MISSOULA — The Montana softball program looked near and far to put together its latest recruiting class, signing one player from Montana, one from Washington, one from Texas and one from Arkansas.
The group will join coach Stef Ewing's rising program next fall and be freshmen on Montana's 2028 team.
Grabbing the local headlines is Ryan Lucier, a pitcher and outfielder out of Frenchtown High School.
Ewing and her staff remained in the Pacific Northwest for the addition of outfielder Jane Ford, of Woodinville, Wash. (Woodinville HS).
Ansley Parr is a pitcher from Childress, Texas (Childress HS), Kendall Watts is a catcher and infielder from Fayetteville, Ark. (Elkins HS).
Lucier is an all-state athlete in softball, volleyball and basketball for the Broncs. She was part of Frenchtown's 2025 Class A state championship softball team.
"Ryan is a multi-sport athlete who has excelled both in the circle and at the plate," said Ewing.
"She is a tremendous athlete and leader, a complete competitor who will help the Griz on both offense and in the circle."
The Griz golf program, meanwhile, announced this week that a pair of prep golfers have signed on to join the Grizzlies as freshmen next fall.
Joining Montana will be Payton Tryan of Billings Senior High School and Maddie Makino of Parker, Colo. (Legend HS).
Tryan has a name best known for rodeo success but she won the Montana Class AA state golf title as both a junior and senior, winning the former by seven strokes, the latter in a playoff.
"She got into golf late, in terms of someone who is going to get into college golf," said coach Jimmy Mee. "It might have been her freshman year when she first started to get into it."
Golf did not keep Tryan from continuing to compete in basketball and softball.
"It's fun to see because you have the competition aspect, not just competing in golf but competing in team sports," said Mee.
"We're going to see her keep getting better. She has an amazing golf swing, a good putting stroke and is still new to competitive golf. She is going to be really fresh and hungry to get better."
Her dad, Travis, qualified 11 times for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in team roping. Her uncle, Clay Tryan, is a three-time team roping world champion.
Another uncle, John Edwards, was the starting quarterback on Montana's 2001 national championship football team.
"She comes from a long line of very competitive people with accomplished backgrounds," said Mee. "She is very competitive as well.
"I'm excited to see what she can do. This is going to be the first time she's devoted all her time to one sport."
Makino is the next golfer from the competitive Colorado junior scene who should make an immediate impact at the college level.
Unlike Tryan, Makino started golfing at the age of six and has been competing since the age of eight. She is the sixth-ranked prep golfer in Colorado according to Junior Golf Hub.
