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2018 softball season thread

alabamagrizzly

Well-known member
Well not a great start to the season but don’t let it discourage our hopes and expectations in these girls. A 6-2 and 5-2 losses to a very good Grand Canyon team is nothing to look down on. In the last three years they have been one of the best non Pac12 western states teams finishing with an RPI ranking of 73 last year as the WAC champ and NCAA qualifier. They were also opening a newly expanded 1200 seat stadium that looked like some pretty nice digs. Like us, they also returned most of their starters from last year only graduating two.

Michaela Hood definitely was not on her A game but I think she will rebound nicely and will probably get the start versus Weber today. I imagine Driscoll will go against Pacific. Both of those teams were qualifiers for the NICS last year which is softballs version of the NIT.

Stensby looked real good, save one inning and when we get our bats going, we should be in good shape. My one concern is Tori Lettus starting at 3rd. Obviously Bethany Olea is irreplaceable but Lettus will really have to step up from her normal career numbers to even attempt to fill her shoes. I see McAlister eventually taking over the 3 bag spot, maybe sooner then later.
 
alabamagrizzly said:
Well not a great start to the season but don’t let it discourage our hopes and expectations in these girls. A 6-2 and 5-2 losses to a very good Grand Canyon team is nothing to look down on. In the last three years they have been one of the best non Pac12 western states teams finishing with an RPI ranking of 73 last year as the WAC champ and NCAA qualifier. They were also opening a newly expanded 1200 seat stadium that looked like some pretty nice digs. Like us, they also returned most of their starters from last year only graduating two.

Michaela Hood definitely was not on her A game but I think she will rebound nicely and will probably get the start versus Weber today. I imagine Driscoll will go against Pacific. Both of those teams were qualifiers for the NICS last year which is softballs version of the NIT.

Stensby looked real good, save one inning and when we get our bats going, we should be in good shape. My one concern is Tori Lettus starting at 3rd. Obviously Bethany Olea is irreplaceable but Lettus will really have to step up from her normal career numbers to even attempt to fill her shoes. I see McAlister eventually taking over the 3 bag spot, maybe sooner then later.

I was disappointed watching, but agree it's way early. They will regroup and do great this season.
 
A good manager always gives the upper class player first shot at an open position. These pre-season tournaments against tough competition are the perfect place & time to let a starter settle down and settle in. Go Tori!
 
grizzlyjournal said:
A good manager always gives the upper class player first shot at an open position. These pre-season tournaments against tough competition are the perfect place & time to let a starter settle down and settle in. Go Tori!

Definitely agree and I really hope she gets it going. She has been a consummate team player and I love when Sr’s play the back up and roll player they’re pre Sr years and then step into the spotlight and thrive their Sr seasons. Her career numbers though aren’t very good and she’s got a ways to go to come even close to filling the void left by Olea, which I realize is a near impossible task. A .202 career batter in 200+ plate appearance’s with almost a third of her at bats ending in strike outs. This time of year is also a good time to get your Fr recruits with great potential acclimated to college ball, note McAlister starting at DH 2 of the first 3 games. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll cheer Tori on every time she gets up and hope for success but if McAlister is playing better and gives us a better chance at winning, I’d expect to see her starting at 3rd. Of course, the ability to play 3rd much better might be what keeps Lettus in the starting line up too.
 
cmtgrizzly said:
Did we play yet today?

Ya, Achenbach was solid and we were one strike away from a 6-2 win tell Pacific scored 5 2-out runs in the 7th to take a 7-6 lead and then shut us down in the bottom of 7. Weber and #1 ranked Oklahoma tomorrow. If it’s any consolation, Pacific scored 3 against Weber in the 7th to beat them earlier in the day.
 
alabamagrizzly said:
cmtgrizzly said:
Did we play yet today?

Ya, Achenbach was solid and we were one strike away from a 6-2 win tell Pacific scored 5 2-out runs in the 7th to take a 7-6 lead and then shut us down in the bottom of 7. Weber and #1 ranked Oklahoma tomorrow. If it’s any consolation, Pacific scored 3 against Weber in the 7th to beat them earlier in the day.

Ouch. That is a tough way to lose. Well girls are getting their feet under them in a new season with a new coach. They will figure it out.
 
Well definitely not the start we were hoping for but we played some real good competition this weekend. Last year we had a ruff start going 2-3 in Iowa against all teams we should have beat. Everyone of the teams in Pheonix had higher RPI ratings then us and were some of the best teams in their respective conferences. It’s a long season still to hone our skills and get everything going for the con schedule. I have full confidence theses ladies will get it rolling in time.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/quartzglen/status/964655461948522501[/tweet]

Looked good and battled hard in game 1. Faced a tuff Col St squad that’s building quite a resume this year and was a couple base running mistakes from having a much different out come. Two more good games tomorrow including another shot at #11 ranked Arizona who we played pretty tuff two years ago.
 
alabamagrizzly said:
grizzlyjournal said:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/quartzglen/status/964655461948522501[/tweet]

Looked good and battled hard in game 1. Faced a tuff Col St squad that’s building quite a resume this year and was a couple base running mistakes from having a much different out come. Two more good games tomorrow including another shot at #11 ranked Arizona who we played pretty tuff two years ago.

I know it is early in the season but the bottom half of the order for the Griz really needs to start hitting. Griz are leaving far to many runners on base. Really not good when hitters 5 thru 9 are hitting at around 200 (McGill, Petrino, Lettus, Saacke and Martines combined are 17 out of 95 or .180). Seems like they are pretty conservative to start the at bat and are getting behind in the count. Good news is they have been in almost every game with a chance to win. Just need to generate some offense from this group and they should be fine.
 
84GRIZ said:
alabamagrizzly said:
grizzlyjournal said:
[tweet]https://twitter.com/quartzglen/status/964655461948522501[/tweet]

Looked good and battled hard in game 1. Faced a tuff Col St squad that’s building quite a resume this year and was a couple base running mistakes from having a much different out come. Two more good games tomorrow including another shot at #11 ranked Arizona who we played pretty tuff two years ago.

I know it is early in the season but the bottom half of the order for the Griz really needs to start hitting. Griz are leaving far to many runners on base. Really not good when hitters 5 thru 9 are hitting at around 200 (McGill, Petrino, Lettus, Saacke and Martines combined are 17 out of 95 or .180). Seems like they are pretty conservative to start the at bat and are getting behind in the count. Good news is they have been in almost every game with a chance to win. Just need to generate some offense from this group and they should be fine.

This was a theme last year too but pitching was better. This year the pitching has started out a little sluggish so the opposition is putting more runs on the board. I still think it’ll come around though, especially once the Fr start hitting more. Our ‘16 season was pretty special offensively but we lost our all con power hitting catcher in Lexi Brennies and with Sydney Stites leaving for Iowa St and Bethany Olea graduating, some big offensive shoes have yet to be replaced. I think we’re about to see some transitional pains we haven’t had to deal with yet and Meuchel will be put to the test in her first year at the helm.
 
Griz lose another game by one run, 2 to 1 to George Washington. Griz leave 9, yes 9 runners on base and score one run.
 
84GRIZ said:
Griz lose another game by one run, 2 to 1 to George Washington. Griz leave 9, yes 9 runners on base and score one run.

Montana's offense (lineup placement, strategy, etc.) will be coach Meuchel's major challenge as she puts her imprint on the 2018 Montana softball team. A look at the box scores indicate she's experimenting with how to fill the spot that Bethany Olea mastered last year. It was Olea who always set the stage for Delene Colburn's hitting. Montana is now minus Olea's .416 BA (hitting second) and .514 OBP. With Sydney Stites following Pinkerton to Iowa State (I noticed she's starting for state) Montana actually lost a lot of hitting power. Ashlyn Lyons hit .298 last season, but neither Lyons or Colburn have the OBP numbers that Olea had.

In short, now is the time for coach Meuchel to do some experimenting. I noticed she flipped Colburn and Lyons in the lineup and also played pitcher Maddy Stensby as the DB (DH). She's evidently a very good hitter. I like moving Gabby Martinez to the bottom of the lineup (as a slap hitter to set the table as potential leadoff for the 2nd/3rd batting cycle). So, now Meuchel's challenge is to find a hitter for the mid-bottom of the lineup who can at least make contact. That's where they've had problems with leaving runners stranded.

It'll take time. And, coach Meuchel might have to look at some other on-base strategies. Go Griz.
 
grizzlyjournal said:
84GRIZ said:
Griz lose another game by one run, 2 to 1 to George Washington. Griz leave 9, yes 9 runners on base and score one run.

Montana's offense (lineup placement, strategy, etc.) will be coach Meuchel's major challenge as she puts her imprint on the 2018 Montana softball team. A look at the box scores indicate she's experimenting with how to fill the spot that Bethany Olea mastered last year. It was Olea who always set the stage for Delene Colburn's hitting. Montana is now minus Olea's .416 BA (hitting second) and .514 OBP. With Sydney Stites following Pinkerton to Iowa State (I noticed she's starting for state) Montana actually lost a lot of hitting power. Ashlyn Lyons hit .298 last season, but neither Lyons or Colburn have the OBP numbers that Olea had.

In short, now is the time for coach Meuchel to do some experimenting. I noticed she flipped Colburn and Lyons in the lineup and also played pitcher Maddy Stensby as the DB (DH). She's evidently a very good hitter. I like moving Gabby Martinez to the bottom of the lineup (as a slap hitter to set the table as potential leadoff for the 2nd/3rd batting cycle). So, now Meuchel's challenge is to find a hitter for the mid-bottom of the lineup who can at least make contact. That's where they've had problems with leaving runners stranded.

It'll take time. And, coach Meuchel might have to look at some other on-base strategies. Go Griz.

Real good assessment journal. I said in my season preview that Olea would probably be a bigger loss and tuffer to replace them Coach Pinkerton. Coupled with Stites leaving, a lot of offense has disappeared over the last two years and is yet to be replaced. I find it interesting that Stites is starting at 2nd cus I’m thinking she probably was hoping to get back to the 6 spot with last years starting SS for ISU being a non offensive true Fr. At least she’s back in the infield though and I’m sure she’s happy with that.

Back to the line up issue, I believe Lyons will be the best bet to “replace” Olea. Yes, she was a just below .300 hitter last year but once con play started, I believe her average was closer to .360. Petrino is a real good slap hitter also and I see her making some strides but she had a tendency last year to be real streaky. I see McAlister and Knauss really developing this year too and hopefully by con play or the tourney, should be more consistent. Getting Stensby in at the DH spot will help a lot too. She was a very good hitter in high school and has been really excited about getting back in the batters box this year after some warm ups in fall ball. Savannah Voyles, the Fr from Great Falls, leaving the team will hurt some too. She was already tabbed as Delene’s replacement and power hitters like her are not that easy to find. I get that she has a life path after school that the U couldn’t help her achieve though and she was better suited returning home.
 
Wanted to add some stats, but will have to wait until the final box score. The Grizzlies got 8 hits and stranded nine, but did a great job of forcing the action in the bottom of the sixth. Coach Meuchel worked some magic with her subbing in that frame.
Montana's pitching era is pretty impressive for such an early point in the season .33?... or thereabouts. Go Griz. [tweet]https://twitter.com/quartzglen/status/967474733322092544[/tweet]
 
Superb pitching by Montana soph hurler, Michaela Hood as Griz beat UC Riverside 3-2 to finish 2-2 in Riverside's Harrison Classic. Montana showing signs of having an outstanding pitching staff. Maddy Stensby also a winner while Colleen Driscoll threw 6 shutout innings in relief in the tourney. Go Griz. [tweet]https://twitter.com/quartzglen/status/967879662939488256[/tweet]
 
grizzlyjournal said:
Superb pitching by Montana soph hurler, Michaela Hood as Griz beat UC Riverside 3-2 to finish 2-2 in Riverside's Harrison Classic. Montana showing signs of having an outstanding pitching staff. Maddy Stensby also a winner while Colleen Driscoll threw 6 shutout innings in relief in the tourney. Go Griz. [tweet]https://twitter.com/quartzglen/status/967879662939488256[/tweet]

Big win against a team with a pretty solid resume on their home turf. Looks like this team is beginning to settle in. Another good weekend coming up to hone in our offense as the pitching and D are finding their groove.
 
Does any softball insider have any info on Montana senior, Ashlyn Lyons (1b). Madison Saacke has been playing at first lately. No info on Ashlyn's status in any recent article.
 
I don't exactly know the injury and amount of time out due to injury, but she (Lyons) got hurt last Sunday. Return unknown. But, I see McAlister returned to the lineup after her injury that sidelined her for a couple of weeks.
 
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