Griz open fall exhibition season on Sunday

The Montana softball team will kick off its six-game fall exhibition schedule on Sunday when it hosts Carroll and Providence at Grizzly Softball Field.

The Grizzlies and Saints will play at 11 a.m., Carroll and Providence will play at 1 p.m., with Montana and Providence wrapping up the day with a game at 3 p.m.

Sunday's games are free to the public, with first-year coach Stef Ewing wanting all the focus to be on the soccer field, where Montana will host Eastern Washington at 1 p.m. at South Campus Stadium.

But before and/or after the soccer match, she's ready to show off her first team, one that's been hard at it for more than a month now.

"We don't want to take any attention away from soccer," said Ewing. "They are in the middle of their championship season and are trying to win the conference. We'll do our thing but it's their show."

Ewing was hired in June, becoming the third head coach in program history. Montana finished 43 games under .500 the last two seasons, going 5-25 in league with a pair of last-place finishes.

"I think people are going to see right away it's a different energy," said Ewing. "The girls are a fun group to be around and are excited to come to practice every single day.

"You can tell we have good energy on the field. We're not panicking when we make mistakes. We're working through it and managing it. We're a lot more confident."

Montana will play a doubleheader at MSU Billings starting at noon on Sunday, Oct. 20, then wrap up the fall with a doubleheader against North Idaho at Grizzly Softball Field on Saturday, Oct. 26.

"These games offer an opportunity to compete against somebody else, put a lineup out there and be strategic about things and work on our offense and defense," said Ewing.

"I want our pitchers to throw strikes and limit walks, play clean defense and make teams earn their way on base. Let's throw strikes, let's play clean defense and let's barrel the ball a little bit."

After the exhibition games on Oct. 26, Montana won't play again until early February, when the regular-season schedule begins.

"The biggest thing I want to get from these games is to see where we're at," said Ewing. "I'm looking forward to seeing how we swing the bats and how our pitchers stack up.

"Our goal is to play our best softball in April, so this will be information gathering for us. What else do we need to work on? What are we happy with, what do we need to get better at?"

Montana goes into the season with a roster of 21, made up of 12 returners and nine newcomers. Seven of the newcomers are freshmen, the other two transfer pitchers.

University of Montana Athletics

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