Independently owned since 1905
Independently owned since 1905
PLAY AT THE PLATE! Hawk catcher Danni-jo VanHuss, the softball and a Bonners Ferry baserunner all arrive at home plate at the same time Saturday. The runner was safe on this play and the Badgers eventually won the game.
IN THE HOUSE POP BUILT - Randy Pirker's daughters Stephanie Castillo and Arikka Pirker threw the ceremonial first pitch at Saturday's dedication ceremony for Pirk's Place. The Pirk's Place banner can be seen on the fence behind Stephanie and Arikka.
It was just the kind of game that Hawk softball coach Jared Koskela wanted – one that got away from his team and went south in a hurry – a game that his girls can learn valuable lessons from.
The Thompson Falls Blue Hawks hosted the Bonner Ferry Badgers for an intrastate doubleheader in chilly northwest Montana Saturday. Playing in between and through intermittent snow flurries, the Badgers won the first game 19-7 and the Hawks led 7-2 in the second before that game was called due to snow.
Koskela said his girls needed a taste of chaos – like they had in the sixth and seventh innings of the first game when they gave up eight and six runs – to set themselves right again.
"We have to learn that you cannot dwell on mistakes. When things go bad, your attitude gets bad and then more bad things happen," he said. "Things literally snowballed on us there and that was good for the girls to see how that can happen.
"We talked about it between games, about not letting things get you down and about keep playing hard no matter what," he added. "Then we found ourselves and played much better in that second game. There was a lot of learning going on Saturday, that was a good one to get out of our system."
In their only other action last week, the Hawks lost a 4-0 decision to Mission-Arlee-Charlo (MAC) in Mission Thursday.
The first game with Bonners Ferry Saturday was close until the Badgers exploded for all those runs late in the game. Cold hands, feet and bodies could have been blamed but Koskela was having none of that.
"The weather was the same for both teams," he said. "Sure we had cold hands, had trouble handling the ball, but so did they. We just have to ignore things we can't control and focus on the things that we can."
The Hawks rapped out 11 hits in the loss. Riley Wilson held the hottest bat for the Hawks with three of those hits, including a home run and a double. Cella VanHuss, Danni-jo VanHuss and Abbi Lane also hit doubles, and Blakely Lakko, Cheyla Irvine, Olivia Harnett and Shelby Lane all hit singles in the game.
Lakko and Mackenzie Robinson added runs batted in.
The Hawks wasted no time in getting after it in the second game with Bonners Ferry, scoring four runs in the first and three more in the second. Although Koskela and the Hawks wanted to keep playing through occasional snow showers, Bonners Ferry's coaches were not too excited about it and elected to opt out with Thompson Falls leading 7-2.
Irvine belted out two hits, including a double and drove in a run, scoring two herself, Wilson also scored twice while adding a hit and an RBI, Cella VanHuss and Abbi Lane each had a hit and another RBI and Danni-jo VanHuss added a run scored.
Irvine pitched the second game with Bonners.
Against MAC, one of the best teams in the Western B-C ranks, Koskela said the Hawks played good defense but had trouble hitting MAC starter Liev Smith, who allowed only two singles (hit by Irvine and Cella VanHuss).
Set to play a single game at Troy Tuesday, the Hawks return to action Friday hosting powerful Florence in another doubleheader, and then hit the road for a doubleheader at Deer Lodge Saturday. The Hawks will host MAC for another single game next Tuesday.
Koskela feels the Hawks are ready for anything the season throws at them. "It wasn't official but we consider that second game with Bonners as a win," he said. "We are playing pretty confident softball right now and look forward to this week's games."
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