Thursday, February 5
San Diego, Calif.
5:30 PM (MT)
Montana
vs
Saint Louis
Photo by: Marley Barboeisel/University of
Griz open season at La Jolla Invitational
2/4/2026 11:59:00 AM | Softball
It's been 272 days since the Montana softball team walked off the field in Greeley at the Big Sky Conference tournament, run-ruled by the home Bears in an elimination game, the final outcome of a season that ended with a record of 8-42.
And it's been 272 days, not one of them slipping by when she didn't do something to make the Grizzlies a bit stronger, that now second-year coach Stef Ewing has spent making sure a season like that doesn't ever happen again.
Montana will get the opportunity to put all that offseason work to the test this week when the Grizzlies open their 49-game regular-season schedule with five games at the UCSD La Jolla Invitational in San Diego.
The team will get games against Saint Louis, Wagner and host UCSD at Triton Softball Field. Montana's five games in San Diego can be tracked by live stats. None of the Grizzlies' games will be broadcast.
"Opening day is what every coach dreams about," said Ewing, who spent six seasons as the head coach at nearby Cal State San Marcos before being hired by Montana. "You look forward to this day as soon as school starts in the fall."
Montana will look a lot different than the team that departed Greeley in early May and the Grizzlies will start an incredibly young team against Saint Louis on Thursday afternoon in the season opener for both the Billikens and Grizzlies.
Montana will have all underclassmen in the starting outfield, all underclassmen in the starting infield and likely throw junior Kaiana Kong, a first-year transfer from Western Washington.
"It's a group that will probably be one of the youngest teams in the country. We know that and we don't care," said Ewing. "Players play. Doesn't matter if you're a freshman or a sixth-year senior. You go out there and let it happen.
"There are going to be some butterflies. We have a lot of kids who will get their first college innings, first college at-bats. Once the dust settles and we knock those things off, this group can just go out and play. This is the point in the season when you let them go a little bit. Do your thing, play your game."
Ewing remade the Montana roster, starting more than a year ago when she signed this season's freshman class. She added more players over the summer.
The Grizzlies won their season opener under Ewing last Feb. 7, 11-4 over Colgate but never did win back-to-back games against Division I opponents. Montana went 1-14 in Big Sky games for the second straight season, then went 0-2 at the Big Sky tournament.
"Last year at this time, I wasn't sleeping through the night," said Ewing. "There is a jump between Division I and Division II. Teams are way deeper. In Division II, teams might be strong one through six in the lineup. At Division I, they are deep one through 15 and can make changes.
"As a staff, we're a lot more prepared for getting our kids prepared."
Montana had statistics last season that didn't hint at much success. The team batted .227 and averaged 3.0 runs per game, the staff had an ERA of 7.88. All three of those numbers ranked in the bottom 10 percent of Division I teams.
Ewing and her staff, through roster turnover and hands-on coaching since early September, went to work raising the offensive numbers while lowing the ERA.
"This group is prepared. We know what we have to do. It's about being able to do our job and not feel pressure," said Ewing. "My job as a coach is to take weight off their shoulders, help them trust their preparation and trust our process.
"A lot of these kids are pretty confident right now, and a confident team can do a lot of things."
Montana will be challenged from the opening pitch on Thursday, facing a Saint Louis team that went 34-24 last season and won the Atlantic-10 tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament.
That followed 31 wins in 2024, 30 wins and an A-10 regular-season title in 2023.
The team had a 3.23 ERA in 2025 and returns lefthanded junior Isabel Royle, who won 13 games last season with a 3.67 ERA.
Leading the SLU offense will be senior catcher Abby Mallo, who batted .363 last season with 20 home runs, which tied for 23rd in the nation. She was second-team NFCA All-Midwest Region as a junior and is already the Saint Louis leader in career home runs with 43.
Wagner went 15-26 last season, UC San Diego 16-32. Both were picked higher in their conference preseason polls than they finished a year ago.
Montana has not played Saint Louis, Wagner or UC San Diego in its history. "This is a great opening weekend for us to get comfortable and get some games underneath us," said Ewing.
"Our hitters are eager to see pitching beside our own. Part of that is holding them back. You're ready, just let the game come to you. You don't have to be super human or someone you're not. You just need to be yourself. Swing at strikes, stay in the strike zone."
Kong will likely start the season opener, or the reason she was recruited from Western Washington, to go up against a pitcher like Royle and give her team a chance.
Sophomore Cameryn Ortega and freshman Audri Elias are expected to make starts this week as well.
More than anything, Ewing's second team has a new mentality. It's more gritty, fighters and competitors from senior to freshmen. Previous Griz teams hoped they would win. This team is expecting to.
"I told the team, we're going to throw the first punch in every game. The other team is going to throw a punch and guess what we're going to do? We're going to respond and come right back," said Ewing, whose team got outscored 48-45 in the first inning last season, 318-105 in the innings that followed.
"Last year, we never had that response. This year we have the mindset that we're coming out swinging and we're going to keep swinging. We're coming for you until they say ball game."
Montana will head to Las Cruces, N.M., and El Paso, Texas, next week, one of its games against Oklahoma. A tournament with a loaded field at Grand Canyon will follow.
"I truly believe with this team that when we step on the field, we believe we're going to win," said Ewing. "It doesn't matter if we're playing Oklahoma, Wagner, Seattle U. It's a matter of doing the little things right and we do the little things way better now than we did."
And it's been 272 days, not one of them slipping by when she didn't do something to make the Grizzlies a bit stronger, that now second-year coach Stef Ewing has spent making sure a season like that doesn't ever happen again.
Montana will get the opportunity to put all that offseason work to the test this week when the Grizzlies open their 49-game regular-season schedule with five games at the UCSD La Jolla Invitational in San Diego.
The team will get games against Saint Louis, Wagner and host UCSD at Triton Softball Field. Montana's five games in San Diego can be tracked by live stats. None of the Grizzlies' games will be broadcast.
"Opening day is what every coach dreams about," said Ewing, who spent six seasons as the head coach at nearby Cal State San Marcos before being hired by Montana. "You look forward to this day as soon as school starts in the fall."
Montana will look a lot different than the team that departed Greeley in early May and the Grizzlies will start an incredibly young team against Saint Louis on Thursday afternoon in the season opener for both the Billikens and Grizzlies.
Montana will have all underclassmen in the starting outfield, all underclassmen in the starting infield and likely throw junior Kaiana Kong, a first-year transfer from Western Washington.
"It's a group that will probably be one of the youngest teams in the country. We know that and we don't care," said Ewing. "Players play. Doesn't matter if you're a freshman or a sixth-year senior. You go out there and let it happen.
"There are going to be some butterflies. We have a lot of kids who will get their first college innings, first college at-bats. Once the dust settles and we knock those things off, this group can just go out and play. This is the point in the season when you let them go a little bit. Do your thing, play your game."
Ewing remade the Montana roster, starting more than a year ago when she signed this season's freshman class. She added more players over the summer.
The Grizzlies won their season opener under Ewing last Feb. 7, 11-4 over Colgate but never did win back-to-back games against Division I opponents. Montana went 1-14 in Big Sky games for the second straight season, then went 0-2 at the Big Sky tournament.
"Last year at this time, I wasn't sleeping through the night," said Ewing. "There is a jump between Division I and Division II. Teams are way deeper. In Division II, teams might be strong one through six in the lineup. At Division I, they are deep one through 15 and can make changes.
"As a staff, we're a lot more prepared for getting our kids prepared."
Montana had statistics last season that didn't hint at much success. The team batted .227 and averaged 3.0 runs per game, the staff had an ERA of 7.88. All three of those numbers ranked in the bottom 10 percent of Division I teams.
Ewing and her staff, through roster turnover and hands-on coaching since early September, went to work raising the offensive numbers while lowing the ERA.
"This group is prepared. We know what we have to do. It's about being able to do our job and not feel pressure," said Ewing. "My job as a coach is to take weight off their shoulders, help them trust their preparation and trust our process.
"A lot of these kids are pretty confident right now, and a confident team can do a lot of things."
Montana will be challenged from the opening pitch on Thursday, facing a Saint Louis team that went 34-24 last season and won the Atlantic-10 tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament.
That followed 31 wins in 2024, 30 wins and an A-10 regular-season title in 2023.
The team had a 3.23 ERA in 2025 and returns lefthanded junior Isabel Royle, who won 13 games last season with a 3.67 ERA.
Leading the SLU offense will be senior catcher Abby Mallo, who batted .363 last season with 20 home runs, which tied for 23rd in the nation. She was second-team NFCA All-Midwest Region as a junior and is already the Saint Louis leader in career home runs with 43.
Wagner went 15-26 last season, UC San Diego 16-32. Both were picked higher in their conference preseason polls than they finished a year ago.
Montana has not played Saint Louis, Wagner or UC San Diego in its history. "This is a great opening weekend for us to get comfortable and get some games underneath us," said Ewing.
"Our hitters are eager to see pitching beside our own. Part of that is holding them back. You're ready, just let the game come to you. You don't have to be super human or someone you're not. You just need to be yourself. Swing at strikes, stay in the strike zone."
Kong will likely start the season opener, or the reason she was recruited from Western Washington, to go up against a pitcher like Royle and give her team a chance.
Sophomore Cameryn Ortega and freshman Audri Elias are expected to make starts this week as well.
More than anything, Ewing's second team has a new mentality. It's more gritty, fighters and competitors from senior to freshmen. Previous Griz teams hoped they would win. This team is expecting to.
"I told the team, we're going to throw the first punch in every game. The other team is going to throw a punch and guess what we're going to do? We're going to respond and come right back," said Ewing, whose team got outscored 48-45 in the first inning last season, 318-105 in the innings that followed.
"Last year, we never had that response. This year we have the mindset that we're coming out swinging and we're going to keep swinging. We're coming for you until they say ball game."
Montana will head to Las Cruces, N.M., and El Paso, Texas, next week, one of its games against Oklahoma. A tournament with a loaded field at Grand Canyon will follow.
"I truly believe with this team that when we step on the field, we believe we're going to win," said Ewing. "It doesn't matter if we're playing Oklahoma, Wagner, Seattle U. It's a matter of doing the little things right and we do the little things way better now than we did."
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