Montana wraps up 14-game homestand with two more wins

Tuesday, April 7

Missoula, Mont.

Noon

Montana

13-24

MSU Billings

3-33

MSU Billings

Montana

Photo by: Casandra Evans/University of Montana

Montana wraps up 14-game homestand with two more wins

4/7/2026 6:12:00 PM | Softball

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team wrapped up its 14-game homestand with a doubleheader sweep of MSU Billings on Tuesday afternoon at a sunny but windy Grizzly Softball Field in Missoula.

The Grizzlies (14-24) won 8-0 and 9-1, both games completed in five innings and in less than 90 minutes, to finish the homestand 9-5.

Montana opened its home schedule with three losses to Pacific, the last two coming by one run, then went 9-2 over its last 11 games, including series sweeps of Seattle and Portland State.

On Tuesday, the Grizzlies batted .419 and only allowed one run, that coming on a wild pitch, with three pitchers combining to strike out 10.

"This shows the maturity of our team. We came in with the expectation that we'd take two, get in and get out, and we did that," said second-year coach Stef Ewing. "It shows we're moving along."

Cameryn Ortega held Seattle down over six innings of relief on March 23 but had an ERA north of 11 over her first three appearances to start Montana's Big Sky schedule.

She got the start in Game 1 on Tuesday and got her groove back, limiting the Yellowjackets to four hits over five innings.

The only trouble she had came in the top of the fourth, when the first two batters she faced got to her for singles, putting two on with nobody out.

She answered with a swinging strikeout for the first out, a swinging strikeout for the second out and another swinging strikeout to close the inning down hard.

She collected her fourth win of the season by striking out five and working five innings on 69 pitches.

"We wanted to get Cam going. She's been our rock all season," said Ewing. "We knew (her recent outings) were just a blip and that she was going to come back from it.

"We need her to just be her. I love the way she threw today."

Anna Cockhill had what would be the game-winning hit, a solo home run in the bottom of the first that opened the scoring and extended her hitting streak to 12 games.

Kaci Kiblen had an RBI double in the second to make it 2-0, freshman Kailee Mejia hit her first collegiate home run as part of a three-run fourth.

Montana walked it off in the bottom of the fifth, scoring three more times. JoJo Christiaens had an RBI double, Madison Tarrant an RBI single and Kaiana Kong a game-ending RBI single to left.

Montana wasted no time jumping on MSU Billings in Game 2, scoring six runs in the bottom of the first, the first three runs coming on a home run by Christiaens.

Over Montana's last three games, Christiaens is 5 for 9 with four extra-base hits, eight runs batted in and six runs scored.

Mejia, who didn't play her first game until March 23, is 6 for 9 the last three games and is now batting .417 over her first 24 at-bats of the season.

"Being able to lengthen the line-up has been huge for us," said Ewing. "You have to be able to put pressure on pitchers no matter the inning or what part of the line-up you're in."

Brianna Gutierrez had a two-run double in the bottom of the first in Game 2. Freshman Kodi Allred had her first collegiate hit, a single up the middle, and Kiblen hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-0.

The scene is now playing out on continuous loop in front of the Montana dugout, one player returning after an at-bat and passing on knowledge learned about the opposing pitcher to the next hitter.

"The things we've been telling the team, they are now saying to each other in those player-to-player conversations," said Ewing. "That's maturity and growth.

"The best teams are player-led and this team is becoming player-led. That's why they're doing what they're doing, because it's coming from a peer. We're doing things good teams do."

Carah Sweet got the start in Game 2 and allowed three hits over three innings. Because the game wrapped up in five innings, she got the win, her fifth in the last 15 days.

Audri Elias pitched the last two innings, striking out the side in the fourth and setting MSUB down in order in the fifth, six up, six down.

"We wanted Audri to get confident. She got her change-up going today," said Ewing, who started Hailey Boer in right in Game 2, Boer's fourth start of the season. Allred made her first start at catcher.

"The offense did what it needed to do, we played good defense, and we were able to get kids who don't normally get a lot of opportunities some opportunities."

With Montana leading 8-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, it was Boer who started the game-ending sequence of events when she led off with an infield single to third.

After Boer advanced to second on a wild pitch, pinch hitter Ava Puttler moved Boer to third with a flyout to right.

Danielle Biehl, making her first plate appearance since mid-March, ended the afternoon with another flyout to right, her sacrifice fly bringing in Boer.

"Our emphasis yesterday in practice was situational hitting," said Ewing, "being able to execute and have productive at-bats when we have people on base.

"We worked on it yesterday and we were able to do it today. People came in and owned their opportunities."

Christiaens, Mejia and Mackenzie Bekofsky all had two hits in Game 2, with Christiaens and Mejia both scoring twice. Cockhill went hitless to see her streak come to an end at 12 games.

With nine wins in their last 11 games, which has allowed Montana, at 4-2, to play itself into a tie for first in the Big Sky through two weekends of series, the Grizzlies now return their focus to league.

Montana will play a series at Sacramento State this week, then have a midweek doubleheader at Utah and play at Weber State next week.

"We were so close earlier this season. It just took one or two breaks and I knew this team would catch fire," said Ewing. "A train don't stop when it's rolling downhill and we're rolling downhill right now.

"Now we get right back into conference play. We have a great opportunity this weekend to continue what we're doing."

The University of Montana Grizzly softball team faces University of Northern Colorado at a home game on April 4, 2026 in Missoula, MT.

Montana drops series finale

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Team Stats

Pitching:

W: Ortega, Cameryn (4-7)

L: Butler, Danica (1-11)

MSU Billings

Batting:

2B: Karsjen, Jillian 1

SH: Brevig, Emily 1

Montana

Batting:

2B: Christiaens, JoJo 1 ; Bekofsky, Mackenzie 1 ; Kiblen, Kaci 1

HR: Cockhill, Anna 1 ; Mejia, Kailee 1

RBI: Cockhill, Anna 1 ; Christiaens, JoJo 1 ; Mejia, Kailee 1 ; Tarrant, Madison 1 ; Kiblen, Kaci 1 ; Kong, Kaiana 1

Base Running:

RUNS: Cockhill, Anna 2 ; Christiaens, JoJo 1 ; Mejia, Kailee 1 ; Biehl, Danielle 1 ; Bekofsky, Mackenzie 1 ; Tarrant, Madison 1 ; Gutierrez, Brianna 1