by Scott Sacry
The spring high school sports season is underway in the Bitterroot Valley. Practices started on March 11th and, as always, there will be plenty of action this spring.
Here’s a quick rundown of the spring varsity sports for the six Bitterroot high schools.
All six schools have boys and girls track and field teams. Darby, Corvallis, Hamilton, and Stevensville have boys and girls tennis teams. Corvallis, Florence, Hamilton, and Stevensville have softball teams. Florence, Corvallis, Hamilton, and Stevensville have baseball teams (this is the second season of high school baseball in Montana). And Florence and Darby have boys and girls golf teams.
The Corvallis boys and girls both won state last year in track and field, and they look strong again this year. Hamilton also has a deep group of track and field athletes, so they will also be in the mix for a state title. Stevensville, Florence, Darby and Victor all have athletes who will contend for individual state titles this year.
The valley’s baseball and softball teams are always tough, and each will be vying for state playoff appearances. And look for area tennis and golf athletes to compete at a high level this year.
Early baseball results
Although most of the games begin this week, there were a couple of baseball games played last week. Stevensville hosted Dillon on Friday, March 15th and lost 1-5. Stevensville’s Drake Springer and Joey Wheeler got the only two hits for the ‘Jackets.
The Hamilton boys team had two games. They defeated Frenchtown 11-1 on Friday, and lost to Columbia Falls 6-7 on Saturday. In the Frenchtown game, Hamilton pitcher Cash Lawrence had six strikeouts. The Broncs’ offense racked up 11 runs on 12 hits. Connor Ekin went 2 for 2 and scored 2 runs, and Jackson Lubke went 2 for 4 with an RBI.