Thompson Falls-Noxon fastpitch wraps up regular season play

Momentum in sports can be a fickle friend indeed.

As an example: Thompson Falls-Noxon's fastpitch softball team has been on an impressive roll the last half of the season. They opened their final week of the regular season schedule with a 15-5 win over Eureka in Thompson Falls. 

Two days later, the Lady Hawks came to Plains and routed their Sanders County rivals 19-3. 

Then, this past Saturday, in the last game on their 2025 schedule, they journeyed to Troy to take on the surprising Lady Trojans and fell to the home girls 16-6. 

No one thinks one loss is a momentum killer, including the Lady Hawks and their coach Jared Koskela. 

They began the season 2-6 and now, following this past week, the team and its 11-8 overall record await the Western Divisional B-C tournament where they will take on the Glasgow Lady Scotties this Friday (May 9, 2 pm) in Florence. 

Saturday, in their game against Troy, they took a 5-0 lead into the bottom of the second and looked like a twelfth victory was in the works.  They scored five times on two singles, an error and a fielder’s choice. 

But Troy, which has had an outstanding season of its own (11-3), bounced back with four runs in the bottom of the second to cut the Lady Hawk’s lead to 5-4. 

The Lady Trojans kept TFN off the scoreboard in the top of the third, then erupted for 11 runs in their half of the inning, giving them a 15-5 edge after three innings. K Cole blasted a grand-slam home run as part of the 11-run outburst. 

T Falls-Noxon pushed across a solo run in the top of the fourth, making it 15-6, but Troy scored one of its own in the bottom of the fifth, putting them up 16-6 and bringing the game to an early conclusion via the Mercy rule. 

Troy outhit the Lady Hawks 15-8 in the victory, with Cole and E Wallace leading the offense with four RBIs each. 

Sarah Koskela had a pair of RBIs to pace TFN. 

The loss left Thompson Falls-Noxon with an 11-8 season mark heading into the Divisional round. 

Earlier in the week, the Lady Hawks pounded Plains-Hot Springs (see accompanying story) 19-3, after opening with the win over Eureka. 

In their game versus Eureka, the Lady Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning of play.  Then, after the Lady Lions got on the scoreboard with a single run in the top of the second, Thompson Falls lit up the scoreboard with eight runs in the bottom of the second, giving them a 12-1 lead. 

Eureka scored four runs in the top of the fourth, but it was not enough to avoid a Mercy rule end to the game after the Lady Lions could not score in the top of the fifth. 

Callie McGillis paced the Lady Hawks with three RBI on a 2-3 day at the plate.  Teammate Nevaeh Clawson drove in a pair of runs for the Hawks, while Annalise Fairbank was 2-4, including a double, with one RBI. 

Koskela and Fitchett combined on a four-hitter, striking out nine Lady Lions along the way.