GREAT FALLS, Mont. – A mercy-rule win, a historic performance, career firsts, and a bevy of tears highlighted Lady Argo softball's Senior Day tripleheader against College of Idaho. Senior Jackie Thomas was the big story, playing all nine positions and hitting her second career home run in Game 3. UGF lost that game 6-4, but split the other two, losing Game 1, 5-2, and instituting the 8-run mercy rule on the Yotes in Game 2, 12-3.

Thomas's Game 3 was just one of a handful of strong Lady Argo performances, but it was the standout. She was the game's starting pitcher and stayed in for the entirety of the inning, allowing just 1 run despite not pitching for the last three years. She then caught the first inning of her career, a scoreless stanza for C of I.

She spent the rest of the game moving around the infield positions and then played all three outfield spots in the top of the seventh. She also hit the second home run of her career, a 2 RBI shot in the bottom of the third.

"I was looking forward to it all week. It was fun. It was a really cool experience," Thomas said of playing every position in a single game. "I can look back and say that in my last game I played all the positions, rather than thinking 'I should have done this'. I'm really happy that I was able to do it."

While, Thomas's softball version of "Where's Waldo" came in Game 3, Game 1 had its own twist to the lineup. UGF Head Coach Joey Egan started all eight of her seniors, even though five of them have spent most of the season as outfielders. Senior Kim McAdams started at second, a positions she hasn't really played for a few years, and Hali Gruntowicz played first, her listed position, even though she spend most of the year either in right field or as the team's designated offensive player.

Senior pitcher Shelby Abeyta started the game, and giving up an RBI single in the top of the first, held the Yotes scoreless for the second, third, and fourth innings. Another single in the top of the fifth drove in 2 runs for C of I and a UGF fielding error cost the Lady Argos an unearned run in the top of the sixth.

The Lady Argos entered the bottom of the sixth down 4-0, but junior Kylie Gonzales cut that lead in half with her ninth home run of the season. The blast drove in junior Bailey Henderson, who had reached on a Yote fielding error, and put Gonzales 2 home runs shy of the program record for home runs in a season.

UGF couldn't manufacture any more runs after that, and lost Game 1, 6-4.

Whatever pitches, College of Idaho's Game 1 starter, Colette Robert, was throwing to stifle the Lady Argo bats, C of I's Game 2 pitchers lacked.

UGF senior Morgan Robinson led off the bottom of the first inning with a single to second and was replaced at first by Henderson hitting into a fielder's choice. A single from Gonzales, and then an error from the Yote's pitcher loaded the bases for UGF with 1 out.

Thomas was next at bat and she should have been out, but a second straight error from College of Idaho allowed the senior to reach base safely and sent Henderson home for the first run of the game. Senior Jocelyn Kaufman then found an open patch of grass in center field for a 2 RBI single that made the game 3-0 UGF.

Following an RBI single from Henderson in the bottom of the second, UGF again saw the bases loaded with 1 out, and this time it was Gruntowicz at the place. The senior took advantage with a double down the left field line that scored Henderson and junior Gabrielle Canibeyaz. Thomas grounded out to third on the next at bat, but still earned an RBI with Gonzalez taking up and scoring on the throw.

The bottom of the third brought up a familiar situation. UGF had already scored 1 run on a single earlier in the inning, and again the bases were loaded with Gruntowicz stepping into the batter's box. A measly double wasn't what the senior had in mind, however, for the second to last game of her career. Instead she crushed one over the center field fence for grand slam that put UGF up 12-3.

Thanks to a strong five innings of work from redshirt-freshman Mikayla Deigan and some great fielding from senior Paige Bodner and Thomas, that score stayed put till the end of the fifth inning, where the game was called due to the 8-run mercy rule.

Gruntowicz finished the game 2-3, scoring 2 runs with 6 RBIs.

Game 3 was largely about Thomas, but even without the positional shifting shtick, it was still an interesting game in its own right, featuring 3 home runs and 2 lead changes.

First score was a solo home run from College of Idaho's top hitter, Destiny Turner, off of Thomas in the top of the first. That was answered in the bottom of the third with a solo shot form an unexpected Lady Argo. Junior Mikaylee Jaussi is not a member of the team known for power hitting. Heading into the game, she had just 1 extra base hit on the season, but she led off the inning with a game tying home run.

A hard hit single up the middle then put Robinson on base, and she soon made her way over to third on two straight wild pitches. A single from Gonzales brought her home, but even without the wild pitches she would have eventually made her way home. That was because the next batter was Thomas, who clearly wasn't tired from pitching one inning and catching the next, because she hit the second home run of her career in a 2 RBI effort.

That capped off a 4 run third inning for UGF that had the team up 4-1.

An inning and a half later, College of Idaho bested that effort, scoring 5 runs in the top of the fifth to retake the lead and keep it for good.

Through the course of the three games, Gonzales was UGF's standout batter. She ended her junior year going 4-9 at the plate with 5 runs and 3 RBI in the three game series.

UGF ends the year with a record of 14-25 (6-22).