Griz take six-game trip to Bay Area

Thursday, March 12

Moraga, Calif.

2 PM (MT)

Montana

Saint Mary's

3/11/2026 1:18:00 PM | Softball

PDF Game Notes

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team will head to the Bay Area this week for three-game series at both Saint Mary's and Santa Clara, the teams picked second and first, respectively, in the West Coast Conference preseason coaches' poll.

The Grizzlies (4-14) will play a doubleheader at Saint Mary's (14-10) on Thursday, a single game on Friday, a doubleheader at Santa Clara (11-14) on Saturday, a single game on Sunday.

After dealing with rainy conditions last weekend in Seattle, with the final game of the scheduled four-game series canceled, Montana will play under mostly sunny skies on this road trip with temperatures in the upper 60s and low 70s.

Schedule:
Thursday – at Saint Mary's (DH), 2 p.m. (MT)
Friday – at Saint Mary's, 4 p.m. (MT)
Saturday – at Santa Clara (DH), 1 p.m. (MT)
Sunday – at Santa Clara, noon (MT)

Montana will then return to Missoula for its first home games of the season, when it hosts Pacific for a three-game series at Grizzly Softball Field on Friday and Saturday, March 20 and 21.

That will be the start of a 13-game home stand, with the Grizzlies also hosting Seattle, Portland State, Northern Colorado and MSU Billings. Montana also will host Idaho State the final weekend of April to wrap up its 16-game home schedule.

Coverage: The rest of Montana's games this season can be watched on ESPN+ with live stats also available.

Montana at a glance:

The Grizzlies have not won since Feb. 15 and enter the road trip on an eight-game losing streak, but following a frustrating 0-5 trip to Grand Canyon's tournament, Montana played a competitive series at Seattle on Friday and Saturday.

The Grizzlies led 2-0 in the opener, led 2-1 in the sixth inning in Game 2 and jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first in Game 3. The Redhawks would sweep the series with 7-3, 6-3 and 8-7 wins.

"A lot of game-within-the-game stuff is looking better for this team," said coach Stef Ewing. "It's right there. One play, one pitch, one situation goes a bit differently in Seattle and we've got a different result.

"We're playing better softball. We're continuing to climb the mountain. We're not at the top yet but it's right there for this team. They just have to trust what they do and who they are and just go play and not worry about the end result."

In the opener at Seattle, a game that spanned both Friday evening and Saturday afternoon because of a rain suspension, Grace Lopez put Montana up 2-0 in the top of the third, but the Redhawks answered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning and held the lead to the end.

In Game 2, Montana manufactured a run in the top of the fourth to draw even at 1-1. Anna Cockhill led off with a hit-by-pitch. She stole second, advanced to third on a ground out, then scored on another ground out.

Lopez put the Grizzles ahead in the top of the sixth, 2-1, with an RBI triple, but again the Redhawks had an answer, scoring five times in the bottom of the sixth.

Montana took the disappointment from Game 2 and scored five runs in the top of the first in what would be the series finale, with Madison Tarrant hitting her first home run of the season, a three-run shot.

Lopez put the Grizzlies up 6-4 in the top of the second but the Redhawks would score two in the fourth, one in the fifth and one in the sixth to go up 8-6.

Lopez hit a lead-off double to left-center to start the seventh. One batter later, Mackenzie Bekofsky made it 8-7 with an RBI single. But the tying run would remain at first base.

"We were able to score early and we had people come through late. Our situational hitting was better and we were able to throw some great pitches in some really big moments," said Ewing.

"We've got to be able to take care of the ball and put up runs and hit spots and hit corners. It's something this team can do. We just have to be able to do it consistently through seven innings."

Saint Mary's is batting .281 this season with a 4.11 ERA and is a perfect 5-0 at Cottrell Field.

Santa Clara is coming off a 32-win season and a trip to the NCAA tournament last May. The Broncos are batting .254 but have an ERA of 3.80, the team's two primary pitchers holding ERAs of 2.50 and 2.89.

"These are teams we need to compete with," said Ewing. "We need to have competitive at-bats and stick to our game plans and execute. We should have some good weather and good opportunities.

"Saint Mary's has been really tough at home and Santa Clara is better than their record shows. They've played a really tough schedule early on. That team is battle-tested and has their pitching returning from last year, when they went to the NCAA tournament.

"We just have to go out and ball. The thing this team continues to search for is our swag. Some teams when they step on the field, they look really confident. We need to find that. It's not a talent thing. It's not a skill thing. Just keep your confidence and play the game at your pace."

Montana will then return home and be in Missoula for a while, not leaving again until a series at Sacramento State on April 10 and 11.

"We're going to put the suitcases away for a little bit," said Ewing. "It's going to be really good for this team to get into a routine of being at home, getting multiple lifts in, going to class consistently, the things the gauntlet of the season puts on you with juggling everything."

Lopez continues breakout sophomore season: Grace Lopez, who had nine hits in 45 at-bats as a freshman, continued her season-long rampage at Seattle over the weekend, going 5 for 11 and hitting for the cycle in the series with a single, two doubles, a triple and a home run.

From her No. 2 spot in the batting order, she leads the team in both batting average (.373) and slugging percentage (.610) and has scored a team-high 13 runs. She has struck only four times in 59 at-bats.

She leads the team with six multiple-hit games in 2026. She has a four-hit game, two three-hit games and three two-hit games.

"The game has really slowed down for Grace. She's been so consistent in the 2-hole for us, moving runners, getting on base, stealing bases, hitting for power," said Ewing.

"You see that with players, where all of a sudden they look calm, cool and collected. They just go out and play. Grace is doing that right now. She continues to do really good things for us. You love to see that from a player who has put in a lot of work."

Montana notes:

* Kaiana Kong had her best start of the season in Game 2 at Seattle. She limited the high-scoring Redhawks to one run and six hits over five innings before getting replaced in the sixth after allowing the run that tied the game at 2-2. Kong had a series ERA of 4.42.

* Carah Sweet made her first start as a Grizzly in the opener at Seattle, pitching three innings on Friday evening, two more after the game resumed on Saturday, allowing five hits over five innings.

* Madison Tarrants's three-run home run in the top of the first in Game 3 at Seattle was her first home run of the season, the third of her career.

* Mackenzie Bekofsky closed out Montana's series at Seattle with a three-hit game, her second of the season. She also drove in two runs, her third multiple-RBI game of the season. Her 13 RBIs are tied for the team lead with Anna Cockhill.

* JoJo Christiaens closed out the Seattle series with three hits in the final two games. She went 2 for 4 in the finale, her third multiple-hit game of the season.

* Freshman Brianna Gutierrez had her first collegiate multiple-hit game in Game 2 at Seattle.

* Anna Cockhill has been hit by a pitch six times this season, twice as many as any other player in the Big Sky. … Cockhill had her 32nd career stolen base in Game 2 at Seattle. She continues to close in on the program record of 39, held by Gabby Martinez (2015-18).

More on Saint Mary's:

* The Gaels went 30-24 in 2024 and won the WCC, their first conference title since 2012. They went 28-23 last season, tying for first, giving them consecutive winning seasons for the first time in a program history that dates back to 1988.

* Leading the program turnaround has been eighth-year coach Sonja Garnett.

* The Gaels went 1-3 at the Silicon Valley Invite last weekend in San Jose. They went 0-2 against San Jose State, 1-1 against Fresno State.

* Hannah Ferguson, who missed the 2025 season with an injury after earning first-team All-WCC honors in 2024, is batting .406. She leads the team in hits (26) and runs scored (20).

* Junior Braxton Brown is batting .377 with five home runs and a team-high 22 RBIs.

* Saint Mary's had two of the four pitchers voted to the preseason All-WCC team. Senior Odhi Vasquez is 6-2 with a 2.98 ERA. Junior Mia Nishikawa is 4-2 with a 3.93 ERA.

History: Montana is 2-4 all-time against Saint Mary's. The teams played two games in Boise in 2015, two games in Sacramento and Davis in 2022, and two games in Bakersfield in 2024.

More on Santa Clara:

* The Broncos, playing softball since 1979, have an all-time program record of 676-1,591. Two of their most successful seasons have come in the last two years, when Santa Clara won 30 and 32 games under coach Gina Carbonatto.

* Santa Clara advanced to last spring's NCAA tournament, its first-ever.

* Grand Canyon, which twice defeated Montana 8-0 in five innings at GCU's Purple Classic, is now 27-0. Two of the Lopes' tightest games came against Santa Clara, 5-4 and 1-0 wins. At that same GCU Kickoff Classic, the Broncos swept Weber State, last year's Big Sky tournament champion.

* Four of Santa Clara's other losses have come against ranked opponents. … Santa Clara is 4-7 at home this season.

* Sophomore Cari Ferguson was named to the preseason All-WCC team. She has five wins and a 2.50 ERA. Freshman Ellison Schroeder has four wins and a 2.89 ERA.

* Junior Cairah Curran, in the same James Campbell High (Hawaii) graduating class as Montana pitcher Kaiana Kong, was last year's WCC Player of the Year. She is batting a team-leading .378 and leads the team in runs scored.

History: Montana is 6-0 all-time against Santa Clara, with five of those meetings coming between 2016 and '19. The teams have not met since 2022, when the Grizzlies defeated the Broncos 2-1 in Sacramento.

Upcoming: Home games, at long last.