Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of
Bekofsky, Biehl lead Griz outfielders into new season
2/3/2026 4:28:00 PM | Softball
Hitting at the college level is tough enough, one player wielding a bat just two-and-a-quarter inches in diameter and having to protect a plate that measures 17 inches in width, with a top and bottom of the strike zone that can vary by umpire, against a pitcher who knows what she's throwing every delivery.
It's why the pitcher wins the battle more than half the time, usually well more than half, even against the nation's top college softball hitters.
When you're a freshman who's seeing college-level stuff, in movement and velocity, for the first time? Even harder. When you're so anxious that you extend the width of the plate another inch or two in both directions, making it feel like it's more than 20 inches you've got to cover? Game over.
"If you do that, she's already beat you," said Mackenzie Bekofsky, who knows from experience what she's talking about. In her first season, as a freshman last spring, she batted .125, with five hits in 40 at-bats. She struck out 14 times, drew two walks.
That was then. This is now. "I was watching all her at-bats from last year recently and thought, this is not the same kid she is right now or was for us in the fall," said second-year Griz coach Stef Ewing.
"When you're a freshman and you get in the box, all you want to do is hit. That anxiousness makes you swing outside the zone, so you get yourself out a lot.
"We've talked about it. You're too good of a hitter to get yourself out. Make them throw it in the zone. I've seen her really grow offensively in her strike-zone management and her ability to remain confident and know she can hit with two strikes, can hit off-speed. She can do anything."
Bekofsky, who made multiple starts in left, in center and in right last season, is another of Montana's sophomores whose year-over-year improvement, both through the work put in, the sweat invested and simply the experience gained, has the Grizzlies on a similarly upward trajectory.
"Last year we saw glimpses of it, but it was a confidence thing at times," said Ewing of Bekofsky. "It's not a confidence thing now. It's dialed in. She just brings it every day, and if she doesn't, she wants to know.
"Great hitters at any level, whether it's baseball or softball, they are constantly learning, getting feedback, getting better and not getting beat the same way twice. I feel that's where Mack has really made strides. Pitches she needs to lay off, she's not chasing now."
Bekofsky, penciled in for right, is two-thirds of Montana's starting outfield along with freshman Danielle
Biehl, who will hold down center.
Bekofsky, from McMinnville, Ore., was attracted to the sport at an early age, drawn by both sides, the one and the many, the ability to be recognized as an individual who stands out while also getting to celebrate the success of the team, to win or lose as a unit.
"I'm a very competitive person, so when I had my first taste of people paying attention to my success, I liked it," she said, then transitions into the group dynamic.
"I like everything about a team sport, celebrating with my teammates and watching them do well, having that big hit. There is something about a team sport that is so special. It keeps me going and training. I thought, I want to play at the highest level I can."
She played travel ball for the always-strong and nationally competitive Northwest Bullets, competing alongside Alexis DeBoer, the 2025 Big Ten Freshman of the Year for Washington, Tia Molloy, now at Oklahoma, and Addisen Fisher, at Georgia after earning Big Ten All-Freshman honors at UCLA.
"It pushed me to play at such a higher level. Some of them were better than me. That's just how it was. It made me get uncomfortable but it also made me better," she says.
Bekofsky had three of her hits last season over the opening two weekends of tournament play, hit her lone collegiate home run against Weber State, had a hit at Oregon State. She started 13 games, played in 26.
For all the small moments of frustration, they were collected and turned into the hitter who will face Saint Louis, Wagner and UC San Diego later this week as Montana opens its season at the La Jolla Invitational in San Diego.
"It was definitely an introduction to college softball. A lot of it was the mental game that I didn't have," she says. "To simplify, I was getting out of the zone, hitting-wise. I loved playing outfield but hitting was definitely super mental."
The more at-bats she's had, the more the college game has slowed down for her, the more comfortable she has gotten in the batter's box. That pitch three inches outside is no longer something to offer at. It's a ball off the plate. She'll patiently wait for something in the strike zone, thank you very much.
"It's seeing the ball and letting it come to me. For as simple as that sounds, it's made the biggest difference," she said. "I've widened my stance and taken my step out, which helps my timing be quicker. It's just experience, maturity.
"I made that mental switch of, let the ball come to me, come to the zone. I don't need to press, press, press for a hit all the time."
Starting beside Bekofsky, in center, will be Biehl, who has one of the best wait, what? stories on the team. It wasn't that long ago, as in just this past June, that the Montana staff had never heard of Biehl. Then the staff attended the Valley Invite in Portland last summer.
"She was playing club ball and wasn't sure if she was going to play in college or not," said Ewing. "We saw her and said, absolutely she should be playing in college. Now we're talking about a kid who didn't know what she was going to do and now she's going to be starting as a freshman for us in center field."
If you enter the season without a rooting interest for any one particular player on the team, Biehl, with that story, should be one to consider. Player joins team, player sees opportunity, player seizes it, doesn't look back.
"Dani does not have a fear of failure in her. She knows how to do things one speed and that's all out," says Ewing. "Every day you're out there, you get a little more impressed by what she does. Her range has grown, she has a strong arm, she talks really well. She's really steady, really reliable."
Ah, reliable. SportsCenter Top 10-type plays are fun, diving to make the catch on a blooper behind second, crashing into the outfield fence with ball in glove after tracking down a deep drive, but this team above the flash will value the consistent. Make the right play. Then make it again and again and again.
In the end, that's what wins the day, no matter the sport. "I see so much potential. I think it's going to impress people when they watch us play," said Bekofsky of the team's outfielders.
"Everybody on the team appreciates when the outfield covers ground. When balls drop in between players, it's such a hard thing to watch. It's frustrating to not back up your pitcher. She made the pitch she was supposed to and you didn't do your job."
Bekofsky, who has plenty of extra-base pop in her bat, will be in the middle of the order. Biehl, who hits from the left side, will bat farther down, getting on base with her ability to play the short game or hitting away, then forcing opponents to deal with her speed on the bases.
And then up to the plate strides Anna Cockhill in the lead-off spot, her own personal brand of danger combining with people on base.
"Dani showed a lot of patience in the fall and had a lot of walks," said Ewing. "She'll turn the lineup over, which allows people to be on base when Anna comes up to bat, which is huge. She's a freshman who's come in and really owned it and said, this is going to be my spot."
Six players started in left field last season, with 28 of the 50 starts going to two players no longer in uniform, Makena Strong and Breiana Bonkavich. That turnover has opened the door and opened up the competition for the chance to stand alongside Biehl and Bekofsky at first pitch.
Sophomore Hailey Boer made a pair of starts in left last season. Freshman Jessica Cherms, who has been swinging a hot bat since the team returned to campus last month, is in the mix, as is Kaci Kiblen, who's also been taking balls at first base behind JoJo Christiaens, who herself is a natural left-fielder.
"Mack and Dani have proven that they are going to be every-day players. With left field, there is some opportunity there," said Ewing. "With our youth, every day you're going to be having people moving up and moving down, moving in and moving out. There is a great, healthy battle going on.
"What's going to be fun to watch in the outfield this season is, who's starting to get comfortable and just play the game and who can do it the fastest? When you're able to slow the game down, that's when you thrive and do really well."
That's what Bekofsky has done in Year 2, the future nurse taking what she learned last year and turning it into a starting job in right and a spot in the middle of the order, part of the program's underclassman uprising, something bound to happen with only one senior and two other upperclassmen on the roster.
"We want to grow up together and we get to grow this program," said Bekofsky.
It's why the pitcher wins the battle more than half the time, usually well more than half, even against the nation's top college softball hitters.
When you're a freshman who's seeing college-level stuff, in movement and velocity, for the first time? Even harder. When you're so anxious that you extend the width of the plate another inch or two in both directions, making it feel like it's more than 20 inches you've got to cover? Game over.
"If you do that, she's already beat you," said Mackenzie Bekofsky, who knows from experience what she's talking about. In her first season, as a freshman last spring, she batted .125, with five hits in 40 at-bats. She struck out 14 times, drew two walks.
That was then. This is now. "I was watching all her at-bats from last year recently and thought, this is not the same kid she is right now or was for us in the fall," said second-year Griz coach Stef Ewing.
"When you're a freshman and you get in the box, all you want to do is hit. That anxiousness makes you swing outside the zone, so you get yourself out a lot.
"We've talked about it. You're too good of a hitter to get yourself out. Make them throw it in the zone. I've seen her really grow offensively in her strike-zone management and her ability to remain confident and know she can hit with two strikes, can hit off-speed. She can do anything."
Bekofsky, who made multiple starts in left, in center and in right last season, is another of Montana's sophomores whose year-over-year improvement, both through the work put in, the sweat invested and simply the experience gained, has the Grizzlies on a similarly upward trajectory.
"Last year we saw glimpses of it, but it was a confidence thing at times," said Ewing of Bekofsky. "It's not a confidence thing now. It's dialed in. She just brings it every day, and if she doesn't, she wants to know.
"Great hitters at any level, whether it's baseball or softball, they are constantly learning, getting feedback, getting better and not getting beat the same way twice. I feel that's where Mack has really made strides. Pitches she needs to lay off, she's not chasing now."
Bekofsky, penciled in for right, is two-thirds of Montana's starting outfield along with freshman Danielle
Biehl, who will hold down center.
Bekofsky, from McMinnville, Ore., was attracted to the sport at an early age, drawn by both sides, the one and the many, the ability to be recognized as an individual who stands out while also getting to celebrate the success of the team, to win or lose as a unit.
"I'm a very competitive person, so when I had my first taste of people paying attention to my success, I liked it," she said, then transitions into the group dynamic.
"I like everything about a team sport, celebrating with my teammates and watching them do well, having that big hit. There is something about a team sport that is so special. It keeps me going and training. I thought, I want to play at the highest level I can."
She played travel ball for the always-strong and nationally competitive Northwest Bullets, competing alongside Alexis DeBoer, the 2025 Big Ten Freshman of the Year for Washington, Tia Molloy, now at Oklahoma, and Addisen Fisher, at Georgia after earning Big Ten All-Freshman honors at UCLA.
"It pushed me to play at such a higher level. Some of them were better than me. That's just how it was. It made me get uncomfortable but it also made me better," she says.
Bekofsky had three of her hits last season over the opening two weekends of tournament play, hit her lone collegiate home run against Weber State, had a hit at Oregon State. She started 13 games, played in 26.
For all the small moments of frustration, they were collected and turned into the hitter who will face Saint Louis, Wagner and UC San Diego later this week as Montana opens its season at the La Jolla Invitational in San Diego.
"It was definitely an introduction to college softball. A lot of it was the mental game that I didn't have," she says. "To simplify, I was getting out of the zone, hitting-wise. I loved playing outfield but hitting was definitely super mental."
The more at-bats she's had, the more the college game has slowed down for her, the more comfortable she has gotten in the batter's box. That pitch three inches outside is no longer something to offer at. It's a ball off the plate. She'll patiently wait for something in the strike zone, thank you very much.
"It's seeing the ball and letting it come to me. For as simple as that sounds, it's made the biggest difference," she said. "I've widened my stance and taken my step out, which helps my timing be quicker. It's just experience, maturity.
"I made that mental switch of, let the ball come to me, come to the zone. I don't need to press, press, press for a hit all the time."
Starting beside Bekofsky, in center, will be Biehl, who has one of the best wait, what? stories on the team. It wasn't that long ago, as in just this past June, that the Montana staff had never heard of Biehl. Then the staff attended the Valley Invite in Portland last summer.
"She was playing club ball and wasn't sure if she was going to play in college or not," said Ewing. "We saw her and said, absolutely she should be playing in college. Now we're talking about a kid who didn't know what she was going to do and now she's going to be starting as a freshman for us in center field."
If you enter the season without a rooting interest for any one particular player on the team, Biehl, with that story, should be one to consider. Player joins team, player sees opportunity, player seizes it, doesn't look back.
"Dani does not have a fear of failure in her. She knows how to do things one speed and that's all out," says Ewing. "Every day you're out there, you get a little more impressed by what she does. Her range has grown, she has a strong arm, she talks really well. She's really steady, really reliable."
Ah, reliable. SportsCenter Top 10-type plays are fun, diving to make the catch on a blooper behind second, crashing into the outfield fence with ball in glove after tracking down a deep drive, but this team above the flash will value the consistent. Make the right play. Then make it again and again and again.
In the end, that's what wins the day, no matter the sport. "I see so much potential. I think it's going to impress people when they watch us play," said Bekofsky of the team's outfielders.
"Everybody on the team appreciates when the outfield covers ground. When balls drop in between players, it's such a hard thing to watch. It's frustrating to not back up your pitcher. She made the pitch she was supposed to and you didn't do your job."
Bekofsky, who has plenty of extra-base pop in her bat, will be in the middle of the order. Biehl, who hits from the left side, will bat farther down, getting on base with her ability to play the short game or hitting away, then forcing opponents to deal with her speed on the bases.
And then up to the plate strides Anna Cockhill in the lead-off spot, her own personal brand of danger combining with people on base.
"Dani showed a lot of patience in the fall and had a lot of walks," said Ewing. "She'll turn the lineup over, which allows people to be on base when Anna comes up to bat, which is huge. She's a freshman who's come in and really owned it and said, this is going to be my spot."
Six players started in left field last season, with 28 of the 50 starts going to two players no longer in uniform, Makena Strong and Breiana Bonkavich. That turnover has opened the door and opened up the competition for the chance to stand alongside Biehl and Bekofsky at first pitch.
Sophomore Hailey Boer made a pair of starts in left last season. Freshman Jessica Cherms, who has been swinging a hot bat since the team returned to campus last month, is in the mix, as is Kaci Kiblen, who's also been taking balls at first base behind JoJo Christiaens, who herself is a natural left-fielder.
"Mack and Dani have proven that they are going to be every-day players. With left field, there is some opportunity there," said Ewing. "With our youth, every day you're going to be having people moving up and moving down, moving in and moving out. There is a great, healthy battle going on.
"What's going to be fun to watch in the outfield this season is, who's starting to get comfortable and just play the game and who can do it the fastest? When you're able to slow the game down, that's when you thrive and do really well."
That's what Bekofsky has done in Year 2, the future nurse taking what she learned last year and turning it into a starting job in right and a spot in the middle of the order, part of the program's underclassman uprising, something bound to happen with only one senior and two other upperclassmen on the roster.
"We want to grow up together and we get to grow this program," said Bekofsky.
Players Mentioned
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