Montana to face Weber State as Big Sky Championship opens

The Montana softball team, the No. 4 seed, will open play at the Big Sky Conference Championship with a first-round game against No. 5 Weber State on Monday at 9 a.m. in Pocatello, Idaho.

The four-day, six-team, double-elimination tournament will be played Monday through Thursday at Idaho State's Direct Communications Field at Miller Ranch Stadium.

The winner will advance to face No. 1 seed Idaho State at 2 p.m. on Monday. The loser will drop down to the elimination bracket and play at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Coverage: All 10 or 11 games of the tournament will be streamed on ESPN+ with Logan Kelso calling the action.

The field:

1. Idaho State (34-18, 10-5 BSC) – The Bengals won their second consecutive regular-season title, their third in four years and sixth overall with a win on the final day of the regular season.

Idaho State, which has never won a postseason title, is hosting the Big Sky Championship for the fifth time.

2. Northern Colorado (23-25, 9-6 BSC) – The Bears take a three-game winning streak to Pocatello, where they won the league tournament in 2024. The Bears won the 2023 title in Ogden.

Northern Colorado, with those two, is one of three teams in Big Sky softball history with multiple tournament titles.

3. Sacramento State (30-17, 9-6 BSC) – The Hornets have been the Big Sky's most consistent team since the league began sponsoring softball in 2013 but they've only won one postseason title, in 2018.

Over the past 13 seasons, Sacramento State has finished in the top three in the Big Sky in the regular season 11 times.

4. Montana (19-30, 9-6 BSC) – The Grizzlies take their highest seed into the postseason since Montana was the No. 3 seed in 2019.

The Grizzlies have dropped eight straight Big Sky Championship games by an aggregate score of 86-22, their last win coming over Portland State in Ogden in 2022.

Montana has played in every Big Sky tournament since 2016 and has an all-time record of 11-16. The Grizzlies won two games in 2016, went 3-0 in 2017 to win their lone title, and won three games in 2021.

5. Weber State (14-40, 4-11 BSC) – The Wildcats hosted the Big Sky tournament seven out of eight years between 2016 and '23 and have won a Big Sky-record five postseason titles.

Weber State won last year's tournament as the No. 3 seed, twice defeating top-seeded Idaho State, including 10-4 in the if-necessary championship game, pounding out 17 hits.

The Wildcats put an end to a nine-game losing streak with an 11-7 win at Utah State on Tuesday.

6. Portland State (14-30, 4-11 BSC) – The Vikings closed the season going 0-3 at Sacramento State, getting outscored 18-3. The teams will meet on Monday at 11:30 a.m.

The Vikings, with titles in 2013 and '21, are tied with Northern Colorado for the most postseason championships behind Weber State's five.

* In the Big Sky's 12 postseason tournaments since it began sponsoring softball in 2013, the host team has only twice won the championship, Weber State in 2016 and '22.

* The No. 1 seed has won the tournament five times, the No. 2 seed has won twice, the No. 3 seed has won four times, the No. 5 seed has won once.

No No. 4 seed has ever won the tournament. The lowest-seeded champion was No. 5 Portland State in Ogden in 2021.

Montana vs. the field:

1. Idaho State – Montana went 1-2 against the Bengals at home last weekend. The Grizzlies rallied to take the opener 7-6 before Idaho State won the series with 6-0 and 8-2 victories in Games 2 and 3.

2. Northern Colorado – Montana went 1-2 at home against the Bears, winning the opener 10-0 before giving up 24 runs over the final two games, losing 10-1 and 14-10.

3. Sacramento State – Montana went 1-2 on the road against the Hornets, winning the opener 9-6 before falling 9-3 and 9-6.

5. Weber State – Montana swept the Wildcats on the road, winning 4-2 in the opener, coming back from 6-0 down to win 11-6 in Game 2 with a six-run seventh, then taking the finale 11-3.

6. Portland State – Montana opened league by hosting the Vikings and got off to a good start with a series sweep. The Grizzlies won 5-0 and 10-5 before pulling out a tight 5-4 win in Game 3.

Montana vs. Weber State:

* Montana snapped a 10-game losing streak to Weber State with its 4-2 win in the series opener in Ogden. That was also the Grizzlies' first win over the Wildcats on their home field since 2017.

* In Game 2, Montana trailed 6-0 after three innings but pulled within 6-5 after six, then hit three home runs in a six-run top of the seventh to win 11-6.

* Montana built an 8-0 lead in the finale and scored a run in all seven innings on the way to an 11-3 win.

* Weber State still leads the all-time series 27-13 and is 3-2 against Montana in the postseason. The Wildcats defeated the Grizzlies 11-0 in Pocatello in 2024, 9-1 last season in Greeley.

Montana collects Big Sky awards: The Big Sky Conference announced its individual award winners and All-Big Sky teams on Thursday, and the Grizzlies were well represented.

Stef Ewing was voted co-Coach of the Year along with Idaho State's Andrew Rich. Jamie Pinkerton won Montana's only other Coach of the Year awards, in 2016 and '17.

Kailee Mejia was named Freshman of the Year, while sophomore pitcher Carah Sweet was voted co-Newcomer of the Year.

Mejia becomes Montana's third Big Sky Freshman of the Year, joining Lexie Brenneis (2015) and Sydney Stites (2016). Sweet joins Cami Sellers (2019) as Montana's Newcomer of the Year award winners.

Sophomore Anna Cockhill earned first-team All-Big Sky honors, with Sweet and fellow sophomores Grace Lopez and JoJo Christiaens getting named to the second team.

Mejia and sophomore Mackenzie Bekofsky collected honorable mention accolades.

Montana's four first- and second-team selections are the most for the Grizzlies since 2021 and the third-most in program history.

Montana notes:

* The Grizzlies went 9-6 in league after going 2-28 the previous two seasons and tied for second, Montana's best finish since 2017 and second-best finish in program history.

* Montana finished with a winning record in league for the first time since 2019 and for the fourth time in program history.

* Montana won Game 1 in all five of its Big Sky series this season, with Sweet starting all five and going 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA.

* Montana won at least one game in all its Big Sky series this season. The only other time the Grizzlies did that was during their NCAA tournament season of 2017.

* Montana has hit a program-record 91 doubles this season, surpassing the 88 that the 2024 team hit. The Grizzlies, with 40 to date, are within three home runs of the program record of 43 set in 2022.

* Montana's best-ever slugging percentage was .445, set by the 2021 team. This year's slugging percentage is at .460.

* Anna Cockhill, with 37 career stolen bases, remains two behind Gabby Martinez's program record of 39.

* Kailee Mejia's 13-game hitting streak came to an end in Sunday's loss to Idaho State. It's tied for the fifth-longest in program history and matches Sydney Stites' freshman record from 2016.

* Madison Tarrant takes a career-best six-game hitting streak to Pocatello. It the longest active streak for the Grizzlies.

* Montana is 16-2 this season when holding its opponent to five or fewer runs and 3-28 when its opponent scores six or more times.

* Grace Lopez went 1 for 1 in Montana's 7-6 win over Idaho State in the teams' series opener on Saturday with three walks. She came around to score four runs, tying the program record.

It was the fifth time a Grizzly has scored four runs in a game, the first since Julie Phelps in a 23-7 win at Southern Utah in 2022.

* Montana has 138 extra-base hits this season, the most in program history. The 2019 team held the previous record of 137.

* Only three players in program history have hit .400 or better in a season: Bethany Olea (.416 in 2017, .408 in 2016), Maygen McGrath (.410 in 2021) and Lexie Brenneis (.400 in 2015).

Kailee Mejia is batting .410 and has met the minimum number of at-bats of 50 to potentially be added to that list at season's end.

* JoJo Christiaens' 16 doubles are tied for fifth in program history. Delene Colburn (2015) and Cami Sellers (2021) hold the program record of 21.

* Anna Cockhill is sitting on nine home runs. If she hits another, she will be only the fifth player in program history to reach 10 in a season.

Delene Colburn (2015, '16, '17) did it three times, Maygen McGrath (2021, '22) did it twice, Sydney Stites (2016) and Lexie Brenneis (2015) did it once.

Upcoming: Thursday's Big Sky champion will advance to the NCAA Softball Championship, with Regionals starting on Friday, May 15.

Montana to face Weber State as Big Sky Championship opens

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Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Bekofsky

JoJo Christiaens

Anna Cockhill

Grace Lopez

Kailee Mejia

Carah Sweet

Madison Tarrant

University of Montana Athletics