Griz put finishing touches on spring schedule

Sixteen home games highlight the Montana softball team's 2026 schedule that second-year head coach Stef Ewing finalized recently.

The Grizzlies, who play their first 27 games away from home, will make their Missoula debut on Friday, March 20, with a doubleheader against Pacific of the West Coast Conference.

Montana will wrap up its home schedule the last weekend of April with a home series against defending Big Sky Conference regular-season champion Idaho State.

The Grizzlies, who only played 11 games at home last season, also get Big Sky series at Grizzly Softball Field against Portland State and Northern Colorado and will play midweek doubleheaders against Seattle and MSU Billings.

"We're thrilled to be in Missoula more than we were last year," said Ewing. "That was a big emphasis, to be able to play more games in front of our fans and more home games so the travel is a lot less rigorous.

"The hope is that we'll be able to continue to build our home schedule year after year by bringing quality teams in here. We have a great facility and great atmosphere."

Unlike previous years, when Montana played five straight weekends of five-game trips to far-away destinations to open the season, this year the Grizzlies will travel to San Diego for five games, to Las Cruces, N.M., and El Paso, Texas, for five games and to Phoenix for five games, then take a weekend off.

The Grizzlies will resume with a relatively easy bus trip to Seattle before going to the Bay Area for six games over four days, then return home for the openers against Pacific.

"Last year when we traveled five weekends in a row, we were dead going into conference. It can be a gauntlet if you start in early February and don't stop," said Ewing.

"This schedule sets up a lot better for travel, for recovery and for our players to be prepared to be in the best shape when we go into conference play."

The February schedule will be just 15 games, condensed but highly challenging, with seven of those games coming against teams who played in the NCAA tournament last spring.

Montana will open the season against one of those teams, facing Saint Louis at UC San Diego on Thursday, Feb. 5. The Billikens won 34 games last year, won the Atlantic-10 tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

The Grizzlies will get Saint Louis a second time in San Diego, while also playing twice against Wagner and once against the host Tritons.

Montana will return to Las Cruces and El Paso for the third straight season, getting two games against New Mexico State, two against UTEP and one against Oklahoma, which has won six of the last nine national championships.

"They are the standard at the Division I level," said Ewing. "I tell the girls all the time, they put the uniform on just like we do. It's all about going out on the field and competing with them. We're looking forward to that one."

Grand Canyon's tournament the third weekend of February might be the most difficult list of opponents Montana has faced in a single February road trip.

UC Santa Barbara won two games in the NCAA tournament in May, Grand Canyon, who the Grizzlies will play twice, won 47 games a season ago and has played in four straight NCAA tournaments, and North Florida won 47 games last spring, including two over Virginia in the NCAA tournament.

"The schedule is going to challenge us with some Power 4 teams and give us a lot of mid-majors that will allow us to go after it," said Ewing. "That's what we're looking to do, everything we can in preseason to get ready for Big Sky play."

After a weekend off, Montana will make two six-game road trips, to Seattle to face North Carolina Central and the Redhawks, and to the Bay Area to play three games each against last year's WCC co-champions, Saint Mary's and Santa Clara, the latter of which advanced to the NCAA tournament.

Thirteen straight home games are the reward, against Pacific, Seattle, Portland State, Northern Colorado and MSU Billings.

Montana will play a three-game series at Sacramento State, then add on a midweek doubleheader at Utah before going up the road to face Weber State, which won last year's Big Sky tournament title after finishing the regular season in third.

After wrapping up the regular season with a home series against Idaho State, Montana will travel to Pocatello, Idaho, for the Big Sky tournament the first week of May.

University of Montana Athletics

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