'Pirk's Place' will become official Saturday

Call it “Pirk’s Place” from now on; after all it was one of Randy Pirker’s favorite places on earth and he deserves to have his name emblazoned on it for all to see, appreciate and, most of all, remember.

The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks will re-christen the TFHS softball field as Pirk’s Place in honor of the late great coach Saturday at 1 p.m. before a doubleheader with visiting Bonners Ferry. Randy’s daughters Arikka and Stephanie, who both played for their dad as Lady Hawks, will be on hand for the dedication and first-pitch ceremony.

The Lady Hawks’ current coach, Jared Koskela learned a lot about softball from the iconic Pirker when he took over the team several years ago. While suffering through painful, frequent treatments for cancer, Pirker still managed to make himself available to help Koskela coach the Hawks, even during the late stages of his life, which ended perhaps poetically, perhaps not coincidentally, during the 2019 softball season.

“We are going to unfurl the banner branding this as ‘Pirk’s Place’ Saturday,” Koskela said. “Randy really deserves this honor, he really did so much for the sport and the kids of Thompson Falls, and not just in softball.”

In addition to being the head coach and assistant coach for the Lady Hawk program for many years, Pirk (as his friends called him) also headed up the youth softball program in the area, helping to create some of the great teams he went on to coach in high school.

Managing the team masterfully, Pirker guided the Lady Hawks to the program’s only State B-C championship in 2012, and led the Falls girls to second place finishes in two other State B-C tournaments.

And that’s not even mentioning his stints as an assistant coach for the Thompson Falls football team, or his undying love for all things Blue Hawk otherwise. He not only loved the Blue Hawk life, he lived it, graduating from good old TFHS in 1978.

All said and done, Thompson Falls is a better place because of all the blood, sweat and tears, and the nurturing of young talent that Randy put into Pirk’s Place, one of the most beautiful ballfields on earth – and it will now bear the name of a man who played a large role in making it that way.