Lady Hawks eliminated at state softball

What turned out to be the final out of the season for the Thompson Falls-Noxon fastpitch softball season was in a way emblematic of the 2025 season.

Trailing 7-5 to Huntley Project in the consolation round of the State B-C championships in Glasgow this past Friday, Lady Hawks’ right fielder Sam Hertel was at the plate. 

On third base was Neveah Christensen, a student at Noxon, who singled in the top of the seventh, advanced to second on a passed ball and reached third on a ground out. 

Prior to her single, Hertel worked the count full on Huntley Project pitcher Kyann Dean after fouling off several pitches.  It was coach Jared Koskela’s small ball in action along with the team’s season-long never quit approach to the game. 

But Christensen ended up stranded at third when the game ended with a ground ball out, eliminating Thompson Falls-Noxon and ending their season with a 14-13-1 record. 

TFN opened their third straight state tournament appearance with a 15-0 loss to pre-tourney favorite, 21-0 Shepherd, which advanced to the tournament final against Manhattan. 

T Falls-Noxon, the fourth seed from the Western divisional, also met Shepherd in the first-round last year, falling 10-0. 

But last year, the Hawks rebounded and defeated Glasgow 8-5 to stay alive in the consolation round. 

In their win over T Falls, Huntley Project overcame home runs by the Lady Hawks all-state catcher, senior Sarah Koskela and senior teammate Teagan Saner. 

The two teams had eight hits each during the game.  Huntley was led by Peighton Caster who went 2-3.  Dean went the distance for Huntley, striking out four Lady Hawks while surrendering three walks for the game. 

Koskela, who will take her softball skills to Miles City Community College next season on an athletic scholarship, and Christensen had two RBIs each for T Falls.  Saner was 1-3 with one RBI. 

In their tourney opener, the Lady Hawks ran into the Fillies from Shepherd, who took a 4-0 lead after one inning of play, then increased it to 6-0 after two frames. 

Then, in the bottom of the third, the Fillies erupted for nine runs, putting them up 15-0 and invoking the Mercy rule that ended the game after three innings. 

Shepherd had 13 hits during the game, while Fillie’s pitching limited the Lady Hawks to two hits. Bree Fulton and Lauren Anderson both went 2-3 with four RBIs each for Shepherd. 

Fitchett had both hits for Thompson Falls-Noxon.