Montana heads to Bakersfield as tournament season continues

The Montana softball team, which has played tournament games in Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico through the first two weekends of the season, will head to California this week as the Grizzlies' nonconference schedule continues.

Montana (3-7) will play five games this weekend over three days at the CSUB Kathy Welter Classic in Bakersfield. The Grizzlies will face Saint Mary's (5-5) twice and tournament host CSU Bakersfield (1-7) three times at the Roadrunner Softball Complex.

Schedule:
Friday, 10 a.m. (MT) – vs. Saint Mary's
Friday, 12:30 p.m. (MT) – at CSU Bakersfield
Saturday, 10 a.m. (MT) – vs. Saint Mary's
Saturday, 3 p.m. (MT) – at CSU Bakersfield
Sunday, 10:30 a.m. (MT) – at CSU Bakersfield

Coverage: All five of Montana's games can be monitored by live stats. The Grizzlies' game against CSU Bakersfield at 12:30 p.m. (MT) on Friday will have coverage on ESPN+.

Upcoming: Montana will head to Phoenix next week for Grand Canyon's Purple Classic, the Grizzlies' fifth consecutive season playing in a GCU event. Montana will get games against New Mexico, Grand Canyon, Toledo and two against Pacific.

At a glance (Montana): After opening the season with a pair of 5-4 wins at the Mardi Gras Mambo, the Grizzlies have lost seven of their last eight games to drop to 3-7 on the season.

Montana went 1-4 last week at the UTEP Invitational in El Paso and the Troy Cox Classic in Las Cruces.

The Grizzlies opened with their most complete game of the season, a 5-1 victory over Purdue-Fort Wayne. Losses followed against UTEP, Nebraska, New Mexico State and Purdue-Fort Wayne, with 35 runs allowed in those four losses.

Montana heads to the Kathy Welter Classic with a team batting average of .213 and an ERA of 5.17.

At a glance (CSU Bakersfield): The Roadrunners went 7-43 last season, two of those seven wins coming against Montana at the UNLV Desert Classic, and finished last in the Big West with a 2-25 league record. CSU Bakersfield was picked 10th out of 10 teams in this year's preseason poll.

The Roadrunners opened their first season under new coach Letty Olivarez with three losses at Fresno State's tournament, then went 1-4 last week at Cal Baptist's tournament, picking up a 3-2 win over Utah State.

CSU Bakersfield has an eight-game team batting average of .243, an ERA of 6.27 with an opponent batting average of .378.

History: Montana and CSU Bakersfield have played seven times, all at neutral sites, with the Roadrunners winning five of those seven previous meetings.

The teams played twice last season, with CSU Bakersfield winning 3-2 in nine innings and 7-3 at the UNLV Desert Classic. Montana had just six hits in the two games.

At a glance (Saint Mary's): The Gaels are off to a 5-5 start under sixth-year coach Sonja Garnett, including wins last weekend over Oregon State and Fresno State at FSU's tournament.

Saint Mary's opened the season with three straight wins over UC Davis, Middle Tennessee and San Jose State, outscoring those opponents 19-5. Three of the Gaels' losses have been by two runs or fewer.

Saint Mary's has a team batting average of .295, a team ERA of 3.47. Nine of the Gaels' 10 starts this season have come from three pitchers each holding an ERA of 3.89 or better.

Saint Mary's went 20-29 last season and hasn't had a winning season since 2012, with only three winning seasons in its history that dates back to 1988. The Gaels placed third out of six teams in the West Coast Conference last year, going 9-6 to finish behind Loyola Marymount and BYU.

History: Montana and Saint Mary's have split their four precious matchups, all taking place at neutral sites.

The teams split a pair of games in Boise in 2015 and two games at Sacramento State and UC Davis on opening week in 2022.

Summary: Montana opened the UTEP Invitational last weekend with its best all-around performance of the young season, a 5-1 victory over Purdue-Fort Wayne.

Starter Grace Haegele allowed one run on two hits in the bottom of the first, then shut down the Mastodons the rest of the way, allowing three hits over the final six innings for her second complete game of the season, the fifth of her career.

Montana took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth on a two-run double by Riley Peschek, then made it 5-1 in the top of the seventh on a two-run pinch-hit home run by Kelly Sweyer, the Grizzlies' first of the season.

"Our game against Purdue-Fort Wayne was our most put-together game collectively," said seventh-year coach Melanie Meuchel.

The Grizzlies grabbed a 4-1 lead on Nebraska in their first game on Saturday at New Mexico State's Troy Cox Classic and held that into the fourth before the Cornhuskers scored 13 runs, the most ever allowed by Montana in an inning in program history, on their way to a 15-4 win.

Montana later fell behind New Mexico State 7-0 after two innings, came back to tie it at 7-7 in the top of the sixth before falling 8-7 in eight innings.

On Sunday morning, the Grizzlies lost 6-0 for the second time in four games, this time in a rematch against Purdue-Fort Wayne. After defeating the Mastodons on Friday, the Grizzlies got outscored 35-11 over their next four games.

"Over the first two weekends, we've shown signs in multiple areas of being strong, but we need to show more consistency in those areas throughout an entire game," said Meuchel.

"Looking forward to getting back into competition this weekend and having those expectations and pushing for a good start to our weekend."

Montana is led offensively by right fielder Presley Jantzi, who leads the team in hits (12), extra-base hits (5), runs scored (7) and batting average (.364).

She went 4 for 4 in Montana's loss at New Mexico State on Saturday, her first career four-hit game and the first for the Grizzlies since Maygen McGrath went 4 for 4 against Carroll in 2022.

In her first season as a Grizzly after two years at UNLV, Jocelyn Eisen is batting .321. Four of her nine hits have gone for extra bases and she's scored six runs.

Haegele leads the pitching staff. She is 2-2 with an ERA of 3.27.

"We have had real consistent games from Presley and Jocelyn, and Grace has been strong on the mound for us," said Meuchel. "We need to add more people to that consistency. We look forward to getting back on the field and having opportunities to do that."

This week's road trip will be a homecoming for senior center fielder Elise Ontiveros, who is from Bakersfield.

The two-time honorable mention All-Big Sky performer made her season debut last week, picking up two hits in three games with two RBIs.

"When we can get players back home or close to their hometowns over the course of their career, we try to do that," said Meuchel. "This is an opportunity for Elise to return back to Bakersfield to play in front of family and friends. We're excited to get down there and see where she's from."

Montana notes:

* Montana ranks last in the Big Sky, 240th nationally out of 278 teams, in batting average (.213) and fifth in the Big Sky, 215th nationally, in ERA (5.17).

* The Grizzlies rank 24th nationally in doubles (1.90/g).

* Over a stretch of three games last weekend, Presley Jantzi had six hits in seven at-bats.

* Pitchers Emmalyn Brinka and Nyeala Herndon combined for eight strikeouts in Sunday's 6-0 loss to Purdue-Fort Wayne. It was the most strikeouts for Montana against a Division I opponent in a game that didn't go to extra innings since Tristin Achenbach struck out eight Hornets in Montana's 5-0 victory over Sacramento State in the 2021 Big Sky tournament.

Montana heads to Bakersfield as tournament season continues

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Players Mentioned

Emmalyn Brinka

Jocelyn Eisen

Grace Haegele

Nyeala Herndon

Presley Jantzi

Elise Ontiveros

Riley Peschek

Kelly Sweyer

University of Montana Athletics