Five Grizzlies named Academic All-District

Five members of the Montana softball team were named Academic All-District this week by College Sports Communicators.

Earning Academic All-District honors were senior Kelly Sweyer, juniors Presley Jantzi and Jessica Stanfield, and sophomores Emmalyn Brinka and Grace Haegele.

All five players were honored by College Sports Communicators for the first time in their careers.

To be eligible, nominees must be at least a sophomore, have a 3.5 or better cumulative GPA and have played in 90 percent or started two-thirds of their team's games. Pitchers must have made 17 appearances or thrown 25 innings.

Sweyer, who graduated earlier this month with a degree in communicative sciences and disorders, had a 3.53 GPA through the fall semester.

Sweyer, whose primary role was designated player, started most of her junior and senior seasons. She finished her career with 68 hits and a .239 batting average. Twenty-eight of her hits went for extra bases, with her nine home runs the seventh most in program history.

Jantzi, who has a 3.75 GPA as a sociology major, was named second-team All-Big Sky Conference this past season after batting .393 to rank third in the league. It was the eighth-best season batting average in program history.

She started all 50 games, either in centerfield or right, and 50 times batted leadoff for the Grizzlies. She led Montana in at-bats (163), runs (36), hits (64), doubles (16) and on-base percentage (.451).

Stanfield, who has a 3.80 GPA as a communication studies major, played in 44 of 50 games and made 38 starts, 31 in left, seven in center.

She had 16 hits, with three doubles and a home run, 12 runs batted in and 12 runs scored. She tied for the team lead with four stolen bases.

Brinka, who has a 4.00 GPA as a communication studies major, led Montana's pitching staff in appearances (34), starts (20), innings (117 1/3) and complete games (6).

She pitched Montana to wins over Louisiana-Monroe, Northern Illinois, Providence and Carroll.

Haegele, who has a 4.00 GPA as an elementary education major, led Montana in wins (7), ERA (5.09) and opponent batting average (.335).

Haegele was the winning pitcher in five of Montana's 13 Division I victories in 2024.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

Emmalyn Brinka

Grace Haegele

Presley Jantzi

Jessica Stanfield

Kelly Sweyer

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