Griz get Hornets as Big Sky Championship opens

The Montana softball team will take the No. 6 seed into this week's Big Sky Conference Championship and will face No. 3 Sacramento State in a first-round game on Wednesday.

This year's Championship, which opens on Wednesday and goes through Saturday, is taking place in Pocatello, Idaho, at Idaho State's Miller Ranch Stadium.

The Grizzlies (17-31) and Hornets (26-18) are scheduled to play at 11:30 a.m., following the game between No. 4 Portland State and No. 5 Weber State at 9 a.m.

The winner of the Montana-Sacramento State game will advance to play No. 2 Idaho State at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The loser will drop down to the elimination bracket and play at 11 a.m. on Thursday.

Northern Colorado, which went 9-5 in league, is the No. 1 seed. The Bears will face the Portland State-Weber State winner at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

Coverage: Every game of the Big Sky Championship will be streamed on ESPN+.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies wrapped up the regular season with a 17-31 record and finished sixth in the six-team Big Sky standings with a 1-14 record.

Montana got swept in three-game road series at Weber State and Sacramento State, and in home series against Northern Colorado and Idaho State. The Grizzlies went 1-2 at home against Portland State.

Montana's most recent games came at Sacramento State, where the Hornets swept the series by a combined score of 17-4.

Sacramento State won 9-0 in five innings in Game 1, 5-4 in Game 2 and 3-0 in Game 3. Three Hornets pitchers held the Grizzlies to 10 hits in the series and a .152 batting average.

Montana's lone lead in the series came in Game 2 when the Grizzlies scored three runs in the top of the fifth to go up 4-3. That held until the Hornets won it with two runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Riley Peschek had three of Montana's 10 hits in the series. It was the Grizzlies' 14th consecutive Big Sky series loss.

Montana finished last in the Big Sky for the second consecutive season. The Grizzlies were outscored 110-39 in 15 league games this season.

At a glance (Sacramento State): The Hornets were limping toward the end of the regular season not that long ago, losing five straight while getting shut out four times.

Sacramento State ended that losing streak with a 4-3 nine-inning win at Weber State, then made it four straight wins with its home sweep of Montana.

That strong finish allowed the Hornets, who lost an entire series at Idaho State and a home game against Portland State due to weather, to finish tied for second in the Big Sky with ISU at 7-4.

Sparking Sacramento State's late-season turnaround was the return of Lewa Day at the plate and Marissa Bertuccio to the pitcher's circle.

In three games against Montana, Day went 5 for 7 with three home runs, eight RBIs and five runs scored, one more than the Grizzlies had in the series.

Bertuccio started Games 1 and 3 and held Montana to two hits and no runs over 11 innings to pick up a pair of wins. She now has 13 on the season.

Those performances led Day and Bertuccio to sweeping last week's Big Sky Player and Pitcher of the Week honors.

Alexis Parish (.388) leads Sacramento State in batting average, while Day has powered her way to 13 home runs and 43 RBIs. Her 59 career home runs are a Big Sky record.

Bertuccio is 13-7 this season with a 1.78 ERA. For her five-year career, she has 63 wins and a 2.42 ERA.

The matchup: From a historical perspective, a matchup for Montana against Sacramento State has been a challenge.

The Grizzlies are 6-28 all-time against the Hornets with 10 straight losses. Montana has scored only 12 runs in those 10 losses, getting shut out five times.

The Grizzlies are 2-20 in the teams' last 22 matchups, both wins coming at the 2021 Big Sky tournament when Tristin Achenbach pitched Montana to 6-3 and 5-0 victories.

Montana's last regular-season victory over Sacramento State came in 2018.

The biggest challenge facing Montana on Wednesday will be likely Sacramento State starter Marissa Bertuccio, who the Grizzlies have not had much success against the last few years.

Over the last three seasons, Bertuccio is 6-0 against Montana in six starts with a 0.74 ERA plus a save. She has 29 strikeouts in those seven appearances with 20 hits allowed.

During Sacramento State's 10-game winning streak against Montana, the Hornets have outscored the Grizzlies 58-12.

Tournament bona fides (Montana): The Grizzlies are appearing in their eighth consecutive Big Sky tournament. They have an all-time tournament record of 11-12.

Since winning the 2017 edition and advancing to the NCAA tournament, Montana has won multiple games at the Big Sky Championship only once, in 2021.

The Grizzlies went two-and-out last season, losing 9-1 against No. 3 Northern Colorado and 13-0 against No. 4 Portland State.

Tournament bona fides (Sacramento State): The Hornets have played in every Big Sky tournament dating back to the first one in 2013. They are the only league team that can make that claim.

The Hornets won the 2018 tournament and finished runner-up to Weber State in 2015 and '22. Sacramento State is 11-18 all-time in 10 Big Sky tournament appearances.

Game notes:

* The Grizzlies are 5-10 at the Big Sky tournament under seventh-year coach Melanie Meuchel. Three of those victories came at the 2021 tournament.

* Montana is tied for first in the national statistics with Nebraska with 1.79 doubles per game.

* Presley Jantzi and Hannah Jablonski are tied for 37th nationally with 15 doubles. Riley Peschek ranks 55th with 14.

* Peschek ranks 20th nationally with five triples, which is tied for the Montana single-season record. Jantzi ranks 50th nationally with 61 hits.

* The Grizzlies rank last in the Big Sky in both batting average (.260) and ERA (5.42). Montana's ERA is more than a run higher than any other team in the Big Sky.

* Jantzi ranks third in the Big Sky in batting average (.389) behind Idaho State's Gracie Smith (.423) and Portland State's Lorraine Alo (.405). Peschek ranks ninth in batting average (.355).

* Jantzi ranks second in the Big Sky in runs scored (35), third in hits (61).

* Montana's 86 doubles this season match the program record set by the 2019 team.

* Pre-tournament NCAA RPI rankings: Sacramento State (101), Weber State (143), Northern Colorado (172), Idaho State (189), Portland State (226), Montana (287) out of 307 Division I teams.

* Because Montana was one-hit in its last game, a 3-0 loss to Sacramento State, only one player, Hannah Jablonski, takes a hitting streak into the postseason and that's a streak of just one.

* Jantzi leads Montana with 17 multiple-hit games, Peschek leads the Grizzlies with seven multiple-RBI games.

* Montana averaged 4.9 hits per game during 15 league contests. The Grizzlies have not had 10 hits in a game since March 23.

* In 15 leagues games, Montana's opponent scored in the first inning 11 times. The Grizzlies have been outscored 62-28 in the first inning this season.

* Montana is 1-25 this season when scoring four or fewer runs, 16-6 when scoring five or more.

* The Grizzlies' 5-4 loss in Game 2 at Sacramento State was the first time in 10 games this season that Montana lost after leading through six innings.

* Montana played a Big Sky-high 22 home games this season, going 11-11. Idaho State, host of this week's tournament, played a league-low four home games during the regular season.

* Makena Strong went 2 for 3 in Game 2 at Sacramento State. It was the first multiple-hit game of her career.

* Jantzi batted leadoff in all 48 regular-season games, Peschek started at shortstop all 48 games.

* In 15 league games, Montana batted .216 and had an ERA of 8.18. Montana's opponents batted .354 and had an ERA of 2.74. Opponents had 47 extra-base hits to the Grizzlies' 23.

* Montana has played from behind in 42 of 48 games this season.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Riley Peschek

Makena Strong

University of Montana Athletics