Montana wins, loses as Big Sky Championship opens

Monday, May 4

Pocatello, Idaho

9 AM

Montana

20-30

(5) Weber State

14-41

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Weber State	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	3	8	0
Montana	2	0	0	3	2	1	X	8	8	1

5/4/2026 6:06:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana softball team opened the Big Sky Conference Championship with a record-setting offensive performance before running into a familiar nemesis later in the day as the Grizzlies split a pair of games on Monday at Direct Communications Field at Miller Ranch Stadium in Pocatello, Idaho.

Montana blasted six home runs, three coming from Anna Cockhill, as the No. 4-seeded Grizzlies kicked off their day with an 8-3 victory over No. 5 Weber State, Montana's first win at the Big Sky Championship since 2022, snapping an eight-game postseason losing streak.

The Grizzlies later lost 10-1 in six innings to Marley Goluskin and top-seeded Idaho State. The game was tied at 1-1 going into the bottom of the fourth when the Bengals scored four runs. ISU walked it off in the bottom of the sixth with five runs, the last three on a home run.

Goluskin has three complete-game victories against Montana over the last 11 days, going 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA over 20 innings.

Montana will face No. 6 Portland State on Tuesday at 11 a.m. in an elimination game.

Monday could not have started much better for the Grizzlies, who sent balls out of the park at a record pace.

Their six home runs set new program and Big Sky Championship records while matching the all-time league record for home runs in a game. It was the seventh six-home-run game in Big Sky history.

After a one-out walk, Cockhill hit her first home run of the game, a two-run shot to left in the bottom of the first to make it 2-0. Montana would hold the lead the rest of the game.

"From the first swing Anna took in the first inning, it was, all right, let's go," said coach Stef Ewing. "It felt like it freed everybody up to let the nerves settle and just go.

"We knew we were playing in a hitters' park and that the ball flies in Pocatello. We had a lot of great swings in big moments."

After Weber State pulled within 2-1 in the top of the fourth, Montana buried the Wildcats with five home runs over three innings.

Brianna Gutierrez hit a two-run home run in the fourth, which was immediately followed by a solo home run from Jessica Cherms that made it 5-1.

Chloe Saxton and Cockhill went back-to-back in the fifth to put the Grizzlies up 7-1. In her next at-bat, in the sixth, Cockhill hit her third of the day to make it 8-2.

It was the first three-home-run game in program and Championship history and was the fourth three-home-run game in Big Sky history.

Cockhill finished the game 3 for 3 with a walk, four RBIs and three runs scored.

"There is nothing Anna does that surprises me. The kid is that good," said Ewing. "She is a dynamic, exciting player who puts on a show every time she steps on the field.

"She's just beaming with confidence right now and doing things at a really high level. The moment is never too big for her. She's really learned how to be under control no matter what the scenario is."

Ewing's ideal script against Weber State was for Carah Sweet to get the start and hold down the Wildcats long enough for Montana to build a lead so that Sweet could be pulled for the Grizzlies' second game of the day.

The offense did its part and Sweet did hers, holding Weber State to three hits and a run over five innings. She got the win, giving her eight wins in her last nine decisions.

"Carah was Carah, did her job," said Ewing. "She continues to go out there and say, give me the ball, I'm going to get people out."

Kaiana Kong pitched the final two innings, saving Sweet's arm for Idaho State.

When Montana and Idaho State met in Missoula on the final weekend of the regular season, after the Grizzlies won Game 1, leaving them one win from a championship, the Bengals threw Goluskin in Games 2 and 3, 6-0 and 8-2 ISU victories that gave Idaho State the crown.

The Grizzlies hit Goluskin better on Monday but still had little to show for it on the scoreboard.

Grace Lopez led off the game with a double to the fence in left but was put out in a rundown between second and third. Saxton followed with a line-drive out to short. It was that kind of game.

"I'm not sitting here feeling like we lost 10-1. It didn't feel like that the way we were swinging the bat," said Ewing.

"We hit a lot of balls really hard, just right at people. We had six hits but a lot of quality at-bats, and there were some plays we could have made that would have made that game tighter."

Idaho State opened the scoring with a two-out double in the second. Montana answered right back in the top of the third.

Cherms and Lopez had one-out singles, bringing Cockhill to the plate. She placed one in short right field that no Bengal could get to, scoring Cherms and tying the game at 1-1.

Cockhill finished the day 5 for 6 with five runs batted in and three runs scored, but her run-scoring single would be the only run allowed by Goluskin, who allowed two hits over the game's final three innings to pick up her 12th win of the season.

Ava Brown hit a two-run home run for the Bengals in the fourth, Kira Day ended the game with a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth, Montana's first run-rule loss in more than a month.

Cockhill and Lopez both had two hits against Idaho State.

Sweet allowed five hits through the first three innings but only one run. Three of the four runs she allowed in the fourth were unearned after an infield error.

After Day singled off Sweet to open the fifth, Ewing replaced her starter with Cameryn Ortega, who threw the final 1 2/3 innings, her first appearance since April 17.

Montana will face Portland State at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. The Grizzlies swept the Vikings during the regular season.

PSU lost its tournament opener on Monday 11-1 to No. 3 Sacramento State in five innings on a walk-off grand slam.

"Whoever shows up tomorrow and says, we're not ready for it to be over is who is going to come out on top," said Ewing.

"I believe our team has the grit and the fight to be able to bounce back and continue to plug our way through this tournament."