Griz to face Big Sky leaders

The Montana softball team will continue its Big Sky Conference schedule this week with a three-game series at league-leading Idaho State.

The Grizzlies (8-34, 1-8 BSC) and Bengals (29-13, 8-1 BSC) will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 12:30 p.m. and wrap up the series with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday.

The series will be played at Direct Communications Field at Miller Ranch Stadium in Pocatello.

Coverage: All three games of the series are scheduled to be streamed on ESPN+.

What's at stake (Montana): The Grizzlies, who have lost 13 of their last 14 games, will be trying to win their first Big Sky Conference series since the 2022 season.

Montana, which picked up its first league win of the season at Portland State last weekend but came up short of winning the series, has dropped its last 17 series against Big Sky opponents.

What's at stake (Idaho State): The Bengals take a two-game lead in the Big Sky standings over Sacramento State into this week's games, with a road trip to Portland State coming up next week.

With help, Idaho State could clinch the Big Sky title this weekend. The Bengals won outright Big Sky titles in 2014 and '15, and shared the regular-season championship in 2013 and '23.

At a glance (Montana): After getting swept by Northern Colorado and Weber State to open league, the Grizzlies took the series opener off Portland State on Saturday 7-0.

It was Montana's first Division I victory since March 2 and only the Grizzlies' second shutout of the season, the other coming against Fairleigh Dickinson.

The Vikings took the final two games of the series, winning 4-1 and 6-2.

Montana added a game at Oregon State to its road trip and fell 7-0 to the Beavers on Monday, the Grizzlies' fourth loss to Oregon State in four tries this season.

Montana got shut out for the 11th time this season despite putting runners on base all seven innings. The Grizzlies stranded a season-high 11 runners on base, twice leaving the bases loaded.

Montana's team batting average has dipped to .216, the lowest it's been this season. The Grizzlies rank 295th out of 300 Division I teams in batting average, 288th in runs at 2.79 per game.

Montana's ERA dropped below 7.00 on March 19 and has remained at six-something ever since, currently at 6.46, which ranks 280th nationally.

The Grizzlies rank last in the Big Sky in batting average, fifth out of six teams in ERA and fielding percentage (.948).

Anna Cockhill, who went 4 for 4 in stolen base attempts on Montana's four-game road trip to Oregon, leads the Big Sky in steals with 25.

She is tied for 19th nationally in stolen bases and ranks 38th in stolen base percentage (.893), now 25 for 28 on the season.

Cockhill (10) and Hannah Jablonski (8) rank first and third in the Big Sky in getting hit by a pitch, Cockhill (21) is tied for fifth in walks drawn.

Jablonski (9) is tied for sixth in the Big Sky in doubles, Madison Tarrant (8) is tied for ninth. Jablonski is tied for sixth in program history with 32 career doubles.

Presley Jantzi leads Montana with a .327 batting average, extra-base hits (12) and RBIs (20).

Jantzi hit her third home run of the season, the seventh of her career, in Montana's victory over Portland State on Saturday. She needs one more to crack the top 10 in program history.

Jantzi ranks in the top 10 in program history in 15 offensive statistical categories.

In Monday's game at Oregon State, Grace Hardy picked up her first hit of the season, freshman Hailey Boer her first hit as a Grizzly.

Hardy, in relief, picked up the win in Montana's victory at Portland State. It was her first collegiate victory. Also in that game, Chloe Saxton had the first multi-hit game of her career.

Hardy, a senior who is pitching this season for the first time in college, leads the team with a 5.19 ERA.

At a glance (Idaho State): The Bengals, who have won eight straight and 10 of their last 11, lead the Big Sky in hitting (.304), ERA (3.50) and fielding percentage (.970).

Idaho State opened league going 2-1 at Sacramento State, winning the first two games by a combined score of 16-1 before falling in the finale 2-1.

The Bengals scored 34 runs in a home sweep of Northern Colorado, then won three games at Weber State last week, 4-2, 2-1 and 8-5.

Idaho State is tied for 42nd nationally with 48 home runs and ranks 43rd in scoring at 6.26 runs per game.

The Bengals have four players batting better than .330, including Ava Brown, whose 17 home runs have her tied for 10th nationally.

Gracie Smith (.372, 12 doubles this season) and Olivia Robison (.337) were both voted first-team All-Big Sky last season. Alyssa Yee (.379, 48 runs scored) was a second-team selection.

Lizzy Tommasini (7-4, 2.71) and Kasey Aguinaga (13-5, 2.75) lead the Big Sky in ERA. Megan Meracle (3-1, 4.26) and Riley Wickum (5-3, 4.44) rank sixth and seventh.

Series history: Idaho State leads the series with Montana 15-14 and has won the teams' last five match-ups, with two shutouts and only five runs allowed in those five games.

The Bengals have won the teams' last three series, with Idaho State sweeping the Grizzlies in Missoula last season by scores of 5-0, 9-1 and 9-0.

Montana has gone 7-5 over four series against Idaho State in Pocatello, sweeping the series in 2018 and 2021. Idaho State won 3-0 in 2016 and won two of three in 2023.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* With first-place Idaho State (8-1) hosting last-place Montana (1-8) this week, the middle four teams all will square off.

* Second-place Sacramento State (6-3) hosts third-place Weber State (5-4), a series the Hornets need to have to keep pace with Idaho State.

* Fourth-place Portland State (4-5), which took games from both Sacramento State and Weber State this season, plays at fifth-place Northern Colorado (3-6).

The Big Sky preseason favorite Bears went 0-6 with 56 runs allowed on road trips to Idaho State and Sacramento State the last two weeks after opening with a sweep of Montana in Greeley.

Upcoming: Montana will close out the regular season by hosting Sacramento State on Friday, April 25, and Saturday, April 26.

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Players Mentioned

Hailey Boer

Anna Cockhill

Grace Hardy

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Chloe Saxton

Madison Tarrant

University of Montana Athletics