Griz host Wildcats in second Big Sky series

The Montana softball team will host Weber State this weekend at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula as its Big Sky Conference schedule continues.

The Grizzlies (7-28, 0-3 BSC) and Wildcats (14-23, 2-1 BSC) will play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 2 p.m., a single game on Saturday at noon.

Montana opened its league schedule with a competitive but 0-3 trip to Big Sky preseason favorite Northern Colorado last weekend. Weber State went 2-1 at home against Portland State.

Coverage: All three games this week will be streamed on ESPN+ with Friday's doubleheader having additional coverage on SWX.

At a glance (Montana): The Grizzlies will enter this week's series on a seven-game losing streak and will be trying to snap a 13-game losing streak against Division I opponents.

Montana's last Division I victory came against Fairleigh Dickinson on March 2.

The Grizzlies opened league last week with a winless trip to Greeley, Colo., though Montana was in all three games.

Montana led 1-0 going to the bottom of the fifth in Game 1, held the Bears to one earned run, three total in Game 2 and was in a 6-6 deadlock in Game 3 going to the bottom of the seventh.

The difference in the series came down to productive hitting. Montana batted .200 over the three games, with all 14 of its base hits going for singles.

Northern Colorado hit .309 and had seven extra-base hits, including four home runs. Last year's Big Sky co-Player of the Year, Amailee Morales, hit a home run in each game.

Montana played an additional game at Colorado State on Sunday, falling 9-1 in five innings, the 12th time the Grizzlies have been run-ruled this season.

Hannah Jablonski got Montana off to a good start and a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with her second home run of the season, the eighth of her career, but the Rams answered with nine straight runs.

Anna Cockhill's single in the third inning was Montana's only other hit in the game. The Grizzlies have 48 hits over their last 13 games against Division I opponents.

Montana storylines:

* Freshman Anna Cockhill stole her 20th base of the season on the team's trip to Colorado, adding to her single-season program record.

Cockhill broke Gabby Martinez's record of 18, set in 2015, during Montana's home series with Oregon State. Cockhill is already more than halfway to Martinez's career record of 39.

Cockhill is tied for 24th nationally in stolen bases, is tied for 39th in steals per game (0.57) and is tied for 49th in stolen base percentage (.870).

* Montana is closing in on its 100th victory at Grizzly Softball Field. The Grizzlies are 96-65 at home since the ballpark opened in 2015, 2-3 this season.

Montana has only six home games remaining, this weekend's series against Weber State and a series with Sacramento State at the end of the month.

* 406 Day may not arrive until Sunday but fans can still take advantage of $4.06 tickets for either the doubleheader on Friday or Saturday's single game.

To take advantage of the offer, tickets must be purchased beforehand and online (promo code: 406).

This weekend is also Bark in the Park, with dogs allowed through the gates. There is a one-dog-per-person limit.

* Montana, under first-year coach Stef Ewing, will continue to try to break through against Big Sky Conference opponents.

The Grizzlies have lost their last 15 league series, 17 of their last 18, their last series win coming in 2022. Counting Big Sky tournament games, Montana is 5-34 in its last 39 games against league opponents.

Grizzly notes: Freshman Cameryn Ortega pitched in all four games on Montana's trip to Colorado, throwing 6 2/3 innings, all in relief. … The Grizzlies scored first in three of their four games in Colorado, with five of their eight total runs coming across in the first inning. … Montana ranks last in the Big Sky in team batting average (.219), 293rd nationally out of 300 teams. … The Grizzlies rank fifth out of six teams in the Big Sky in ERA (6.68), ahead of this week's opponent, Weber State (6.88). Montana ranks 279th nationally, Weber State 283rd. … Presley Jantzi, who leads Montana with a .333 batting average, did not play in any of the team's four games in Colorado. … Anna Cockhill leads the Big Sky in stolen bases (20), Cockhill and Hannah Jablonski lead the Big Sky in hit-by-pitches (8). … Montana is 2-27 this season when scoring five or fewer runs, 5-1 when scoring six or more. … Jocelyn Eisen went 2 for 3 in Saturday's loss at Northern Colorado, her ninth multiple-hit game in two seasons as a Grizzly. … Presley Jantzi, Hannah Jablonski and Madison Tarrant are tied for the team lead with 10 extra-base hits. … Jablonski's two home runs this season have come against Nebraska and Colorado State. … Grace Haegele took the loss in Game 2 at Northern Colorado but saw her ERA dip from 6.00 to 5.19 after giving up one earned run over five innings. … Makena Strong went 2 for 4 at Northern Colorado on Saturday, her third career multiple-hit game. … Madison Tarrant has hit safely in seven of Montana's last 10 games. … Anna Cockhill has batted leadoff and played shortstop every game this season. … Madison Tarrant has started the last 14 games at catcher.

At a glance (Weber State): The Wildcats are 14-23 but have been on a bit of a heater lately, winning five of their last six, including two of three in Ogden last weekend over Portland State.

But it's the team's recent wins over Utah State, 4-3 in Logan on March 25 and 7-6 in Ogden on Monday, that are the most impressive.

In between its two losses to the Wildcats, Utah State went to Colorado State last week and swept a three-game series from the Rams, winning 14-9, 10-5 and 13-4.

It was always going to be a year of transition for Weber State after Mary Kay Amicone, the Big Sky Conference all-time leader in wins, retired after last season.

Weber State's coach from 2014 to last season, the four-time Big Sky Coach of the Year led the Wildcats to six regular-season league titles and four tournament championships.

Replacing Amicone is Kristin Delahoussaye, Amicone's assistant coach her final seven years with the Wildcats.

Weber State opened the season 5-14 but played six of those games against ranked opponents, plus games against Grand Canyon, Arizona State and Boise State.

Since that challenging start, the Wildcats have played .500 softball, going 9-9, including a four-game split when Weber State played at Colorado State in early March.

The Wildcats went 1-5 during their six games in the Big Sky Conference-West Coast Conference crossover, going 0-3 at Saint Mary's, 1-2 at home against San Diego.

The final game of the San Diego series, a 6-5 win, started Weber State on its current surge of five wins in six games.

In last week's home series against Portland State, Cali McCraw got the wins in Games 1 and 3 as the Wildcats won 6-1 and 4-0.

She threw a complete game in the former, allowing four hits. She threw four innings of scoreless relief in the latter.

McCraw is 6-4 on the season with a 3.71 ERA. Five other pitchers have combined for the other eight wins.

In Game 2, when McCraw did not pitch, the Vikings won 9-6 behind 16 hits off three Weber pitchers.

Weber State's season ERA of 6.88 is one of the highest in the nation. The staff has allowed 127 extra-base hits, including 39 home runs in 37 games. Opponents are batting .360.

Offensively, the Wildcats are batting a healthy .285, third in the Big Sky, with four players batting better than .340.

Abby Grundy leads the Big Sky in batting average (.395), Sadie Kirk ranks second (.386) and leads the league in on-base percentage (.485).

Riley Whalen (.369), who leads the league in hits (41), gives Weber State three of the Big Sky's top five hitters in batting average.

Grundy leads the Big Sky in doubles (14), Olivia Birkinshaw, who is batting .341, ranks third in the Big Sky with eight home runs.

Those four players have combined for 85 runs batted in, just seven fewer than Montana has as a team this season.

Series history: Montana is 10-23 all-time against Weber State but is just 1-10 against the Wildcats in the teams' last 11 meetings.

Weber State has won the teams' last six series, Montana's last series win coming in Ogden in the Grizzlies' NCAA tournament season of 2017.

Montana is 5-7 at home against Weber State, winning the series 2-1 in 2016 and falling 2-1 in 2018, '21 and '23.

The Grizzlies have lost six straight against the Wildcats overall, including three regular-season games in Ogden last season and an 11-0 decision in the Big Sky tournament that ended Montana's season.

Around the Big Sky Conference:

* Northern Colorado jumped out to first place with its 3-0 home sweep of Montana last weekend but Idaho State had an equally good showing.

The Bengals traveled to Sacramento State and swept the opening doubleheader, winning 7-1 and 9-0 in six innings. The Hornets rallied to take the finale 2-1.

* Idaho State and Weber State are tied at 2-1, Sacramento State and Portland State are tied at 1-2.

* This week's key series is Northern Colorado at Idaho State, the team picked first in the preseason poll (UNC) against the team picked second (ISU).

* The third series this week is Sacramento State at Portland State.

Upcoming: Montana will travel to Oregon for a four-game trip. The Grizzlies will play a three-game series at Portland State, then pick up a single game at Oregon State.

From there it will be straight conference games, at Idaho State, home for Sacramento State, then off to Greeley for the Big Sky tournament in early May.

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Players Mentioned

Anna Cockhill

Jocelyn Eisen

Grace Haegele

Hannah Jablonski

Presley Jantzi

Cameryn Ortega

Makena Strong

Madison Tarrant

University of Montana Athletics