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So hypertrophy from weightlifting is due to microtears in muscle fibers. Intense stretching also causes microtears, so why doesn't (or does?) stretching lead to hypertrophy and muscle gain?
Stretching also causes the muscle to tense up in opposition to the stretching force, so should stretching have some strengthening effect?
I don't mean the strength needed to hold the body in a certain position, I mean the muscle stretching itself.
The hypertrophy you are talking about is mostly related to the workload applied to the muscle. It's kind of unclear if you're asking about hypertrophy or strength, so I'm just going with strength here.
Static stretching doesn't really require work from the muscle group. The eccentric portion of loaded movements (the lowering part of the squat for example), however, stretches the muscle under load which does in fact increase strength. The main driver of growth is the load (be it by increasing volume or weight) of movements (anabolics etc. excluded). That's why progressive overload is so important in strength training.
Most studies find a drop off in strength following stretching, (my interpretation: probably because the muscle is so "loose" which is basically the opposite of contracting). If there is any sort of limit to correct mobility in movements, stretching can seem to increase strength, but that's just because it may be allowing you to be in more efficient positions.
You may want to check out The Effects of Stretching on Strength Performance.
