NJCAA World Series First Round Preview: #9 College of Southern Idaho vs #8 Butler

NJCAA Div. I World Series Opening Round

#9 Seed College of Southern Idaho (CSI) vs #8 Seed Butler

Date: May 23rd

Time: 12:00 PM

Location: Choccolocco Park | Oxford, AL

Watch Live: njcaa.org/network (PPV$)

Massey Ratings Game Prediction: CSI 5-4

Massey Ratings Chance to Win: CSI 56%, Butler 44%

OPENING NOTES

• The 8th seeded Butler Grizzlies and the 9th seeded College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles will face off in the opening round of the 2023 NJCAA Div. I World Series 
• The NJCAA World Series is double elimination, meaning that the loser of this game will fall into the loser's bracket, rather than being eliminated
• The winner of this game will play the winner of #1 Odessa vs #16 Gordon State on Wednesday at 4PM, while the loser will play the loser of the Odessa/Gordon St. game Wednesday at 10AM
• Butler enters the tournament on a 16-game win streak
• The Grizzlies advanced to nationals after sweeping a close series against Northeastern Junior College to win the Plains District Title
• CSI advanced to the national tournament after sweeping #12 ranked Salt Lake to win the Region XVIII Title
• The Grizzlies have now won 45+ games in three consecutive seasons
• This is the Grizzlies seventh straight appearance at the national tournament
• The Grizzlies ended the year ranked 15th in the final NJCAA Poll, while CSI finished unranked
• Against opponents who have appeared in at least one national poll this season, Butler is 10-6
• Butler has a Massey Ratings RPI of 22nd, and Southern Idaho is ranked 15th
• Butler's strength of schedule (SOS) this year is ranked 62nd by Massey Ratings, CSI's SOS is 12th
• The teams only shared one common opponent this season, that being national power McLennan. The Grizzlies lost their single matchup against the Highlassies, while CSI won both of their games against McLennan

Last action for the Grizzlies 

Saturday, May 13th | Plains District Championship | Northeastern 13, Butler 14 (8)

• The Butler Softball team punched their ticket to the NJCAA Softball World Series this past Saturday by defeating the Northeastern JC Plainswomen in the Plains District Championship
• Mallory Young hit a go-ahead two-run homer to centerfield in the eighth inning to put the Grizzlies up for good and ultimately gave them the win
• Emma Koeneke got the win in the game, improving her record to 16-5
• There were seven lead changes or ties in game two alone
• Briona Woods saved game two, two different times. She hit a grand slam to take the lead in the top of the seventh inning, and then she made a leaping catch in center in the bottom half of the seventh that extended the game to extra innings after Northeastern put together a rally to tie the game

THE OPPONENT

• The #9 seed and Region XVIII Champions, the College of Southern Idaho enter with a record of 45-16 overall and they finished 28-11 in play in the Scenic West Conference
• CSI has won 13 straight games
• This is CSI's second consecutive appearance at the national tournament and second straight Region XVIII Championship
• The Golden Eagles won the Region XVIII Championship this year by winning three region games in three days
  • The Golden Eagles defeated Utah State Eastern 6-1, and then defeated rival and 12th ranked Salt Lake 2-1 in the region semi-finals, and then won the title by defeating Salt Lake the following day
• CSI has a Massey Ratings RPI ranking of 15th, up four spots from last week
  • This is the 9th highest ranking of any team at the tournament
• The Golden Eagles are 6-6 in neutral site games this year
• CSI's Gracie Tentinger is tied for second in the country in home runs with 37
• CSI leads the nation in home runs hit this year with 145
• As a team, Southern Idaho has the ninth highest batting average of 0.394
• Southern Idaho is third in the NJCAA in runs scored at 584

UNFAMILIAR FOE

• The Grizzlies and Golden Eagles have only met one time in the teams histories.
  • The teams have only met one time in their histories, that matchup coming back on May 17th, 2018, when the Grizzlies defeated CSI 7-6 in the second round of the NJCAA World Series. Butler's Makenzey Pankers hit a walk off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to give the Grizzlies the win

A STRING OF DOMINANCE

• Butler Softball has won seven straight Region VI Titles and 13 in program history
• Since the creation of the Region VI/IX Plains District Championship in 2013, Region VI has won nine of the ten district titles
• Butler has won all nine of those district titles for Region VI
• The Grizzlies are 18-1 in district championship games over that time

FLAMIN' HOT CHEETO

• Butler pitcher Emma 'Cheeto' Koeneke has been excellent in her last ten appearances
• Over those ten appearances, she has a 6-0 record, has thrown 35.2 innings, has an ERA of 2.51, and has struck out 36 batters

ALL HAIL THE STRIKEOUT QUEEN

• Starting pitcher Allyson Montgomery is the all-time strikeout leader in the history of the Butler Softball program. She now has 398 strikeouts in her Grizzly career, breaking the record of 374 set by Lauren Supak this during the Region VI Tournament against Colby
• Her 246 strikeouts this season are the second most by a Grizzly pitcher in a single year. She now only trails the great Maggie Ham's masterful 2012 season where Ham struck out 288 batters
• In 32 appearances this season, Montgomery has a record of 24-3, 156.1 innings pitched, an ERA of 2.01, and a K/7 of 11.01
  • Across her last seven starts, Montgomery has a record of 5-0, pitched 28.1 innings, has an ERA of 0.99, and has struck out 53 batters
• Montgomery is t-9th in the nation in wins with 24, her 246 strikeouts this season is t-6th in the country this year, and her K/7 of 11.01 is 6th

REECE'S PUFFS

• Over her last 32 games played, sophomore Reece Briggs has been on fire at the plate. She has a batting average of 0.505 (47-93), recording 44 RBIs with 10 doubles and 9 homers

A BAT THAT'S HOT

• Shortstop Aly Hageman extended her hit streak to eleven games a week ago against Northeastern
• In her last eleven games, the freshman is batting 0.518 (18-34), with two doubles, 11 RBIs, and has drawn six walks

SPEED KILLS

• JaKeyla McDaniel and Amayiah Hall have combined to steal 73 bases this season and the Grizzlies as a team rank 16th in all of NJCAA DI with 147 stolen bases

TEAM LEADERS AS OF 5/21:

HITTING

Batting Average: Briona Woods: 0.465

RBIs: Ryanna Valdivia: 81

Hits: Briona Woods: 79

Runs Scored: Briona Woods: 73

Doubles: Ryanna Valdivia: 21

Triples: JaKeyla McDaniel: 5

Home Runs: Ryanna Valdivia: 22

Walks Drawn: Ryanna Valdivia: 42

PITCHING

Innings Pitched: Allyson Montgomery: 156.1

Wins: Allyson Montgomery: 24

Saves: Lena Walter: 4

Strikeouts: Allyson Montgomery: 246

ERA: Allyson Montgomery: 2.01

Fewest BBs Issued (Min. 50 IP): Emma Koeneke: 50

Complete Games: Allyson Montgomery: 13

LOOKING AHEAD

Win or lose, the Grizzlies will play on Wednesday. A win and the Grizzlies will play on Wednesday at 4PM against the winner of #1 Odessa vs #16 Gordon State. A loss and the Grizzlies will play the loser of the Odessa/Gordon game at 10AM.