Hawk season ends in Western B-C

The biggest highlight was in getting there, to the Western B-C divisional tournament.

The Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawks edged rival Plains-Hot Springs 2-1 in Thompson Falls in a play-in game May 18 to clinch a berth in the Western B-C and then went on to play in the divisional tourney in Florence last week.

Coach Jared Koskela and his Hawks bowed out in Florence, falling 15-0 to the hometown Falcons Thursday, and 12-1 to Eureka in loser-out action Friday.

Florence went on to win the Western B-C title, Mission-Arlee-Charlo took second, Manhattan third and Ennis fourth, and all four teams advance to the State B-C tourney, again in Florence, Thursday through Saturday.

The play-in win over Plains-Hot Springs was the big thing in Koskela's mind. "That was a great game, a really good win for us after not having made the divisional tournament for a long time," he said. "To get a play-in win is a nice finish, it kind of puts a staple in the season for us."

The Hawks fell behind 1-0 in the game with P-HS when Mykenzi Blood scored a run in the second inning for the Trotters as pitchers Cheyla Irvine for Thompson Falls and Celsey VonHeeder for Plains entered into a classic pitching duel.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Irvine helped her own cause by crashing a home run to tie things up at 1-1. In the bottom of the sixth, Noxon's Dylan Vigil got on with a single and eventually scored to put the Hawks ahead 2-1.

The Hawks then got the last three outs to nail down the win, the final one coming on a great, running, back-to-the-plate catch in deep centerfield by freshman Olivia Harnett off a long flyball hit by P-HS's Izzy Butcher.

Thompson Falls-Noxon ended the game with five base hits, two by Irvine and one each by Vigil, Abbi Lane and Blakeley Lakko.

Plains-Hot Springs had four hits from Lizzy Butcher, Madison Elliott, Jolena Caldwell and Genna Descahmps.