Griz continue home stand, host Bears this weekend

The Montana softball team, which swept a Monday doubleheader against Providence, will return to its Big Sky Conference schedule this weekend when it hosts Northern Colorado at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Grizzlies (14-20, 0-3 BSC) and Bears (16-19, 1-2 BSC) will play a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 1 p.m., a single game on Sunday at noon.

Montana opened its league schedule last week at Weber State and dropped three games, falling 6-5, 2-0 and 12-4.

Northern Colorado hosted Sacramento State last week in Greeley and dropped two tight games on Friday, 1-0 and 6-4, before bouncing back for a 3-1 win on Saturday.

The Grizzlies hosted Providence on Monday and came away with a pair of wins, 6-1 and 11-3 in five innings.

Coverage: This weekend's series will be streamed on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein calling the action.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies opened their league schedule last weekend at Weber State and lost three games, their 10th straight Big Sky series loss dating back to 2022.

Montana batted a healthy .271 over three games but went just 5 for 25 with runners in scoring position, 2 for 12 with the bases loaded. The Grizzlies left 19 runners on bases, 11 in Game 1.

Montana held only two leads in the series, in the first two innings of Game 1.

Weber State scored three runs in the bottom of the third of Game 1 to go up 6-3 and held on for a 6-5 victory, then turned around the shut out the Grizzlies 2-0 in Game 2, allowing two hits.

The Wildcats got to the Grizzlies for three runs in the first and three more in the second in Game 3 and went up 11-1 before winning 12-4 on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the fifth.

Weber State batted .366 in the series, Montana had an ERA of 8.31 with a WHIP of 2.3.

Presley Jantzi, who went 5 for 8 with three walks, and Elise Ontiveros, who went 3 for 7, had eight of Montana's 19 hits in the series. Riley Peschek and Jocelyn Eisen both had two hits.

Montana bounced back with a home sweep of NAIA Providence on Monday, batting .318 in the 6-1 and 11-3 victories.

In Game 1, Emmalyn Brinka took a no-hitter into the sixth and finished with a one-hitter on an infield single. She struck out five and needed just 87 pitches to get through seven innings.

Montana scored twice in the bottom of the first, then got some separation with a three-run fourth, two of those coming on a home run by Riley Stockton, her first of the season, the fourth of her career.

The Grizzlies won 11-3 in Game 2 on just six hits as Providence walked nine, hit three batters, threw four wild pitches and had three errors.

Madison Tarrant had two hits, including her second triple of the season, and Grace Hardy drove in three, on a bases-loaded walk in the second, a two-run double in the fifth that made it 10-3.

Hardy ended the game two pitches later, advancing to third on a wild pitch, then advancing home in the same fashion.

Grace Haegele picked up the win, her fifth of the season, surpassing the four she had last year as a freshman.

At a glance (Northern Colorado): The Bears are coming off a breakout season under then first-year coach Dedeann Pendleton-Helm.

The Bears quietly finished third in the Big Sky at 9-6, just one game behind co-champions Idaho State and Sacramento State, then won the tournament title, twice defeating the Bengals in the championship series.

Northern Colorado returned all three of its first-team All-Big Sky selections from last season – outfielders Lauren Strathearn and Alyssa Wenzel, and pitcher Erin Caviness – and was picked second in the Big Sky preseason poll behind Idaho State, collecting two of six first-place votes.

After opening the season 5-13, Northern Colorado ripped off 10 wins in 14 games, including a 5-3 road win at Nebraska.

That set up a showdown last week in Greeley as the Bears hosted Sacramento State.

Game 1 went as expected as two of the Big Sky's best pitchers, Caviness and Sac State's Marissa Bertuccio, matched up. Bertuccio struck out 11, Caviness nine as both went the distance.

The Hornets won it 1-0 on an RBI triple in the fifth.

Northern Colorado took a 4-1 lead into the sixth in Game 2 behind the pitching of Isabelle DiNapoli but a two-out pinch-hit grand slam gave Sacramento State a 6-4 lead, which is how it would turn out.

All six runs scored against DiNapoli were unearned after the Bears committed three errors.

With Caviness starting Game 3, the Bears won 3-1 as Caviness scattered seven hits while striking out six.

Over the series' 21 innings, Caviness and DiNapoli allowed two earned runs.

Northern Colorado ranks last in the Big Sky in hitting, with a .255 team batting average but the Bears balance that with a 3.45 ERA, third in the Big Sky behind Sacramento State (2.81) and Portland State (3.40). Opponents are hitting .256 against the Bears, the best mark in the league.

Caviness (9-6, 2.23 ERA) and DiNapoli (5-5, 3.15 ERA) have started 26 games this season.

Caviness has thrown 11 complete games, six shutouts. Over her last three starts, against Creighton and twice against Sacramento State, she has allowed 18 hits and two runs over 21 innings.

After playing at Montana this weekend, the Bears will get back-to-back home series against Weber State and Idaho State before closing league at Portland State.

Series history: Montana and Northern Colorado have split their 28 meetings, each team winning 14 times. The Grizzlies have gone 8-4 at home against the Bears.

Northern Colorado has won two straight over Montana, five of six and 10 of 13.

The Bears hosted the regular-season series last season and took two of three in Greeley. UNC then defeated Montana 9-1 in the 3-6 game in the first round of the Big Sky tournament.

Montana notes:

* Wednesday's NCAA RPI's for the Big Sky, out of 307 teams: Sacramento State (81), Weber State (114), Northern Colorado (183), Idaho State (198), Portland State (214), Montana (281).

* After hitting five doubles in Monday's doubleheader against Providence, Montana leads the nation in that category (2.03/g).

* The Grizzlies' 91 extra-base hits lead the Big Sky, as do their 4.44 runs per game. Montana leads the Big Sky in on-base percentage (.365).

* Presley Jantzi upped her batting average from .346 to .432 from March 7 to the end of the Weber State series, 10 games during which she went 21 for 33.

* Jantzi went 1 for 5 in two games against Providence. Her current average of .422 is second in the Big Sky and ranks 58th nationally.

* Jantzi, who has 12 doubles, ranks 24th nationally. Riley Peschek and Hannah Jablonski, who have 11, rank 42nd. Jantzi's 49 hits lead the Big Sky and rank 19th nationally.

* Opponents are hitting .341 against Montana this season.

* Montana is 8-3 at Grizzly Softball Field this season. The Grizzlies have not had a winning record at home since 2019. … Montana went 6-18 in Big Sky home games the last three seasons.

* Presley Jantzi has reached base in 19 straight games. That's tied for the seventh longest in program history. The record is 32, set by Bethany Olea in 2016.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Weber State, at home, and Portland State, at neutral-site games in Nampa and Boise, Idaho, opened league 3-0 with sweeps of Montana and preseason favorite Idaho State, respectively.

* Sacramento State went 2-1 at Northern Colorado.

* Friday schedule: SAC at ISU (DH), WSU at PSU (DH)

* Saturday schedule: UNC at UM (DH), SAC at ISU, WSU at PSU

* Sunday schedule: UNC at UM

Upcoming: Montana will host Big Sky preseason favorite Idaho State at Grizzly Softball Field on Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13.

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Players Mentioned

Emmalyn Brinka

Jocelyn Eisen

Grace Haegele

Grace Hardy

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Elise Ontiveros

Riley Peschek

Riley Stockton

Madison Tarrant

University of Montana Athletics