Grizzlies open season on Sunday

It's a new era for the Montana softball program, the first time the Grizzlies have not been led by a coach who was with the program when they took the field for their first-ever practice 10 years ago this month.

It was an eventful decade, those first 10 seasons, Montana coming within a win on the final day of the regular season in 2016 of hosting the Big Sky Conference tournament in the Grizzlies' second year, showing what some talent and a dugout full of belief can do, no matter the age of the program.

And who can forget the magical ride the Grizzlies took everyone on in 2017, winning 27 of 35 games between mid-March and mid-May, going to Ogden and winning the Big Sky tournament in a tidy three games, Montana bound for the NCAA tournament in year three.

The future of the program felt limitless.

When the signs arrived to hang at Grizzly Softball Field commemorating the Big Sky title and NCAA appearance, plenty of space was left for championships that were soon to arrive, soon to start adding up, titles stacked upon titles.

Fast-forward to 2025 and those signs from 2017 still hang alone below the scoreboard, fading in color each passing spring but becoming more noticeable as that lone championship season moves deeper and deeper into the program's history, farther from memory.

Something new was needed last spring, a fresh face to lead the program, a different voice, someone who embodied the spirit of that first team, those early years, when anything felt possible, a leader who could get her team to believe that to be true. Why not Montana?

The announcement of her hire came quietly in the days of late June but coach Stef Ewing's arrival later in the summer provided a jolt of energy that hit the program like a defibrillator, her us-against-the-world ethos fitting the Grizzlies like a hand into a well-worn softball glove.

She's been on campus for months, took her team through the fall, with its practices, individual sessions and exhibition games, signed a program-altering recruiting class, hit all the late-fall recruiting events. Now, come Sunday, she'll lead her team into the season ahead with practice No. 1.

"I'm wearing some new colors but the game is the same," said Ewing, who spent the previous six years at Cal State San Marcos, leading the Cougars to the NCAA Division II national tournament the last three seasons, the World Series in 2023. "It's softball. Bring it on.

"It will be long nights and early mornings for me, but that's what I love. I've spent too much time in the office the last six weeks. I'm ready to be on a softball field and see these young ladies go out there and compete for the University of Montana."

Ewing wants you, the fan, to think big, to dream big, but she knows as a coach the only way she can get her team playing at a championship level in April is for the Grizzlies to worry about Sunday. Put in the work, lay down the building block, then do it again on Monday. One step. One step. One step at a time.

"The biggest thing is to keep the messaging the same. We need to get one percent better every day," she said. "We need to focus on the process and continue to build, build, build for us to play our best softball in April when we get into conference play."

If you're wondering, wait, isn't it the middle of winter? How is this all going to work? Well, that's last-decade thinking, when the Grizzlies had their indoor hitting facility, then maybe a field to practice on, maybe not, depending on the weather and the availability of a plow to keep the snow removed.

It was a dicey way to enter a season, not knowing how many full-field practices the team would get before its season opener in early February at some location down south against an opponent that likely hadn't had to deal with such challenges.

The Montana Tough attitude was fun to embrace, the Grizzlies on the frozen turf in their parkas, snow piled up beyond the outfield fence, but it mainly masked what was lacking: a place to go to truly prepare for the season ahead.

Now, the team has it with the fall grand opening of the Grizzly Indoor Practice Facility, more than 100,000 square feet of Phoenix-in-January, ideal practice conditions that never change, no matter what it looks and feels like outside.

"It's a game-changer," says Ewing. "We can do everything we need to do in the bubble and do it in conjunction with our indoor and the batting cages we have in there. If you can imagine putting a roof over our field, that's what we'll have.

"It's an incredible facility. We'll be able to do everything full distance. The options are unlimited for what we'll be able to do. I know the girls are excited. It is going to be a whole new experience for them as far as what spring practice will feel like leading up to our first game."

Ewing is a big-picture visionary who thrives in the smallest of on-field details, who wants to win the game within the game, knows that's what makes the difference between a 5-3 win and a 5-3 loss, who never wants to utter the phrase, We just couldn't get the big hit.

Because waiting for the big hit to arrive is a team waiting to lose.

Montana hit a program-record 88 doubles last season, actually ranked second in the nation in doubles per game, led the Big Sky in triples, but had the third-lowest runs total in program history and ranked in the bottom half of the country in scoring, the big hit more often than not never materializing.

Ewing wants to change the equation. "I tell (the team) all the time, two plus two does not always equal four," she says. "We have to be able to get creative and learn how to play the game within the game. You want to make scoring runs easier, not have it feel so pressure-packed."

In Montana's 22 games at Grizzly Softball Field last season, none was as memorable as Idaho State's 5-0 victory over the home team. The Bengals got an efficient outing from their starting pitcher, but it was on the offensive side where ISU was brilliant.

If there were 20 situations when Idaho State had an opportunity to make the right play at the plate and on the bases, 20 times the Bengals got it done, drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second, getting sacrificed to third, scoring on a fly out deep to the outfield.

Style points: 2.1 out of 10
Winning points: 10 out of 10

"We worked on execution so much this fall. That's the name of the game, finding a way to be able to move somebody 60 feet at a time. It's not about getting the hit. Sometimes it's just a fly ball, a ground ball, sometimes it's just making contact because we're in a ground ball-go play," says Ewing.

"We have to have an approach to move runners. If you come up with a runner on second and no outs, your job is to move her. I'm happy with one run per inning and there are so many ways to do it. Get the idea that we have to have the big hit out of your mind. We just need a quality at-bat."

That was the mantra of those early Montana teams. Put up a crooked number, put up a crooked number every inning if possible, by which they meant anything but a zero.

"We're not going to be a team that relies on the three-run home run to tie the game or take the lead late," says Ewing. "We're going to manufacture runs by doing the little things correctly. We're trying to create chaos and put as much pressure on the defense that we possibly can."

Her players will hear it over and over again after each day's games are done. Did we have quality at-bats? What kind of contact did we make? Did we go after the pitches we wanted to go after? Did we hit their pitcher's misses? ("When a pitcher misses, we don't miss," she says.)

Did we move runners? Did we make quality pitches? Did we get ground-ball outs? What was our strikeout-to-walk ratio on offense and what was it on defense? Did we play clean defense? Did we make in-game adjustments? "Those are the things that lead to successful teams that win," Ewing says.

She knows it will be a process every year, maybe more so this year, in her first season with the Grizzlies as the foundation of these beliefs are established. After this season, they will go from being novel to the norm.

"I'm not looking at our schedule and wondering how many games we can win," Ewing says of a February and March that will have Montana playing its first 27 games away from home. "I'm looking at it and saying, can our in-game process get better every single time?

"Can we not panic when the other team does something? Can we stick to the game plan? We've talked about it since the fall, about trusting the process. This team has jumped two feet in and put their trust in the coaching staff. Do things the right way and the W's will start to show up."

One of the memorable things about that championship team of 2017 was how much fun they had simply playing the game, of taking the field with their teammates and … softballing. They approached even the most stressful of games and moments like they had met up on the corner lot and picked teams.

That's another of Ewing's goals with this eclectic team, one that has six seniors, 11 upperclassmen, but nine newcomers, all of whom are new to the world of Division I softball.

"What happens as you move up in different levels is the game gets bigger, faster, stronger," says Ewing. "We need to get them to feel comfortable, no matter the jersey in the other dugout or who's pitching or who's up to bat.

"Just play the game. That's when you compete at the highest level, when it feels like it's a whiffle-ball game in the backyard. That's when people are successful. Go out and play. That's when we'll be the best version of ourselves."

Ewing found a willing and receptive audience when she was offered the job and soon started calling every returner on the roster.

This year's senior class took a lot of body blows the last two years, opening 0-20 in 2023 on the way to a 10-win season, then going 1-14 in league last spring, getting outscored 110-39. The program has lost its last six games at the Big Sky tournament, run differential -46.

They were down but not out. They knew they had one year to make it right, one chance to be the group that a decade from now, people will say, oh, you were part of that team?

"They have been tremendous in buying in," says Ewing. "They're excited. They've been texting us over break, telling us they are ready to get back. They are excited to leave their mark on this program. They want to leave it better than they found it.

"It so important to them that this program does well. I can feel that as a coach. The biggest thing for me is taking pressure off them and making sure they are not carrying the weight. We can't get too caught up looking forward. What's in front of us that day? We have to be really good on focusing on that."

So much, as is often the case in college softball, will come down to Montana's pitching staff, a group of mostly new names, the position built upon the talents of junior Grace Haegele, who made 55 appearances and 33 starts as a freshman and sophomore.

Alongside her will be junior Siona Halwani, a transfer from the College of San Mateo, sophomore Brianna Lachermeier, a transfer from Otero College, and freshman Cameryn Ortega. Sophomore Nyeala Herndon, who pitched in 10 games last season, will eventually join them.

"It's nice to have Grace, who has a ton of experience and has thrown a lot of big games," says Ewing. "She had a tremendous fall and has put herself in position to have a great spring. Then Siona, Cam and Bri, who are going to be pitching their first Division I games.

"Looking forward to when we can get Ny out there to be our ringer. She is going to be our secret weapon when we get her back to full strength. She is dynamic and has a live arm. She'll be a great addition late in the season."

How will Ewing and first-year pitching coach Megan Casper handle their pitchers, both early on, when Montana is playing five or more games over a weekend, and then later on, when it's three-game Big Sky series? That's all to be determined.

"We'll use our full staff the first few tournaments to see where we are and what's best as far as what's deceiving for the other team's hitters," Ewing said. "I don't care how we eventually go. Let's just figure it out and do it well.

"The most important thing is having buy-in and we have it. They know we may be asking them to throw in different roles, closing one game, then starting the next. They are ready for that. The No. 1 thing is keeping them healthy and making sure we're not throwing too many innings on any arm early."

It will be a typical Montana schedule, off to Phoenix, El Paso, Las Cruces, Bakersfield and Northridge before the calendar reaches the third day of March. The Grizzlies will get some games when they are the underdog, plenty of 50-50 games, some Montana will be expected to win.

But there we go, taking the big-view approach when all Ewing wants to do is get ready for Sunday, then Monday. It will be the same thing come Feb. 7. All eyes on Game 1, then Game 2. Those first two opponents in Phoenix? It's Colgate and Northern Illinois, but don't tell the Grizzlies that.

"Take the school name out of it," Ewing says. "This is what the pitcher throws. This is what we're going to be looking for and we're going to attack it and go after it. Here's what their hitters do, here is the spray chart. Let's go after it."

It's standard Ewing-speak. Get after it. Attack. She doesn't care if it's Manhattan or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or if it's Nebraska or Washington. Get after it. Attack.

"Then you're not worried about the who," she adds. "This is what they do. This is what we're going to do. This is our plan. Get on the field and let's go compete.

"I'm not scared of anybody and I'm going to make sure this team is not scared of anybody. Every game is our game to be able to go out and attack and do the things we need to do. We're not doing things right if we change how we do things based on the uniform in the other dugout."

It's still technically the preseason, at least for another day, until the sun rises on Sunday. She's in a new position at a new level in a new conference in a new part of the country with new players. Everything new but becoming more familiar by the day.

"I don't know if I feel any different," she says. "It's a new group but it's my team. You have that first practice and you lead them. You evaluate where everyone is and you hit the ground running. And off you go."

University of Montana Athletics

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Grace Haegele

Siona Halwani

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