Griz open series with doubleheader sweep

Monday, March 23

Missoula, Mont.

1 PM

Montana

6-22

Seattle

14-14

Seattle

Montana

Photo by: Tommy Martino/University of Montana

3/23/2026 8:41:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

JoJo Christiaens started it and JoJo Christiaens finished it on Monday as the Montana softball team had a breakout afternoon at Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

The sophomore hit her first collegiate home run, a three-run shot to left, in the bottom of the first in Game 1 against Seattle and hit a walk-off single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh in Game 2 as Montana opened its three-game series against the Redhawks with a doubleheader sweep.

The Grizzlies won the opener 7-5 and came back from a 4-0 deficit to win the late game 6-5.

The performance came from a team that started the day with a record of 5-22 after a frustrating three-game sweep at the hands of Pacific over the weekend and later learned they would be facing the Redhawks without Grace Lopez, she of the .404 batting average.

And then there was the issue of taking on Seattle, one of the better teams in the region, one that had swept Montana in a three-game series in Washington less than three weeks ago.

"These kids just believe," said second-year coach Stef Ewing. "Coming off yesterday, they could have come out here with their head down. They just know it's right there and believe.

"We came out today with this feeling of, it's going to go our way today. We said we're going to go toe to toe with them until they say ball game, and we did it twice today."

It couldn't have started much better, with Christiaens hitting a no-doubter in the bottom of the first of Game 1 to put Montana up 3-0.

Christiaens had five hits over the final two games of the Pacific series, then added three more hits on Monday. Over the last four games she is 8 for 15 with seven runs batted in.

"Playing at home plays a big part of it. Obviously I'm more comfortable here," she said. "And I've been kind of thinking less. At the beginning of the season I was completely in my head, trying to change everything.

"This week I found my swing again and stopped complicating things."

After Seattle tied it in the top of the fourth, Montana retook the lead in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Brianna Gutierrez. The Grizzlies went up 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by freshman Kailee Mejia, who made her long-awaited season debut on Monday.

With the game tied at 5-5 going to the bottom of the sixth, it was the bottom of the Grizzlies' order that came up huge.

Gracyn Graviette hit a lead-off single and Gutierrez followed with a walk. They were pushed ahead one base on a sacrifice bunt by No. 9 hitter Jessica Cherms, flipping the roster over.

Lopez had been batting lead-off for Montana. With her sitting out, the role returned to the capable hands of Anna Cockhill, who singled to right to drive in two and make it 7-5.

"With the depth of our line-up, putting pressure on an opponent is something we know we can do," said Ewing. "Today was the first time all year I can say we put it all together. We had a lot of people come through.

"You could see the moment wasn't too big. They got in the box and were composed and confident and ready to attack. When you can put pressure on pitchers one through nine, that's a big deal because there are no easy outs."

Freshman Audri Elias got the start in Game 1 and navigated her way through 25 batters, pitching with runners on base every inning, allowing a handful of runs but keeping the Redhawks in check.

The game's big moment came in the top of the sixth, when the first two batters reached base against Elias, on a single and an RBI double. That had Ewing calling for Carah Sweet, who struck out the first batter she faced. She ended the inning getting a fly out to left.

After Montana went up 7-5, Sweet faced four batters in the top of the seventh to collect her first win as a Grizzly.

"Audri did her job and kept us in the game, and Carah was awesome in relief," said Ewing. "That's all we're asking people to be able to do."

All those good vibes dissipated quickly in Game 2, when Seattle jumped on Montana for three runs on four hits and an error in the top of the first.

With Redhawk starter Berkley Vance holding Montana to a single hit through four innings, it looked like a Monday split might be as good as the Grizzlies were going to be able to do.

"She was doing a really good job of sawing us off and getting us to pop up on that up-and-in pitch and the rise ball she was throwing," said Ewing.

"We gave the girls two options of what we could do in terms of adjustments. It was so awesome to see them do it and get confident in it and continue to pass the bat."

Trailing 4-0 going into the bottom of the fifth, Montana scored four runs on five hits to pull even.

Again, it was the bottom of the line-up setting the table for the top of the order. Madison Tarrant had a lead-off single to right-center and Cherms had a double to left-center, putting runners on second and third with two outs for Cockhill.

She singled sharply up the middle to make it 4-2 and Chloe Saxton hit the game's next pitch over the fence in left to tie it.

"We just continue to play and not use things that don't go our way as setbacks. We talk about staying pitch to pitch. We did a great job today of trying to win as many pitches as we could and bouncing back if a pitch didn't go our way," said Ewing.

"We had kids come through and really barrel some balls."

Seattle answered immediately, hitting a home run of its own, a solo blast, to go up 5-4 in the top of the sixth off Cameryn Ortega, who pitched brilliantly in relief.

She came on in the top of the second with bases loaded and nobody out and emerged without a run allowed, getting an infield pop-up, then a clutch double play, with a fly out to right and Mackenzie Bekofsky gunning down a runner at home for the final out.

After she gave up the solo home run in the top of the sixth, she got a visit in the circle from Ewing. Ortega then set down five of the final six batters she faced, giving Montana a chance.

"She was just composed, calm, cool and collected," said Ewing. "We hadn't had that mindset: we gave up one but we're going to be okay. All our pitchers today did a great job of staying pitch to pitch and not letting a hit get them rattled. Cam was outstanding."

Montana tied it in the bottom of the sixth, with Christiaens doubling to right-center and Gutierrez following with an RBI double to make it 5-5.

After Ortega pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, Montana finally got the big break the Grizzlies had been waiting for, when the potential third out was popped up in the infield, but miscommunication allowed it to land for an error, bringing Christiaens to the plate.

"When we came in in the middle of the seventh, I said, we're going to get it done right now," said Ewing. "The pressure is on them. Let's do it."

And Christiaens did, lining one back up the middle to walk it off and give Ortega her third win of the season.

The teams will wrap up their three-game series with a Tuesday finale at 11 a.m.