Griz to host Saints in Tuesday doubleheader

The Montana softball team will play its final nonconference games of the regular season on Tuesday when it hosts Carroll in an afternoon doubleheader at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

The doubleheader between the Grizzlies (14-26) and Saints (17-19-1) will start at 2:30 p.m. The games will count as exhibitions for Carroll.

Montana, which will be trying to snap a six-game losing streak, will conclude its 13-game home stand over the weekend when it hosts Portland State (16-19, 5-3 BSC) on Saturday and Sunday.

The Grizzlies will wrap up their regular-season schedule with a series at Sacramento State on April 26-27. The Big Sky Conference tournament will open in Pocatello, Idaho, on Wednesday, May 8.

Coverage: Tuesday's doubleheader will be available on both ESPN+ and SWX with Riley Corcoran calling the action.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies dropped to 0-9 in Big Sky play with a 3-0 series loss to Idaho State on Friday and Saturday at Grizzly Softball Field.

Montana previously was swept by Weber State in Ogden and Northern Colorado in Missoula.

Facing the Bengals, the Big Sky preseason favorites, the Grizzlies lost 5-0 in Game 1, 9-1 in six innings in Game 2 and 9-0 in five innings in Game 3.

Montana batted .127 in the series, going 8 for 63 while getting outscored 23-1. The Grizzlies' lone run was a solo home run by Presley Jantzi with two outs in the bottom of the sixth in Game 2.

Jantzi, Riley Peschek and Hannah Jablonski each had two hits in the series. Riley Stockton and Kelly Sweyer had the other two.

Montana's eight hits were the fewest for the Grizzlies in a Big Sky series in program history.

The Grizzlies have allowed five or more runs in eight of their nine league games for an ERA of 8.98. Their season ERA of 5.42 ranks 265th nationally out of 296 teams.

Idaho State hit .375 against four Montana pitchers, who gave up 27 hits to the Bengals over three games and 17 walks for a WHIP of 2.44.

At a glance (Carroll): The Saints are 17-19-1 overall, their tie coming in a 9-9 draw at MSU Billings in late February when the teams ran out of daylight before they could finish the second game of a doubleheader.

Carroll is 10-11 in Cascade Collegiate Conference games in one of the nation's top NAIA leagues. In the latest national poll, Oregon Tech, Eastern Oregon, College of Idaho and Southern Oregon all were ranked.

The Saints have a 1-8 league record against College of Idaho, Southern Oregon and Eastern Oregon, and host Oregon Tech this weekend in Helena.

Carroll, which had a nine-game winning streak in March when it outscored its opponents 50-20, has gone 9-3 in league against unranked opponents Bushnell, Corban, British Columbia and Warner Pacific.

The Saints went 1-3 against Eastern Oregon at home over the weekend, then dropped a makeup game to College of Idaho 11-3 on Sunday in their most recent outing.

Carroll is batting .278 on the season and has a .410 slugging percentage thanks to 48 doubles and 24 home runs.

Junior Kenna Thomas, from Belgrade, is batting .355 and has hit six home runs. Junior Alyssa Lybbert is batting .351. She has struck out only three times this season in 114 at-bats.

Sophomore pitcher Kennedy Venner, from Billings, has thrown more than half of Carroll's innings this season. She is 8-10 with a 2.86 ERA and has struck out 127 batters in 117 2/3 innings. She has thrown 13 complete games, five shutouts.

Series history: Montana has never lost to Carroll during the regular season, going 15-0 with all those games taking place at Grizzly Softball Field.

Montana scored 10 or more runs against Carroll in the teams' first five meetings but has been held to fewer than 10 runs in the teams' last 10 matchups.

In last year's doubleheader in Missoula, the Grizzlies won 9-1 and 7-5, the latter a 4-4 game heading into the bottom of the fifth.

When the teams played in Missoula in October during the fall exhibition season, Carroll won 4-3 before the Grizzlies bounced back for a 9-1 win.

Montana notes:

* Montana, which had just one in three games against Idaho State, ranks third nationally in doubles per game (1.88) behind Texas Tech (1.92) and Nevada (1.89).

* Presley Jantzi ranks 44th nationally in hits (53), 84th in batting average (.402).

* Jantzi, Hannah Jablonski and Riley Peschek are tied for 59th nationally with 12 doubles each.

* Montana ranks last in the Big Sky in batting average (.260) and ERA (5.42).

* Jantzi ranks fourth in the Big Sky in batting average as she tries to record only the fifth .400 season in program history.

* Peschek ranks fifth in the Big Sky in slugging percentage (.611), Jantzi ranks fifth in on-base percentage (.463).

* Montana has just one win this season in 21 games, 2-0 over CSU Bakersfield, when the Grizzlies haven't scored at least five runs.

* Emmalyn Brinka threw her fourth complete game of the season in Game 1 against Idaho State. She allowed only two sacrifice flies as she took a 2-0 deficit into the seventh inning.

* Brinka's 107 pitches in that game was her third time this season throwing more than 100 pitches in a start.

* Riley Peschek's eight-game hitting streak came to an end in Game 3 on Saturday against Idaho State. She has hit safely in 19 of Montana's last 23 games.

* Montana is averaging 5.3 hits per game over its last 11 outings.

* Sunday's finale against Portland State will be Montana's final home game of the season and be Senior Day for Allie Brock, Elise Ontiveros, Riley Stockton and Kelly Sweyer.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Northern Colorado ran its winning streak to seven games with a three-game sweep of Weber State in Greeley. The Bears sit atop the Big Sky standings at 7-2.

* In a heavyweight matchup in Sacramento, the Hornets defeated Portland State 2-1 before the Vikings turned around in Game 2 for a 5-0 victory. Game 3 was rained out.

In the opener, Marissa Bertuccio improved to 11-5 with a three-hitter for Sacramento State. In Game 2, PSU's Grace Kimball threw her own three-hitter in the shutout.

* Five of the six Big Sky teams are .500 or better in league.

Upcoming: Montana will host Portland State in a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. and face the Vikings in a single game at noon on Sunday.

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Players Mentioned

Emmalyn Brinka

Allie Brock

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Elise Ontiveros

Riley Peschek

Riley Stockton

Kelly Sweyer

University of Montana Athletics