Photo by: Coral Scoles-Coburn/University of Montana
Chloë Saxton has been here for it all
4/23/2026 5:45:00 PM | Softball
Chloë Saxton earned her undergraduate degree in marketing last May, wrapping it up in just three years on campus, as people like her are wired to do. She could have called it good, headed home to Seattle, moved on with her life after three seasons of college softball.
But then she wouldn't have been there on Friday, in Game 2 of Montana's series at Weber State, standing on second after a leadoff double in the top of the seventh, her team down a run, wouldn't have been the first player to reach home plate on JoJo Christiaens' go-ahead three-run home run.
She wouldn't have been at home plate to welcome Christiaens back, the team's semicircle turning into a mosh pit, the excitement unable to be contained, wouldn't have floated with the rest of them back to the dugout, only to see Madison Tarrant hit a home run, then Jessica Cherms.
Once trailing 6-0, Montana led 11-6, a top-10 win in program history, maybe even top five because of what it signified, that a program that had been a punching bag, easy wins other league teams counted on to juice their own conference record, was now hitting back.
The Grizzlies would win the next day as well, scoring 11 more runs, sweeping the series and moving them into a tie for first place in the Big Sky Conference with only one weekend of league games to go.
This may have caught you by surprise, this talk of winning streaks and series sweeps and potential conference championships – not usual for Montana in general but unusual for this program – but she knew it was coming, and quickly. That's why she came back without giving it a second thought.
Even though Montana struggled to an 8-42 record a season ago in coach Stef Ewing's first year leading the Grizzlies, when Saxton was a junior, that was just the public-facing report card. They all knew what was happening behind the scenes, foundational stuff, transformative even.
"The culture of our team started to shift," said Saxton of the 2025 season. "Part of that was new classes coming in and girls wanting to set a different tone. Practices looked different, what we were doing on and off the field looked different.
"Even though it wasn't producing as many results as we wanted, it was going to eventually. It was valuable and meaningful work on and off the field."
The juxtaposition of her career, how it started and how it's ending, would make for a rags-to-riches storybook, one most people would think could only happen in the imagination of a fantasy writer.
Contrast Game 2 on Friday with the start of Saxton's career, when she arrived as a freshman and was a first-year player on a team that would open the season 0-20, the 19th and 20th losses coming in San Diego, by scores of 11-0 to USD and 16-0 to San Diego State.
When Montana opened this season in the same city, going 3-2 at UC San Diego's tournament in early February, it was Saxton who spoke up, who told her teammates what just a little bit of success finally tasted like after enduring 112 losses her first three seasons.
"She shared with the team that that was the first time she had experienced something like that," said Ewing. "She's been able to experience a lot of firsts this year. You love that for a kid who is ending her career, that they get to go out playing their best softball."
Montana won six Division I games when Saxton was a freshman, five of those wins coming by a single run. After a second consecutive last-place finish for the Grizzlies when Saxton was a sophomore, a coaching change was made.
"When I first found out, it was a lot of unknown, a little scared, a little excited for what might come," said Saxton, who waited out the coaching search mostly in Seattle, the distance from her teammates making it even more tense.
"The waiting was pretty brutal. I kept asking my teammates who were in Missoula, have you heard anything?"
Finally, the search had found what the committee was looking for: Stef Ewing, head coach, Cal State San Marcos. CSUSMCougars.com probably set a record for late-June web traffic as everyone asked – who? – then started doing their own due diligence, just to make sure.
"I looked into her a lot. I did a lot of digging," said Saxton. "I was very impressed by her when I saw how successful she was. It was clear she could rally a team. I immediately wanted to talk to her and hear what she was like."
That would come. Those calls were important but also one of 1,000 things that Ewing had on her to-do list now that she was taking over her first Division I program, one in need of a total makeover. Finally, a call from a phone with a … 480 area code?
A Phoenix area code for a coach who spent three seasons coaching at New Mexico State, then six in San Marcos and was now heading to the 406? Didn't matter. It was the voice on the other end of that number that hit Saxton right where she needed to be reached.
"You could hear it over the phone how charismatic she is," said Saxton. "We talked for a while. She asked questions, I asked questions. I was just smiling from ear to ear the whole time. As soon as we were done, I ran downstairs to my parents, she's so cool! She's awesome! I was really excited."
Not hired until late June, Ewing pieced her first Montana team together as best she could, then dug in, the gardener just as worried about the soil, the roots, what could become of this program over time if she tended to the right things from the start.
There were moments this year, signs of growth, the 3-2 start in San Diego, the 8-5 win at New Mexico State, the 5-3 victory at Santa Clara, losses that came by eight runs a year ago now games that were winnable if Montana … could … just … fully … emerge.
"In the games when we were close, we had one or two parts of our game that were really solid," said Saxton. "Some games our pitching was really solid, some games our hitting and defense. It was just a matter of bringing all the parts together."
Then, it happened. They became like a flower in the spring, the one you see becoming more fully formed every day, every time you turn around. It's been beautiful to behold: a seven-game winning streak, breakthroughs seemingly every game, every series, historical records crumpled up and tossed aside.
Imagine the scene last weekend in Ogden, Ewing just coming out and saying it to her team: We should sweep this opponent. Coaches aren't supposed to say things like that, are they? Isn't it one pitch at a time? Forget that. She wanted them to know Montana was good enough to take the whole thing.
It's her gift, knowing just what her team needs to hear from her at any given point of its season, of its development. And her team last week needed to hear it: they're good, really good. So play like it. Act like it. Step on the field like it. Believe it with everything you've got. Then just play the game.
Her words didn't put pressure on the Grizzlies, they lifted the team to new heights.
"She never fails to show her unwavering belief in us," said Saxton. "Her ability to light a fire under us when we need it has been really important this season, especially the last few series. I love listening to her talk."
When Saxton was a freshman, she started at third base the day Montana dropped to 0-20, when San Diego State scored 11 times in a single inning against the Grizzlies on its way to a 16-0 victory, then the largest margin of defeat in program history.
Less than a week ago, Saxton, now a senior, the team's only senior, started a rally that kicked off a half-inning party in the visiting dugout at Wildcat Softball Field, the turnabout long hoped for, Saxton there for the whole thing, a program going from losing as default to winning as the expectation.
"It was electric. Everybody was having so much fun. It was great to go into that inning and not see any nervousness in the dugout," Saxton said. "There was so much belief, so much excitement."
She was Montana's best hitter late in the season in 2025 and is batting .300 as a senior, this fighter who, had her multiple shoulder surgeries taken place earlier in her career, would have been advised to medically retire.
She can play the infield if she has to but it takes its toll, forces Ewing to rest her, which takes her bat out of the lineup. So, Saxton soldiers on in the No. 2 spot in the order, the designated-player assignment extending a career that is worthy of a celebration, which arrives on Sunday, on Senior Day.
"It's a story of resilience. I can't tell you how many hours she spends getting treatment on her shoulder so she can be on the field," said Ewing. "It's a great story. This isn't going to stop me.
"I'm lucky I got to coach her for two years. I wish I could have been able to coach her longer. It's been a blessing to have a kid like that in our program. She is a team-first person, someone who really cares about this team and this program."
This weekend she gets the best send-off possible, from 0-20, from multiple last-place Big Sky finishes to the opportunity to play for a conference championship in her final home games.
The younger players – and there are a lot of them – are excited for good reason. But this is hitting Saxton differently. You can't fully appreciate the sunshine if you haven't first spent time in the darkness. Saxton, and this program, was definitely there. For too long.
"It means a bit more," she said. "The girls who didn't experience the same thing are still excited. It's not that it means more to me in that sense, but it's such a change from previous seasons. I've never been in this position, so it's exciting, it's new, it's fun."
Whatever happens this weekend against Idaho State, Montana will still head to Pocatello one week later for the Big Sky Conference Championship, either looking to add a tournament title to a championship won this weekend or wanting to make things right.
It's been a while, this program now holding the highest of expectations once again. "However her story ends in these next few weeks, it's going to be a great ending," said Ewing.
An ending for one phase of her life, the rest of it just beginning, Saxton soon to be armed with an MBA and zero doubts that she made the right decision stay and give it one more year. "There was no doubt in my mind I wanted another chance to compete again."
A champion off the field, now with an opportunity to do the same thing on the field, a career arc unlike any in program history.
But then she wouldn't have been there on Friday, in Game 2 of Montana's series at Weber State, standing on second after a leadoff double in the top of the seventh, her team down a run, wouldn't have been the first player to reach home plate on JoJo Christiaens' go-ahead three-run home run.
She wouldn't have been at home plate to welcome Christiaens back, the team's semicircle turning into a mosh pit, the excitement unable to be contained, wouldn't have floated with the rest of them back to the dugout, only to see Madison Tarrant hit a home run, then Jessica Cherms.
Once trailing 6-0, Montana led 11-6, a top-10 win in program history, maybe even top five because of what it signified, that a program that had been a punching bag, easy wins other league teams counted on to juice their own conference record, was now hitting back.
The Grizzlies would win the next day as well, scoring 11 more runs, sweeping the series and moving them into a tie for first place in the Big Sky Conference with only one weekend of league games to go.
This may have caught you by surprise, this talk of winning streaks and series sweeps and potential conference championships – not usual for Montana in general but unusual for this program – but she knew it was coming, and quickly. That's why she came back without giving it a second thought.
Even though Montana struggled to an 8-42 record a season ago in coach Stef Ewing's first year leading the Grizzlies, when Saxton was a junior, that was just the public-facing report card. They all knew what was happening behind the scenes, foundational stuff, transformative even.
"The culture of our team started to shift," said Saxton of the 2025 season. "Part of that was new classes coming in and girls wanting to set a different tone. Practices looked different, what we were doing on and off the field looked different.
"Even though it wasn't producing as many results as we wanted, it was going to eventually. It was valuable and meaningful work on and off the field."
The juxtaposition of her career, how it started and how it's ending, would make for a rags-to-riches storybook, one most people would think could only happen in the imagination of a fantasy writer.
Contrast Game 2 on Friday with the start of Saxton's career, when she arrived as a freshman and was a first-year player on a team that would open the season 0-20, the 19th and 20th losses coming in San Diego, by scores of 11-0 to USD and 16-0 to San Diego State.
When Montana opened this season in the same city, going 3-2 at UC San Diego's tournament in early February, it was Saxton who spoke up, who told her teammates what just a little bit of success finally tasted like after enduring 112 losses her first three seasons.
"She shared with the team that that was the first time she had experienced something like that," said Ewing. "She's been able to experience a lot of firsts this year. You love that for a kid who is ending her career, that they get to go out playing their best softball."
Montana won six Division I games when Saxton was a freshman, five of those wins coming by a single run. After a second consecutive last-place finish for the Grizzlies when Saxton was a sophomore, a coaching change was made.
"When I first found out, it was a lot of unknown, a little scared, a little excited for what might come," said Saxton, who waited out the coaching search mostly in Seattle, the distance from her teammates making it even more tense.
"The waiting was pretty brutal. I kept asking my teammates who were in Missoula, have you heard anything?"
Finally, the search had found what the committee was looking for: Stef Ewing, head coach, Cal State San Marcos. CSUSMCougars.com probably set a record for late-June web traffic as everyone asked – who? – then started doing their own due diligence, just to make sure.
"I looked into her a lot. I did a lot of digging," said Saxton. "I was very impressed by her when I saw how successful she was. It was clear she could rally a team. I immediately wanted to talk to her and hear what she was like."
That would come. Those calls were important but also one of 1,000 things that Ewing had on her to-do list now that she was taking over her first Division I program, one in need of a total makeover. Finally, a call from a phone with a … 480 area code?
A Phoenix area code for a coach who spent three seasons coaching at New Mexico State, then six in San Marcos and was now heading to the 406? Didn't matter. It was the voice on the other end of that number that hit Saxton right where she needed to be reached.
"You could hear it over the phone how charismatic she is," said Saxton. "We talked for a while. She asked questions, I asked questions. I was just smiling from ear to ear the whole time. As soon as we were done, I ran downstairs to my parents, she's so cool! She's awesome! I was really excited."
Not hired until late June, Ewing pieced her first Montana team together as best she could, then dug in, the gardener just as worried about the soil, the roots, what could become of this program over time if she tended to the right things from the start.
There were moments this year, signs of growth, the 3-2 start in San Diego, the 8-5 win at New Mexico State, the 5-3 victory at Santa Clara, losses that came by eight runs a year ago now games that were winnable if Montana … could … just … fully … emerge.
"In the games when we were close, we had one or two parts of our game that were really solid," said Saxton. "Some games our pitching was really solid, some games our hitting and defense. It was just a matter of bringing all the parts together."
Then, it happened. They became like a flower in the spring, the one you see becoming more fully formed every day, every time you turn around. It's been beautiful to behold: a seven-game winning streak, breakthroughs seemingly every game, every series, historical records crumpled up and tossed aside.
Imagine the scene last weekend in Ogden, Ewing just coming out and saying it to her team: We should sweep this opponent. Coaches aren't supposed to say things like that, are they? Isn't it one pitch at a time? Forget that. She wanted them to know Montana was good enough to take the whole thing.
It's her gift, knowing just what her team needs to hear from her at any given point of its season, of its development. And her team last week needed to hear it: they're good, really good. So play like it. Act like it. Step on the field like it. Believe it with everything you've got. Then just play the game.
Her words didn't put pressure on the Grizzlies, they lifted the team to new heights.
"She never fails to show her unwavering belief in us," said Saxton. "Her ability to light a fire under us when we need it has been really important this season, especially the last few series. I love listening to her talk."
When Saxton was a freshman, she started at third base the day Montana dropped to 0-20, when San Diego State scored 11 times in a single inning against the Grizzlies on its way to a 16-0 victory, then the largest margin of defeat in program history.
Less than a week ago, Saxton, now a senior, the team's only senior, started a rally that kicked off a half-inning party in the visiting dugout at Wildcat Softball Field, the turnabout long hoped for, Saxton there for the whole thing, a program going from losing as default to winning as the expectation.
"It was electric. Everybody was having so much fun. It was great to go into that inning and not see any nervousness in the dugout," Saxton said. "There was so much belief, so much excitement."
She was Montana's best hitter late in the season in 2025 and is batting .300 as a senior, this fighter who, had her multiple shoulder surgeries taken place earlier in her career, would have been advised to medically retire.
She can play the infield if she has to but it takes its toll, forces Ewing to rest her, which takes her bat out of the lineup. So, Saxton soldiers on in the No. 2 spot in the order, the designated-player assignment extending a career that is worthy of a celebration, which arrives on Sunday, on Senior Day.
"It's a story of resilience. I can't tell you how many hours she spends getting treatment on her shoulder so she can be on the field," said Ewing. "It's a great story. This isn't going to stop me.
"I'm lucky I got to coach her for two years. I wish I could have been able to coach her longer. It's been a blessing to have a kid like that in our program. She is a team-first person, someone who really cares about this team and this program."
This weekend she gets the best send-off possible, from 0-20, from multiple last-place Big Sky finishes to the opportunity to play for a conference championship in her final home games.
The younger players – and there are a lot of them – are excited for good reason. But this is hitting Saxton differently. You can't fully appreciate the sunshine if you haven't first spent time in the darkness. Saxton, and this program, was definitely there. For too long.
"It means a bit more," she said. "The girls who didn't experience the same thing are still excited. It's not that it means more to me in that sense, but it's such a change from previous seasons. I've never been in this position, so it's exciting, it's new, it's fun."
Whatever happens this weekend against Idaho State, Montana will still head to Pocatello one week later for the Big Sky Conference Championship, either looking to add a tournament title to a championship won this weekend or wanting to make things right.
It's been a while, this program now holding the highest of expectations once again. "However her story ends in these next few weeks, it's going to be a great ending," said Ewing.
An ending for one phase of her life, the rest of it just beginning, Saxton soon to be armed with an MBA and zero doubts that she made the right decision stay and give it one more year. "There was no doubt in my mind I wanted another chance to compete again."
A champion off the field, now with an opportunity to do the same thing on the field, a career arc unlike any in program history.
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