Career Resume
Ehnes is one of the most decorated softball players in MSUB history. She played for four years from 2001-2005 and earned second team all-West Region honors in 2004 and 2005. She was named Pacific West Conference Player of the Year in 2005, and was named to the West Region All-Tournament team in 2005. She is a two-time, first team All-Pacific West Conference selection and a two-time second team selection.
She ranks first in school history in earned run average at a 1.57 clip. She also leads the school’s annals with 672 career strikeouts, 19 career shutouts and 61 career wins. She ranks eighth all-time in batting average (.312), third runs (103), sixth in hits (153) and has the top two season ERA’s in school history, 1.25 and 1.33, respectively.
Feature Story: Ehnes One Big Reason for Yellowjackets' Softball Success (By: Joe Kusek/Billings Gazette, 4/27/2005) - Original Publication
Joey Ehnes doesn't like the spotlight. She would rather seamlessly blend in with her teammates on the softball field. Even better, Ehnes would prefer to be in front of her computer, building her own software programs.
Best yet, the self-professed "homebody” would like to be at home in Great Falls with her family, working on her computer.
But Ehnes can't hide. Her talent won't allow it.
Often the smallest player on the field, Ehnes casts the biggest shadow.
She happens to be one of the best pitchers in the NCAA Division II West Region.
In fact, Ehnes is one the best players, period.
The senior from Great Falls holds every single pitching record at Montana State-Billings. She has been the Yellowjackets' go-to arm the past two seasons and her success has mirrored the team's rise among the West Region's elite.
Ehnes is also the career leader at MSU-B for games played, games started and runs scored. She also ranks in the top three for career hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBIs and walks.
And the young woman who called it "the saddest day of my life,” when her parents first dropped her off on the MSU-B campus in the fall of 2001 has recently reached an agreement to play in the Netherlands immediately following the conclusion of her collegiate season.
That's a big commitment from a person who would rush home to Great Falls every weekend the first half of her freshman year.
Ehnes will graduate on May 7 with a business degree with an emphasis on information systems. Her plane for Haarlem, Netherlands, departs May 18.
"It's all pretty scary. I'll be leaving my teammates and every thing. It will happen so fast,” she said of the flurry of activity in May. "I was looking five years down the road and I didn't want to have any regrets.
"I'm not ready to give up softball just yet.”
Ehnes will be pitching for the club team, Onze Gezellen. Olympian Jessica Mendoza plays for the club's No. 1 team, while Ehnes is initially slated to play for the No. 2 team.
But the Netherlands will have to wait. Ehnes and her Yellowjacket teammates close out the regular season this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders against Western New Mexico Saturday and Sunday at Cenex Stadium.
Then MSU-B will wait for its invitation to the post-season. Ranked fourth in the West Region, the top six in next week's final poll qualify for the regional tournament.
Ehnes' pitching is one large reason for MSU-B's record-setting year.
The numbers alone merit stand-up attention.
The right-handed thrower has pitched in 37 of the 42 games this season with a record of 23-9. Ehnes has an ERA of 1.48 and opponents are batting just .180 against her this season. She has thrown seven shutouts and struck out 10 or more hitters eight times this year. Ehnes ranks 16th in the nation for strikeouts per game (8.8).
And she would still rather play second base.
"I actually don't like pitching,” Ehnes admits with a smile. "I hate that one player can predict the end of the game. That bases loaded, two out and one pitch and you lose situation ? I don't like it.
"I would rather be at second base. You're part of every play. I don't like the pressure, the spotlight. That's not part of my game.”
Away from the pitching mound, Ehnes is batting .384 from the left side of the plate and is second on the team for home runs (6), doubles (11) and triples (2). She is third for hits and leads for total bases.
But Ehnes then quickly adds if the game is close, she wants the ball. "When you have to rise to the occasion, I love having the ball in my hands.”
Ehnes has been given the ball plenty.
The 5-foot-3, 130-pound Ehnes makes up for lack of overpowering size with a wicked rise-ball and full command of three other pitches - change up, drop ball and off-speed drop ball.
"I wish I was bigger to get more leverage on my pitches,” joked Ehnes, who didn't start pitching until the age of 12. "I've gotten better with my consistency, my ability to throw the ball where I want to. I still make a mistake here and there.”
Ehnes estimates she can put the ball where she wants at least 80 percent of the time. "On a good day,” she said. "Of course, I still have my off days. But sometimes I can put 90, 95 percent of the pitches where I want when everything is going well.”
Ehnes has had to pitch twice a day 16 times this season. She delivered back-to-back shutouts against Chaminade on April 5 and blanked the Silverswords once more with one-hitter on April 6.
"It is kind of stressful,” Ehnes said of pitching almost every game. "The more a batter sees you, the more success they have against you. It's harder to find the right spots.”
To keep her arm fresh, Ehnes has cut back on her warm-up before game, does weightlifting during the week and a series of stretching exercises almost every day.
"It's hard to say if there is one specific thing,” said head coach Jeff Aumend about Ehnes' pitching success. "From an early age, she understood the game. Her athleticism put her in a position to be successful and her heart of a champion has allowed her to be taken to a higher level.”
Initially, Aumend envisioned Ehnes as a solid No. 2 pitcher for the NCAA Division II level when he first saw her play. By the middle of her sophomore year, Aumend realized he had his No. 1 starter.
"I can tell she thrives on competition,” Aumend added. "She has good focus and has that innate ability to get into that zone somehow, mentally and physically, on every big pitch.”
Ironically, Ehnes was rocked for a home run against her first collegiate-level batter.
"That pitch wasn't even in the strike zone and she went up and got it,” Ehnes recalled. "I was pretty upset after that. I just realized it was just part of the game.
"In high school, I would easily get emotional. Now, I just have to try harder. It's time to step up.”
Ehnes will leave career pitching records at MSU-B that will not be approached any time soon.
But Ehnes treats the talk like another batter she has just struck out.
"I will have no idea about them until someone else reads me the newspaper or comes up and congratulates me,” she said. "I wasn't coming in with any expectations. I just wanted to be competitive.
"I just love playing softball. I don't know if there is one specific thing. It's just helping the team win.
"I like the fact being one of the first ones to help start up the program. That we will leave a really good softball team behind when we're done.”
