Griz split, finish opening weekend with winning record

Saturday, February 7

San Diego, Calif.

Noon (MT)

Montana

2-2

Wagner

1-3

Montana

Wagner

Griz split, finish opening weekend with winning record

2/7/2026 8:33:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team lost to Wagner, then handed UC San Diego its first loss of the season as the Grizzlies wrapped up their opening weekend of games on Saturday at the La Jolla Invitational at UCSD.

Coming off a Friday sweep, Montana (3-2) opened Saturday with a 6-0 loss to Wagner, getting two-hit by Seahawks lefty Karson Zavala.

The Grizzlies bounced back in a big way, jumping on the Tritons for five runs in the top of the first and rolling to a 10-5 win, UCSD's first loss in four games this season.

"Our conversation between games was that we are too good of a hitting team to be shut out like that," said coach Stef Ewing. "We have to be able to make adjustments faster, in at-bats, pitch to pitch.

"Really proud of the response. They came out swinging. It showed some maturity from a really young group."

Montana had just two hits against Wagner, a pair of singles by Grace Lopez, while striking out nine times, three fewer than the Grizzlies had in their other four games combined.

"They threw a lefty and we really struggled to make an adjustment on the curve ball that she was throwing," said Ewing.

Wagner only had seven hits, all singles, but the Seahawks packed six of them together in the first two innings, going up 6-0 early. Wagner went 5 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

Carah Sweet replaced starter Audri Elias in the bottom of the second. She allowed one hit over Wagner's final four innings of at-bats.

Montana wasted no time getting after UC San Diego, which would go through four pitchers while trying to slow down the Grizzlies.

Montana scored five times on six hits in the top of the first against the Tritons and led the rest of the way, adding two runs in the third, two in the fourth to go up 9-2 and one in the seventh.

In a remarkable display of balance and production, all nine batters who made a plate appearance drove in a run, with Madison Tarrant finishing with a pair of RBIs.

"It was up and down the order. Some people really came through," said Ewing. "We hit a lot of hard balls that they caught. We could have had 20 hits, but they made some great plays."

Montana had 14 hits against the Tritons, the same number the Grizzlies had in Friday's 9-0 shutout of Saint Louis. Montana only had six games last season out of 50 when it had 10 or more hits.

Lopez, 2 for 3 against Wagner, went 4 for 5 against UC San Diego and ended the weekend 10 for 17 with six runs scored. She also went 5 for 5 in stolen base attempts.

"What a weekend she had," said Ewing. "She was on fire in the 2-hole, stealing bases. We had a lot of kids stepping up in a lot of ways."

Mackenzie Bekofsky, Chloe Saxton, Jessica Cherms and Madison Tarrant all had two hits against the Tritons.

"Nice to see that even when they made pitching changes, we were able to swing the bat up and down the line-up," said Ewing. "We played the short game and kind of created some havoc."

Cameryn Ortega got the start and allowed two runs in the bottom of the first, held UCSD hitless in the second and third before giving up a three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth.

She was replaced two batters into the fifth by Kaiana Kong, who allowed one hit over 2 2/3 innings, Ortega and Kong largely quieting a team that had scored 28 runs in its first three games.

"Cam did a nice job and it was nice to see Kong settle in and be who she is and be the pitcher we know she can be," said Ewing, whose two pitchers held UC San Diego to five hits.

At 3-2, Montana is above .500 after opening weekend for the first time since 2022 and for only the fourth time in program history.

"This was a great response and a great way to end the weekend, to be coming home 3-2 and with a lot of confidence," said Ewing.

Montana will head to Las Cruces, N.M., and El Paso, Texas, next weekend for games against Oklahoma, New Mexico State and UTEP.