Saturday, October 24
Missoula, Mont.
11 AM
Montana
14
vs
3
MSU Billings (DH)
Photo by: Jacob Piapot/University of Montana
10/24/2026 6:27:00 PM | Softball
The Montana softball team scored 32 runs while batting .478 to sweep a doubleheader from MSU Billings on Saturday at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.
Montana won 14-3 and 18-8, with four of the Yellowjackets' runs crossing home plate unearned after a number of late innings began with MSUB runners on base to create scoring and defensive situations.
Kailee Mejia hit a pair of two-run home runs in Game 1, with JoJo Christiaens adding her own two-run blast to support starter Carah Sweet, who struck out 11 over five innings.
In Game 2, Christiaens had a bases-loaded triple and Mackenzie Bekofsky, Anna Cockhill and Madison Tarrant hit home runs.
Over 13 innings of at-bats, the Grizzlies had only three innings when they did not score a run on Saturday.
The Grizzlies fell behind early in both games, the Yellowjackets scoring once in the top of the first in Game 1, twice in the top of the first in Game 2.
"It's fun to know that if we give up two runs in the first inning, we're still going to blister the ball," said coach Stef Ewing, whose team is batting .475 through six fall games, with a .825 slugging percentage.
"We're seeing a lot of different people coming through and doing things up and down the lineup."
All was not perfect, though, as Montana had a number of players thrown out on the bases. The defense had only one error but had a number of plays that weren't made.
"We absolutely have to play better defense," said Ewing. "There were a lot of balls and plays today that we didn't make that we need to make to be a high-level team.
"We made a lot of baserunning mistakes, too. We gave them a lot of outs on the bases. But when you score 30 runs and hit six home runs and do what we can do as an offense, it covers up a lot of problems."
For all the runs it did score on Saturday, Montana was slow to get rolling. MSU Billings led 2-1 in the opener in the middle of the third.
The Grizzlies broke out in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs to go up for good. Mya Ward had an RBI single, Mejia the first of her two home runs and Bekofsky an RBI double.
Mejia and Christiaens both hit two-run home runs in Montana's four-run fifth and the Grizzlies added four more runs on four hits in the sixth.
Sweet allowed four hits through the first three innings but each time minimized the damage.
After giving up a lead-off single in the top of the second, she got two strikeouts and her defense cut down a stolen base attempt.
"I loved our pitchers' responses today when they walked a batter or when they gave up a hit. They were immediately attacking," said Ewing.
Sweet struck out three batters in the third, three more in the fifth as part of her 11-strikeout outing.
Kaiana Kong threw the last two innings.
In Game 2, 15 Grizzlies had at least one base hit, with Montana answering MSUB's two-run top of the first with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
The Grizzlies scored three in the third, three in the fourth, three in the fifth and five times in the sixth, with seven of Montana's 19 hits going for extra bases.
Freshman Makenna Burton got the start in the circle and matched Sweet by going five innings, with Kong throwing the last two. Burton allowed five hits while striking out six.
"It felt like in the second game we were getting squeezed in the strike zone," said Ewing. "I love for that to happen in the fall so we can learn the adjustments we have to make and make them quickly.
"There were a lot of margin pitches that were called balls. We had to figure it out and make those adjustments. The pitchers did a good job of working through that."
Montana will host Carroll at noon on Sunday for a doubleheader, the Grizzlies' final games of the fall.
"There is better softball for us to play," said Ewing. "We're not where we want to be. We have a laundry list of things we need to work on but overall we're doing a lot of things really well.
"We have to continue to raise the bar and be relentless."
Montana won 14-3 and 18-8, with four of the Yellowjackets' runs crossing home plate unearned after a number of late innings began with MSUB runners on base to create scoring and defensive situations.
Kailee Mejia hit a pair of two-run home runs in Game 1, with JoJo Christiaens adding her own two-run blast to support starter Carah Sweet, who struck out 11 over five innings.
In Game 2, Christiaens had a bases-loaded triple and Mackenzie Bekofsky, Anna Cockhill and Madison Tarrant hit home runs.
Over 13 innings of at-bats, the Grizzlies had only three innings when they did not score a run on Saturday.
The Grizzlies fell behind early in both games, the Yellowjackets scoring once in the top of the first in Game 1, twice in the top of the first in Game 2.
"It's fun to know that if we give up two runs in the first inning, we're still going to blister the ball," said coach Stef Ewing, whose team is batting .475 through six fall games, with a .825 slugging percentage.
"We're seeing a lot of different people coming through and doing things up and down the lineup."
All was not perfect, though, as Montana had a number of players thrown out on the bases. The defense had only one error but had a number of plays that weren't made.
"We absolutely have to play better defense," said Ewing. "There were a lot of balls and plays today that we didn't make that we need to make to be a high-level team.
"We made a lot of baserunning mistakes, too. We gave them a lot of outs on the bases. But when you score 30 runs and hit six home runs and do what we can do as an offense, it covers up a lot of problems."
For all the runs it did score on Saturday, Montana was slow to get rolling. MSU Billings led 2-1 in the opener in the middle of the third.
The Grizzlies broke out in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs to go up for good. Mya Ward had an RBI single, Mejia the first of her two home runs and Bekofsky an RBI double.
Mejia and Christiaens both hit two-run home runs in Montana's four-run fifth and the Grizzlies added four more runs on four hits in the sixth.
Sweet allowed four hits through the first three innings but each time minimized the damage.
After giving up a lead-off single in the top of the second, she got two strikeouts and her defense cut down a stolen base attempt.
"I loved our pitchers' responses today when they walked a batter or when they gave up a hit. They were immediately attacking," said Ewing.
Sweet struck out three batters in the third, three more in the fifth as part of her 11-strikeout outing.
Kaiana Kong threw the last two innings.
In Game 2, 15 Grizzlies had at least one base hit, with Montana answering MSUB's two-run top of the first with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
The Grizzlies scored three in the third, three in the fourth, three in the fifth and five times in the sixth, with seven of Montana's 19 hits going for extra bases.
Freshman Makenna Burton got the start in the circle and matched Sweet by going five innings, with Kong throwing the last two. Burton allowed five hits while striking out six.
"It felt like in the second game we were getting squeezed in the strike zone," said Ewing. "I love for that to happen in the fall so we can learn the adjustments we have to make and make them quickly.
"There were a lot of margin pitches that were called balls. We had to figure it out and make those adjustments. The pitchers did a good job of working through that."
Montana will host Carroll at noon on Sunday for a doubleheader, the Grizzlies' final games of the fall.
"There is better softball for us to play," said Ewing. "We're not where we want to be. We have a laundry list of things we need to work on but overall we're doing a lot of things really well.
"We have to continue to raise the bar and be relentless."
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
UTL
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
INF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
C
/ Softball
INF
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