Tigers take high-scoring finale

Sunday, March 22

Missoula, Mont.

11 AM

Montana

5-22

Pacific

12-20

Pacific

Montana

Photo by: Ryan Brennecke / University of Montana

3/22/2026 4:17:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

It was with mixed emotions that Montana softball coach Stef Ewing looked over the final box score from her team's game against Pacific on Sunday at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula, the series finale after the Tigers won twice on Saturday.

How could she not love the 12 runs, the third-most scored by her team in two seasons as head coach of the Grizzlies? How could she not be excited about the team's 14 hits that matched a season high and gave her team 24 in the series' final two games?

Over those two games, Montana went 24 for 65 (.369) with fourteen of those hits going for extra bases, with 10 doubles, a triple and three home runs.

But then she saw the four errors committed on Sunday, the five unearned runs allowed, little things that made a big difference as Pacific was able to leave town with a 13-12 victory and a series sweep.

"I'm gutted that the final score is what it is because there were so many opportunities where it could have been different," she said. "But sometimes you play really well and don't get the result you want.

"We checked a lot of boxes today. This was a big step forward for a team this young that continues to just battle and go through it."

The Grizzlies led at only one point on Sunday, Montana taking a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the second.

After Pacific went up 2-0 in the top of the first on a pair of RBI doubles, Montana made it a 2-1 game in the bottom half of the inning when Chloe Saxton took Alexa Lewis, who pitched a two-hit shutout in the opening game of the series, over the fence in left.

Lewis wouldn't make it through two innings on Sunday.

"We talked today about keeping your head down and cherishing every out," said Ewing. "I feel like we did that, especially on offense. We had quality at-bats and continued to put pressure on them."

Montana scored five runs on six hits in the bottom of the second to chase Lewis. Brianna Gutierrez hit a two-run double to left, Grace Lopez had an RBI double and Anna Cockhill hit an RBI triple down the right-field line as the Grizzlies went up 6-2.

The top of the third will be the teaching inning for Ewing as she leads her team into a home series with Seattle on Monday and Tuesday and into the start of league next weekend with a home series against Portland State.

The Tigers scored eight runs on just four hits while facing four Montana pitchers in the half-inning. There were two walks, a wild pitch, a hit by pitch and an infield error that came with two outs and was followed by four unearned runs, including a three-run home run.

When the third out had finally been made, Pacific had turned a 6-2 deficit into a 10-6 lead.

"We've got to clean some things up. We're still making some mistakes on defense that gave them extra bases and those extra bases turned into runs," said Ewing.

In the bottom of the fourth, Montana struck back, scoring four times to pull even at 10-10. Lopez had an RBI double, Mackenzie Bekofsky an RBI double and JoJo Christiaens a two-run single through the right side.

"I love this team's fight. I love the way they go after it," said Ewing. "We continued to fight today and throw punch after punch and that's what I've asked them to do."

It was Montana's fourth pitcher of the day, Kaiana Kong, who finally settled things for Montana defensively, holding the Tigers to one unearned run over the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

"I thought Kong stepped up in a big way for us," said Ewing.

Montana had just one hit in the fifth and sixth innings, a double by Lopez, who went 3 for 5 on the day to raise her season average to .404. She has gone 13 for 23 over the team's last six games.

The Grizzlies, trailing 11-10, got two quick outs in the top of the seventh before allowing an RBI double and an RBI single, runs that would prove huge as the Tigers took a 13-10 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

With one out and one on in the bottom of the seventh, Gutierrez hit a no-doubt, two-run home run to left that made it 13-12. It capped a two-hit, four-RBI game for the freshman.

"She swung the bat well all weekend and just missed a couple. The break finally came for her and she squared one up," said Ewing.

"She was like that all fall, so we know it's there for her. That's why we continue to put her out there. You could see it in practice. The swing just looks better. We've told her attack, attack, attack. She did a much better job this series of just attacking pitches."

The game ended with a ground out and strikeout.

Lopez and Christiaens both had three-hit games, the second straight for Lopez, a career first for Christiaens, while Saxton and Gutierrez both had two hits. Saxton scored three times.

Montana (5-22) will start a three-game series against Seattle (14-13) on Monday with a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. The teams will play a third game at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Redhawks will be traveling to Missoula from Pocatello, where they lost three times to Idaho State on Saturday and Sunday, losing 7-6 in 12 innings in the opener before falling 2-1 and 9-1 in five innings.

Seattle, one of the nation's better offensive teams, had only been run-ruled twice previously this season, against No. 6 Nebraska and No. 24 Washington.

"They are going to come in hungry, so we have to be ready to go," said Ewing, whose team went 0-3 against the Redhawks in Seattle two weekends ago, losing 7-3, 6-3 and 8-7.

"We know from the three games we played against them that it's going to be a battle. We know they are going to bring it. They are going to swing it and we'll need to swing it too."

Griz drop a pair as homestand opens

Saturday, March 21

Montana opens home stand with Tigers, Redhawks

Tuesday, March 17

Griz close road trip with 5-3 win

Sunday, March 15

Montana falls twice as series with Santa Clara opens

Saturday, March 14

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Mar 23 (Mon)

1 PM

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Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Mulcahey, Carley (1-1)

L: Kong, Kaiana (2-6)

Pacific

Batting:

2B: Capello, Allie 3 ; Hayes, Jordan 1 ; Garrett, Kylee 1 ; Clifford, Peyton 1

HR: Capello, Allie 1 ; Adams, Kaylah 1

RBI: Capello, Allie 6 ; Adams, Kaylah 3 ; Hayes, Jordan 1 ; Garrett, Kylee 1 ; Clifford, Peyton 1

SH: Maciel, Katelyn 1 ; Garrett, Kylee 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Silvestre, Olivia 3 ; Tagalog, Zaedi 2 ; Capello, Allie 4 ; Adams, Kaylah 1 ; Hayes, Jordan 1 ; Garrett, Kylee 1 ; Clifford, Peyton 1

SB: Silvestre, Olivia 1 ; Tagalog, Zaedi 2

HBP: Silvestre, Olivia 2

Montana

Batting:

2B: Lopez, Grace 3 ; Bekofsky, Mackenzie 1 ; Gutierrez, Brianna 1

3B: Cockhill, Anna 1

HR: Saxton, Chloe 1 ; Gutierrez, Brianna 1

RBI: Lopez, Grace 2 ; Saxton, Chloe 2 ; Cockhill, Anna 1 ; Bekofsky, Mackenzie 1 ; Christiaens, JoJo 2 ; Gutierrez, Brianna 4

Base Running:

RUNS: Lopez, Grace 2 ; Saxton, Chloe 3 ; Bekofsky, Mackenzie 1 ; Christiaens, JoJo 1 ; Tarrant, Madison 1 ; Puttler, Ava 1 ; Gutierrez, Brianna 2 ; Cherms, Jessica 1