will open on Wednesday, May 10.

Coverage: All three games this week will stream on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein calling the action. Saturday's game also will air on SWX.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies are still seeking their first Big Sky series win of the season after dropping two of three games last week at Idaho State.

Montana has won two of its last 15 Big Sky series dating back to 2021.

The Grizzlies won the series opener at Idaho State, 5-4 in 10 innings on Friday. The Bengals swept Saturday's doubleheader with wins of 5-1 and 11-3.

Montana has been outscored in league games 84-30, 291-110 for the season.

The Grizzlies won the opener on Friday behind a complete game from Allie Brock, who threw a career-high 162 pitches over 10 innings.

Montana fell behind 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth but answered with three runs in the top of the seventh on an Idaho State throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt.

The Bengals tied it in the bottom of the seventh on a hit by pitch, one of five for Brock in the game.

Montana pitchers have hit 57 batters this season, which ranks 294th in the nation out of 295 teams, ahead of only Toledo, which has hit 67.

Montana went up 5-4 in the top of the 10th on a Grace Hardy RBI single to left. That was enough for Brock, who allowed only two hits over the final three innings for career complete game No. 19.

The win was Montana's fifth this season against Division I opponents. All five have come in one-run games.

Idaho State won Game 2 behind a three-run home run by Angelica Cano in the third and a two-run shot by Cano in the fifth. Cano earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors on Monday.

Montana got off to a 3-0 lead in Game 3 behind a home run by Riley Stockton in the top of the first, her second of the season, the third of her career.

That would be it for the Grizzlies as Idaho State scored the game's final 11 runs to run-rule Montana for the second time in the teams' history.

The Bengals tied it in the second, built a 6-3 lead through five, then walked it off with five runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Montana ranks last in the Big Sky in batting average at .233, 261st nationally. The Grizzlies rank 280th in scoring at 2.6 runs per game.

Montana's ERA of 6.38 ranks 284th nationally.

At a glance (Weber State): The Wildcats had one of the best seasons in Big Sky history last year, going 38-12 overall, 13-1 in league.

Weber State won the Big Sky tournament, winning three games by a combined score of 27-0.

The Wildcats have finished first or second in the Big Sky every season since 2016 and won the last three regular-season championships outright, going 42-6 in league games those three seasons.

Mary Kay Amicone, in her 10th season, is the winningest coach in Big Sky softball history, leading her team to the NCAA tournament in 2015, '16, '19 and last year.

All of which makes this year's drop-off that much more shocking.

Part of it is strength of schedule. Even with a 9-27 record, the Wildcats have an RPI of 149, the second highest in the Big Sky behind Sacramento State's 130. The Hornets are 26-14.

Part of it is personnel losses. Weber State lost pitchers Arissa Henderson and Mariah Ramirez off last year's team. Henderson won 16 games with a 2.24 ERA. Ramirez won 11 games with an ERA of 3.12.

Amanda Johnson went 10-1 last season with an ERA of 3.84, but she hasn't had the same success this season. She is 6-14 with an ERA of 5.30.

This season's biggest blow came in December when it was announced that freshman Kaysen Korth, who spent the fall at Weber State, was transferring in-season to BYU.

Korth, the 2022 Utah Gatorade Player of the Year, was a major recruiting get for the Wildcats. Now she is 13-6 with a 2.99 ERA and BYU's ace.

Weber State scrambled to replace Korth with between-semester transfers from Salt Lake Community College and Lake Land (Ill.) College, but it hasn't been the same.

The program that annually has had the Big Sky's best ERA, along with Sacramento State, has a staff ERA of 6.05.

The team's offense also has had a decline. The Wildcats batted .311 last year and have been above .300 in six of the last seven full seasons, the only outlier .294 in 2018.

This year's team is batting .246. No one is batting over .350 and only three players are batting over .300.

Series history:

* Weber State leads the all-time series with Montana 17-9. The Wildcats have won four straight over the Grizzlies and are 11-3 against Montana since the start of the 2018 season.

* Montana is 4-5 in Missoula against Weber State. The Grizzlies won the series in 2016, winning two of three games. The Wildcats won two of three games in 2018 and '21.

Summary:

Saturday will double as Senior Day for Kendall Curtis, Maggie Joseph, Jaxie Klucewich and Julie Phelps.

They were freshmen in 2020, in the season that was cut short before league play began. Montana tied for third in the Big Sky in 2021 and placed sixth last season.

"What I'll remember is their commitment to come to work every single day and lead by example in what they do," said coach Melanie Meuchel.

"They are a gritty group. There is no boundary to them. You can push them. They are driven to be great for their teammates and great for themselves. They take a lot of pride in what they do."

Curtis has started at least half of Montana's games every season she's been a Grizzly.

The multi-talented Klucewich, who's played outfield and infield, has started almost every game since her sophomore year, when she was honorable mention All-Big Sky.

Joseph joined the team in 2021 after transferring from California. She has made 24 appearances, made eight starts in two seasons as a Grizzly.

Phelps has been the primary starter in center field since her freshman year. She has started all but three games in which she's played the last four years.

Curtis, Klucewich and Phelps have all made three Academic All-Big Sky teams. Curtis and Klucewich both are two-time Easton/NFCA All-America Scholar Athletes.

"Each career has been a little different but their constant ability to stick together has been fun to be a part of," said Meuchel.

"They have definitely led by example for their teammates on the field, in the classroom and how to handle yourself in a professional manner on a daily basis."

Before Senior Day on Saturday, the series against Weber State will kick off with a doubleheader on Friday.

The Wildcats may be down, but they are still the Wildcats, champions until somebody else takes the trophy from them.

"Anytime you bring up their name in our program, it gets marked on our calendar and we get excited for that series," said Meuchel, who is 3-11 against Amicone as a head coach.

"We always have respect for what they do and what they have done. It's always a competitive series. We can't wait to get on the field on Friday and compete against them."

Beyond trying to win its first Big Sky series in more than a year, Montana hopes to pick up some momentum for the postseason this week.

The Grizzlies have not had back-to-back Division I wins this season or since early April last season.

"It's continuing to push to get on a roll, a roll that hasn't really hit. There are times we feel we're doing things right, doing things well, then we let an inning get away from us that's really big," said Meuchel.

"It's hard to come back from that, so we're working through that grind. At this time of year, we can't allow that to happen. We have to be consistent in what we're doing.

"We're starting to see more in certain areas, but all areas need to step up at the same time at this point."

Series notes:

* Weber State has gone 1-2 in all three of its league series, home against Portland State, at Sacramento State and home against Northern Colorado.

* The Wildcats' three Big Sky wins have come in low-scoring games, 4-2 over Portland State, 3-2 over Sacramento State and 2-0 over Northern Colorado.

* In Weber's six league losses, the Wildcats have allowed 42 runs.

* Weber State's Amanda Johnson was the Big Sky Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 20. Mika Chong was the Big Sky Player of the Week on April 10 after hitting three home runs in a game against Portland State.

* The fewest wins in a season in program history is 16 set by the inaugural Montana team in 2015. … Montana's all-time Big Sky record is now 74-75. It's below .500 for the first time since 2016.

* Friday's win at Idaho State was Montana's first this season in 17 games when trailing after six innings. It was Montana's first extra-innings win since defeating Portland State at last year's Big Sky tournament.

* Julie Phelps has had multiple hits in three of the last five games. … Allie Brock's 10 innings of work on Friday at Idaho State were a career high. … Riley Stockton's three RBIs in Game 3 at Idaho State matched a career high. … Grace Hardy had a hit in all three games at Idaho State. Her current three-game hitting streak is a career best. … Hannah Jablonski went 4 for 10 at Idaho State with two doubles. … Presley Jantzi has a hit in six of the last seven games. … Montana's leading hitter ranks 24th in the Big Sky Conference.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Sacramento State, at 10-2, is running away with the conference. Idaho State, at 5-4, is the only other league team above .500.

* The Hornets' only league losses were both at home, 3-0 to Northern Colorado and 3-2 to Weber State.

* The regular-season title has not yet been clinched, at least mathematically, not with Idaho State playing three games at Sacramento State this week, then three against Weber State next week.

* Northern Colorado and Portland State are both 6-6 in league and tied for third.

* Sacramento State, Northern Colorado, Portland State and Montana all play their final league games this weekend. Idaho State and Weber State will play a makeup series next weekend in Ogden.

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

Upcoming: The Big Sky Conference Championship in Ogden, Utah, starting on Wednesday, May 10.

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Players Mentioned

Allie Brock

Kendall Curtis

Grace Hardy

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Maggie Joseph

Jaxie Klucewich

Julie Phelps

Riley Stockton

University of Montana Athletics