2018 softball season thread

[84GRIZ]

Does anybody know what is going on with Michaela Hood??? She has not pitched since the first game at Southern Utah when she came out in the third inning??

I was at Saturday's games vs. PSU and overheard some folks talking. Evidently she is dealing with an "arm issue." A lot of conjecture, since the coaches are following protocol and keeping student health issues confidential (was what I heard).

The good signs are that Montana's pitchers have done very well in Michaela's absence. The Griz have the Big Sky's top ERA at .302, despite the 1-2 weekend against Portland State. Hood (.278 era), Colleen Driscoll (.282 era) and Maddy Stensby (.329 era) are ranked among the league's top 7 pitchers. Freshman Tristin Achenbach pitched really well in two relief appearances over the weekend as well.

Montana defense continues to be stellar as well with the Griz leading the conference with a .969 fielding ratio.

Hitting? Well, seniors Ashlyn Lyons and Delene Colburn have the Big Sky's third and fourth best batting averages at .369 and .368 respectively. From there though, Montana's hitting drops off sharply. The Grizzlies are ranked seventh (out of 8) in Big Sky team batting average at .247 overall. It's just that over the weekend's three games the Griz left 22 runners stranded (almost all in scoring position) at critical junctures; that happens in softball.

My personal view is that the kids are battling... and getting better game by game. The team will have to finish in the top 6 (of 8 teams) to make the tourney. With two weeks left, Montana's in fourth place, with a pretty decent shot of qualifying. I, like everyone else, am hoping Michaela can get back to pitching soon. If not, I believe they have the pitchers, and the players to compete well in a double elim. tourney setting.

Thanks for the info on Michaela. Hopefully she gets healthy. If this team could hit with runners in scoring position we would probably be leading the league.

Hate to say this but some of it is coaching. I am still scratching my head on the sixth inning sacrifice bunt yesterday. We just scored to make it 3 to 2 with runners on first and second and one out and we have Walker sacrifice bunt???? So now we have 2 outs with Petrino up who is hitting .183 this year. We needed the run that was already in scoring position at second base before we worry about the winning run. We went from two not so great chances of scoring to one really not great chance. Made absolutely no sense to sacrifice in that situation. And it was definitely a sacrifice bunt, not a drag bunt. Okay, enough venting, Go Griz.

 

[alabamagrizzly]

Does anybody know what is going on with Michaela Hood??? She has not pitched since the first game at Southern Utah when she came out in the third inning??

I was at Saturday's games vs. PSU and overheard some folks talking. Evidently she is dealing with an "arm issue." A lot of conjecture, since the coaches are following protocol and keeping student health issues confidential (was what I heard).

The good signs are that Montana's pitchers have done very well in Michaela's absence. The Griz have the Big Sky's top ERA at .302, despite the 1-2 weekend against Portland State. Hood (.278 era), Colleen Driscoll (.282 era) and Maddy Stensby (.329 era) are ranked among the league's top 7 pitchers. Freshman Tristin Achenbach pitched really well in two relief appearances over the weekend as well.

Montana defense continues to be stellar as well with the Griz leading the conference with a .969 fielding ratio.

Hitting? Well, seniors Ashlyn Lyons and Delene Colburn have the Big Sky's third and fourth best batting averages at .369 and .368 respectively. From there though, Montana's hitting drops off sharply. The Grizzlies are ranked seventh (out of 8) in Big Sky team batting average at .247 overall. It's just that over the weekend's three games the Griz left 22 runners stranded (almost all in scoring position) at critical junctures; that happens in softball.

My personal view is that the kids are battling... and getting better game by game. The team will have to finish in the top 6 (of 8 teams) to make the tourney. With two weeks left, Montana's in fourth place, with a pretty decent shot of qualifying. I, like everyone else, am hoping Michaela can get back to pitching soon. If not, I believe they have the pitchers, and the players to compete well in a double elim. tourney setting.

Thanks for the info on Michaela. Hopefully she gets healthy. If this team could hit with runners in scoring position we would probably be leading the league.

Hate to say this but some of it is coaching. I am still scratching my head on the sixth inning sacrifice bunt yesterday. We just scored to make it 3 to 2 with runners on first and second and one out and we have Walker sacrifice bunt???? So now we have 2 outs with Petrino up who is hitting .183 this year. We needed the run that was already in scoring position at second base before we worry about the winning run. We went from two not so great chances of scoring to one really not great chance. Made absolutely no sense to sacrifice in that situation. And it was definitely a sacrifice bunt, not a drag bunt. Okay, enough venting, Go Griz.

For arguments sake, maybe coach figured the out was probably coming anyway way the way the rest of the team is hitting and figured to at least get the runner over one more base.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Does anybody know what is going on with Michaela Hood??? She has not pitched since the first game at Southern Utah when she came out in the third inning??

I was at Saturday's games vs. PSU and overheard some folks talking. Evidently she is dealing with an "arm issue." A lot of conjecture, since the coaches are following protocol and keeping student health issues confidential (was what I heard).

The good signs are that Montana's pitchers have done very well in Michaela's absence. The Griz have the Big Sky's top ERA at .302, despite the 1-2 weekend against Portland State. Hood (.278 era), Colleen Driscoll (.282 era) and Maddy Stensby (.329 era) are ranked among the league's top 7 pitchers. Freshman Tristin Achenbach pitched really well in two relief appearances over the weekend as well.

Montana defense continues to be stellar as well with the Griz leading the conference with a .969 fielding ratio.

Hitting? Well, seniors Ashlyn Lyons and Delene Colburn have the Big Sky's third and fourth best batting averages at .369 and .368 respectively. From there though, Montana's hitting drops off sharply. The Grizzlies are ranked seventh (out of 8) in Big Sky team batting average at .247 overall. It's just that over the weekend's three games the Griz left 22 runners stranded (almost all in scoring position) at critical junctures; that happens in softball.

My personal view is that the kids are battling... and getting better game by game. The team will have to finish in the top 6 (of 8 teams) to make the tourney. With two weeks left, Montana's in fourth place, with a pretty decent shot of qualifying. I, like everyone else, am hoping Michaela can get back to pitching soon. If not, I believe they have the pitchers, and the players to compete well in a double elim. tourney setting.

Thanks for the info on Michaela. Hopefully she gets healthy. If this team could hit with runners in scoring position we would probably be leading the league.

Hate to say this but some of it is coaching. I am still scratching my head on the sixth inning sacrifice bunt yesterday. We just scored to make it 3 to 2 with runners on first and second and one out and we have Walker sacrifice bunt???? So now we have 2 outs with Petrino up who is hitting .183 this year. We needed the run that was already in scoring position at second base before we worry about the winning run. We went from two not so great chances of scoring to one really not great chance. Made absolutely no sense to sacrifice in that situation. And it was definitely a sacrifice bunt, not a drag bunt. Okay, enough venting, Go Griz.

Like you 84Griz,I personally like a more aggressive style of play (I like a very aggressive style, which includes a lot of drag bunting for hits). I also like seeing kids take the extra base... runners always keeping the defense guessing about when (not if) they're going to steal second. But this is a coaching philosophy and I can buy into it. It's worked for them in some important games; it means that they're trusting that every batter can/will execute the play that gets the run. It builds confidence in the batter always moving players forward. Last week, Montana's style of play paid off and they got the first sweep at SUU (with late-inning rallies) of any visiting Big Sky team. I support the decision of a coach to develop a style of play and sticking with it.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

The Montana softball team is really snakebit of late... losing four of 5 one-run games. Today, the Griz suffered two-walkoff losses in extra innings to the Northern Colorado Bears. Colleen Driscoll pitched a three-hit game through 8 innings... it's just that the third hit was a walkoff homer in the bottom of the 8th. Montana suffered a similar fate in the day's second game. This time they scored two runs in the top of the 9th inning to break a 5-5 tie and take a 7-5 lead, only to surrender three runs in the bottom of the inning to the Bears. The losses put Montana's hopes of making the post-season tourney in jeopardy. I don't know how tie-breakers are decided, but nonetheless Montana will need to win one, more likely two of their final four games to advance to the tourney. The team challenging them is Idaho State (one game back of the Griz). Since Montana swept the Bengals earlier this year, they should have a tie-breaker. Tomorrow's game against the Bears could be a season-maker (or breaker). Go Griz.

 

[WyomingGrizFan]

I thought ERAs were , like, 3.02, 2.78, 2.82 and 3.29. If we're giving up less than one run a game with an ERA of .302, we should be undefeated by now.

It's only been, oh, say, that way since about 1869 or so, I believe.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Montana got key contributions from Griz frosh Tristin Achenbach and Jessica McAlister for a huge 3-2 win against Northern Colorado Saturday. The victory puts Montana just one win (or a cobination of other scores) from qualifying for the Big Sky postseason tourney. Montana plays its final three conference games of the season at home next Friday and Saturday, against current league leader Sacramento State.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/990354710082207744[/tweet]

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Montana clinched a spot in the Big Sky Conf. softball post-season tourney with a 5-0 shutout win over first-place Sac State behind the sterling pitching of Colleen Driscoll. Montana dropped a 6-2 decision to the Hornets in the second game. They got the hits, but just not when runners were on base. The Griz will not get a first-round bye. I don't know how important that is with the first six spots separated by a total of three games. This will be a balanced tourney, one that Montana has the ability to win.
Statistically, Montana is clearly the best defensive team in the Big Sky, and proved that again today with several outstanding defensive plays (see below). Alex Wardlow's catch and throw to home is on my 10-best plays of the season.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/992514807206039552[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/992566215091503104[/tweet]

Saturday's game will determine who Montana plays in the opening round of the tourney. My best guess at this point is Portland State. Go Griz.

 

[alabamagrizzly]

Montana clinched a spot in the Big Sky Conf. softball post-season tourney with a 5-0 shutout win over first-place Sac State behind the sterling pitching of Colleen Driscoll. Montana dropped a 6-2 decision to the Hornets in the second game. They got the hits, but just not when runners were on base. The Griz will not get a first-round bye. I don't know how important that is with the first six spots separated by a total of three games. This will be a balanced tourney, one that Montana has the ability to win.
Statistically, Montana is clearly the best defensive team in the Big Sky, and proved that again today with several outstanding defensive plays (see below). Alex Wardlow's catch and throw to home is on my 10-best plays of the season.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/992514807206039552[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/MontanaGrizSB/status/992566215091503104[/tweet]

Saturday's game will determine who Montana plays in the opening round of the tourney. My best guess at this point is Portland State. Go Griz.

Driscoll’s performance of stepping up into the #1 pitcher spot in place of Hood has been outstanding.