Montana returns to diamond for SU Invite

The Montana softball team, which hasn't played since Feb. 22, will return to action this weekend when it plays a four-game series at the Seattle Invitational.

What was originally scheduled to be a three-team event is now just two teams playing a series. The Grizzlies (4-11) will play the Redhawks (11-10) four times over three days at Logan Field.

The teams will play a single game on Friday at 6 p.m. (MT), a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. (MT), then a final game on Sunday at 1 p.m. (MT).

North Carolina Central (1-18) was committed to making the trip to Seattle before withdrawing.

Next week Montana will head to the Bay Area for three-game series at both Saint Mary's and Santa Clara.

Coverage: All four games of the Seattle Invitational will be streamed on ESPN+. Every game the rest of the season, home and away, will be available on ESPN+.

Summary: Montana opened the season with a feel-good start, winning three of five games at the La Jolla Invitational in Southern California the first weekend of February.

The Grizzlies batted .297 and had 30 runs and 43 hits over five games while the team's pitching staff posted an improved ERA of 4.53.

The next week, at New Mexico State and UTEP, Montana won only one of five games, but one loss came to Oklahoma and two were by a single run against the Miners.

Then came the trip to Grand Canyon, where the Grizzlies struggled both at the plate (six runs and 19 hits over five games) and in the circle (7.64 ERA, .387 batting average allowed).

Three of Montana's five losses came by shutout, twice in 8-0 run-rule decisions against now 22-0 Grand Canyon. The Grizzlies also face North Florida, which is off to a 19-5 start.

"Prior to going to Arizona, we were really swinging the bats well and our pitchers were doing some things," said second-year coach Stef Ewing.

"Arizona was a tough weekend for us. We really struggled offensively, which never gave us a shot to put much pressure on the other teams' pitchers."

Montana also dropped games against UC Santa Barbara and San Diego at the Purple Classic, getting out-hit 23-9 in those two games, out-scored 13-4.

"When you go back and look at our opponents for our 15 games and see how well they've done, it's a pretty strong schedule, which I think has battle-tested us," said Ewing.

"We definitely needed the weekend off. After some really good days of practice and a couple days off, we're swinging it again.

"What I told our team was this: One bad weekend can't change our path or change our confidence. We've had a really good week of preparation and have a really good game plan going into Seattle."

Seattle, as it has been since coach Geoff Hirai was hired in 2016, is solid again this year, especially at the plate, where the Redhawks are batting .321 and averaging nearly seven runs per game.

On Saturday, Seattle put up 10 runs on No. 9 UCLA at the Judy Garmin Classic in Fullerton, Calif., the Redhawks leading the Bruins going into the fifth inning before falling 16-10.

Seattle, which lost 12-3 in six innings at No. 24 Washington on Tuesday, has a staff ERA of 5.06.

Senior infielder Taylor Fitch is batting .435 and has already hit nine home runs. Junior pitcher Berkley Vance is 4-4 with a 4.46 ERA and five complete games.

Fitch and Vance were two of four Redhawks who made the Preseason All-WCC team, along with Mikee Morris and Karen Spadafora.

The Redhawks went 28-25 a season ago. They were picked fifth out of seven teams, behind Santa Clara, Saint Mary's, Oregon State and Loyola Marymount, in this year's preseason West Coast Conference poll.

Montana will play three-game road series at both Saint Mary's and Santa Clara, the top two teams in the WCC preseason poll, next week.

Montana is 6-9 all-time against Seattle in what has been a competitive series over the years. Thirteen of the teams' 15 games have been decided by three runs or fewer.

The Grizzlies are 0-3 against the Redhawks in Seattle, dropping three games in 2023. The teams have not played since.

Montana notes:

* Grace Lopez, who had nine hits her entire freshman season, leads Montana in batting average at .354. She has 17 hits in 48 at-bats. Lopez had a pair of multi-hit games at GCU's Purple Classic.

* Anna Cockhill (.333), Mackenzie Bekofsky (.325) and Chloe Saxton (.324) also are batting over .300.

* Cockhill had her eight-game hitting streak come to an end against North Florida at the Purple Classic. It was Montana's longest since the 2024 season, when Presley Jantzi had a 10-game streak.

* Saxton hit a home run against UC Santa Barbara at the Purple Classic, her second career home run. Her first came as a freshman, also at GCU Softball Stadium, against the Lopes in 2023.

* Carah Sweet, who has pitched 12 2/3 innings over six relief appearances, has the team's best ERA of 3.32. Cameryn Ortega, who has made a team-high six starts, has a 4.88 ERA.

* Anna Cockhill and Grace Lopez both have five multiple-hit games this season. Cockhill leads the team with three multiple-RBI games.

* Montana's team batting average drifted down to .253 after the Purple Classic. That ranks sixth out of six teams in the Big Sky. The Grizzlies rank fifth in the league in ERA (6.51).

* Grace Lopez ranks second in the Big Sky in stolen bases with six. Anna Cockhill is tied for fourth with four.

* Anna Cockhill is batting .421 with runners on base this season, going 8 for 19. She is 7 for 14 (.500) with runners in scoring position.

* Montana is 4-0 this season when the Grizzlies score first, 0-11 when the opponent scores first.

Upcoming: A challenging road trip to face the top two teams in the WCC preseason poll.

Montana will play a three-game series at Saint Mary's (13-7) next Thursday and Friday, a three-game series at Santa Clara (9-12) on Saturday and Sunday.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Bekofsky

Anna Cockhill

Presley Jantzi

Grace Lopez

Cameryn Ortega

Chloe Saxton

Carah Sweet

University of Montana Athletics