Butte High’s softball team and the Bulldog and Butte Central baseball teams will be looking for trips to their state tournaments this week.

The Butte High teams will be playing at home, while the Maroons hit the road.

That comes as the Butte High and BC track and tennis teams head to their respective divisional tournaments. We will take a look at those upcoming events and more as we take a trip around this week in Mining City sports. That includes a basketball star who decided where she will continue her career at the college level.

Red-hot Bulldogs host Bruins

Butte High rides a five-game winning streak into Thursday’s Western AA play-in softball game against Helena Capital at Stodden Park.

First pitch is 3 p.m., and Butte High needs to win once to book its first trip to the Class AA State tournament since 2018. Capital must win twice to move on. The second game, if necessary, would be right after Game 1.

The Bulldogs (10-7) have won six out of their last seven games after dumping Helena High at home Thursday before battling back for an exciting win at Missoula Big Sky on Saturday.

Butte High and Capital split their regular-season series. The Bulldogs edged the Bruins 5-4 last Tuesday at Stodden Park. Capital won 7-4 April 14 in Helena.

Butte High enters the postseason after Saturday’s thrilling 8-7 win in eight innings at Big Sky. (Bosxcore) The Bulldogs fell behind 5-0 in the first inning, but battled back for the victory.

Allie Becker scored one a dropped third strike to take the lead for good in the top of the eighth inning.

The game went extra innings because freshman pitcher Brea Henderson blasted a game-tying home run over the centerfield fence to knot the game at 6 in the sixth inning.

Henderson overcame the rough start in the wet, cold weather to go the distance in the win. She hit the team’s only extra-base hit.

Brittyn Klima belted two singles, while Mattie Stepan and Cliry Conway each hit one. Logan

Latrielle homered for the Eagles. Briella Wilson, Peyton Walters and Sara Bjornson doubled.

That win came two days after the Bulldogs beat Helena High 8-1 at Stodden. (Boxscore) Henderson pitched the distance, fanning 11, in that victory.

She and Stepan each hit a double and a single in the win. Gracie Jonart hit two singles, while Klima, and Becker each hit one. Jonart and Savannah Stosich each drove in a pair of runs. Stosich also scored twice.

Maroons close season

Butte Central’s softball season came to an end Thursday with an 8-7 loss to Dillon at Stodden Park. (Boxscore)

Reese Jensen singled in Kaitlyn Konen in the top of the seventh inning to give the Beavers an 8-6 lead. BC got back on the board when Arika Stajcar hit a sacrifice fly to score Ryan Olson in the bottom of the inning.

That, though, is where the rally ended for the Maroons, who needed to win — and win big — to qualify for a play-in game.

Leadoff hitter Tymber Barnes went 4 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBIs to lead the Beavers in the win. Barnes also doubled, wand Maisy Hutchinson belted a home run. Hutchinson was joined by Ashlyn Burk with a two-hit game.

Braelynn Schelin and Zayonna Otherbull doubled for the Maroons. Kenzie McQueary, Luci Fantini, Jordyn Samson, Olson and Stajcar singled.

Schelin struck out 10 batters in the season-ending loss, which came after the Maroons saw half of the Laverne Combo Invitational wiped out by rain and snow on Saturday.

Central opened the tournament Friday with a 5-2 win over Sidney. (Boxscore) Then they fell 21-0 to Frenchtown. (Boxscore)

Schelin pitched the distance and struck out seven against Sidney. That game was called by the time limit after five innings.

McQueary was a single shy of the cycle. The shortstop went 3 for 3 with a homer, double and triple. She drove in three runs and scored twice. Blake Smith also singled in the win.

Against Frenchtown, Dizzle Smith held the Maroons to three hits. Natalie Osterman doubled, while Kodee Badovinac and Marly Mansanti singled.

The Maroons close the season at 7-10 and with the arrow clearly pointing up.

Bulldog baseball hosts Braves

Butte High’s baseball team is one win away from playing in the inaugural Class AA State tournament, which is set for May 28-30 at 3 Legends Stadium.

The Bulldogs will play host to Kalispell Flathead in a play-in game at 3 p.m. Friday on their home field. Well, the Bulldogs are hoping it is only one game, anyway.

Butte High needs to win one game to advance. Flathead needs to win twice, and a possible second game would start right after the first game if it is necessary.

The Bulldogs (7-9) would be the No. 4 seed from the Western AA if they win.

Butte High and Flathead split in the regular season. The Bulldogs won 21-5 April 3 in Kalispell. The Braves, though, came to Butte for an 11-6 win May 1.

Butte High closed the season last week by splitting with the Great Falls schools. CMR put a damper on Butte High’s Senior Night celebration with an 11-1 victory in five innings. (Boxscore)

The next day, the Bulldogs went to the Electric City to beat Great Falls High 6-4. (Boxscore)

Roehrich Soldano and Kayden Neil each went 3 for 3 with three RBIs to lead the Rustlers, who held the Bulldog bats at bay with three left-handed pitchers. A single by Logan Carden was the lone hit for the Bulldogs, who honored Carden and fellow seniors Cayde Stajcar, Gunner Bushman, Grady Foley, Brooks Vincent and Chase Lubick before the game.

Duece Nichols, Maks Van Miert, Madden Jensen and the right-handed Soldano combined to strike out 12 in the win.

Less than 24 hours later, Stajcar tripled and Carden doubled to lead Butte High in a win over the Bison. Bushman hit a single for Butte High, which took advantage of three Great Falls errors in the win.

Kody Kjersten and Vincent each pitched three innings in the win. Cole Solomon got the save.

BC boys head to Columbus

The Maroons will put their season on the line Friday when they travel to Columbus for a play-in game.

The winner moves on to the next week’s Class A/B State tournament in Polson. The loser goes home. Unlike in the Class AA, this comes down to just one game.

The Maroons (7-6) booked their trip to Columbus with Thursday’s 9-4 win at Livingston. (Boxscore) Two days later, BC traveled the other direction to close the regular season with an 11-4 loss at Florence. (Boxscore)

Gunnar “Goo” O’Brien pitched the distance, and Jack Nagle, Cohen Stajcar and Hugh O’Brien each drove in two runs to lead the Maroons in the win. Beau McGree tripled and drove in a run.

Stajcar, Hugh O’Brien and Treigh Hollow each poked two hits. Trapper Stajcar, Gunnar Obrien and Kelton Berger each hit one in the win.

Goo allowed just four hits, and all were singles. Hansford Tewell, Weston Vincent, Liam Edwards and Carter Nelson poked hits for the Rangers.

Calan Rocco went 4 for 4 with a double and two RBIs to lead Florence in Saturday’s win. The Falcons took advantage of seven BC errors in the win.

Hollow hit two doubles, and Trapper Stajcar hit a double and a single to lead BC. Trapper also drove in two runs. Berger also singled for BC.

Colt Hassler started on the bump and went four innings. He gave up just one earned run.

Dogs roll at home meet

Butte High’s track & field teams cruised to victory on their last appearance this season on the Charlie Merrifield Track.

The Bulldogs easily won a meet with Dillon and Butte Central. (Results)

Butte High’s boys racked up 131 team points in the win. Dillon placed second at 28, while BC scored eight points. On the girls’ side, Butte High won with 86 points. Dillon scored 61, and BC notched 11.

The Bulldog boys chalked up 13 individual victories, with several posting qualifying times for the state meet. Cayde Stajcar and Chase Nasheim took a break from baseball to run to titles.

Stajcar won the 100-meter race with a qualifying time of 11.25 seconds, while Nasheim won the 400-meter race with a time of 53.40 seconds.

Senior Ryan Hanson had another huge day for the Bulldogs. He won the long jump at 6 feet, 2 inches, once again reaching the qualifying mark. He won the triple jump with a personal-best mark of 43-5. That eclipsed the qualifying standard. Hanson also placed second in the long jump.

Jacob Galle again won both hurdles races, and he again reached qualifying times in both. He won the 110-meter hurdles in 14.45, and he finished the 300 hurdles with a personal-best time of 40.21 seconds.

Miner Lee ran to victory in the 200 with a personal-best time of 22.90 seconds. Camden Houchin won the 800 meters with a season-best time of 2:02.52.

Levi Wiltsie, who placed third in the 800, won the 1,600 with a time of 5:06.45.

Colt Stenson won the shot put with a personal-best mark of 44-9. He took third in the discus.

Jaeger Hansen, who placed second in the javelin at state last year, hit a qualifying mark while winning the event. He threw a season-best 169-10. Gannon Sullivan won the discus with a mark of 129-11.

Bradey Doyle won the pole vault, clearing 11 feet, 6 inches, and Preston Jensen placed second in the 200 and third in the 100.

Other Bulldog boys with top-three performances were Charles Killebrew (second in the 400), Lincoln Zell (second in the 800), Raeder Grey (second in the 300 hurdles), Cooper Carter (second in the shot put), Paxton Anderson (second in the discus), Sawyer Casey (second in the javelin), Taylor Olson (second in the pole vault), Chase Choquette (third in the 200), Bridger Luebke (third in the 400), Jason Real (third in the 1,600), Landon Day Purcell (third in the 110 hurdles)and Cohen Andrews (third in the long jump).

The Bulldog boys also swept the relay titles.

Palmer Kellicut led the Maroons, placing second in the 110 hurdles and third in the 300 hurdles. Teammate Danny McCarthy ran to second in the 100.

Butte High’s girls picked up six individual titles on the way to the team win.

Kate DeShaw was the lone double winner for the Bulldogs. She won the long jump with a personal-best jump of 17 feet, 1 ¾ inches. That was good for a qualifying mark. DeShaw also won the triple jump with a season-best mark of 30-8 ¼.

Saege Grey won the 100 meters with a time of 13.39 seconds, and Sophia Houchin claimed the 400 title with a time of 1:01.80. Milee Stillwagon won the 800 in 2:34.43.

Eighth grader Peyton Poole won the javelin with a qualifying mark of 113 feet.

Rylee Erickson placed second in the javelin and third in the 100 hurdles, and Emma Johnson finished second in the discus and third in the shot put. Kloe Dickinson took second in the long jump and third in the triple jump.

Other Bulldogs with top-three places were Wakely Burelson (second in the 200), Penelope Luebke (second in the 400), Lainee Walsh-Hill (second in the 1,600), Valerie Travbert (second in the pole vault), Millie Guay (second in the triple jump), Clara Sigler (third in the long jump), Berkli Salusso (third in the javelin), Katie Breitmeyer (third in the 800), Autumn Clary (third in the 200) and Franki Salusso (third in the 100).

Evyn Tippett was the lone BC girl with a top-three finish. She placed second in the 200.

The Bulldogs will compete at the Western AA Divisional Friday in Helena. BC, meanwhile, will head to the Western A Divisional, which is Friday and Saturday in Frenchtown.

Maroons host tennis divisional

Stodden Park will set the scene Thursday and Friday as Butte Central plays host to the Central A Divisional tennis tournament.

Butte High’s tennis teams will head to their divisional tournament, which is Thursday and Friday in Missoula.

The Class AA State meet will be held next week in Kalispell. The Class A meet will be in Hardin.

Recent results from Butte High and Butte Central’s tennis teams have not been submitted for publication.

Graham signing with Tech

Cadence Graham still has a full school year left in her remarkable career at Butte High.

Here decision as to where she will play college ball, however, has already been made. Graham will head to Montana Tech to play for the Orediggers, who are coached by her father, Jeff Graham.

She will officially sign an NAIA National Letter of Intent to play for the reigning Frontier Conference champion Orediggers during a ceremony at 8 a.m. Thursday at Butte High.

This past season, Cadence Graham became just the second Butte High girl to score 1,000 points in her career. She earned All-State honors after leading the Bulldogs to their second straight appearance in the Class AA State tournament this past season.

Graham finished third in the Class AA with 19.7 points per game. Through four seasons, including a reserve role as an eighth grader, Graham has scored 1,351 career points. She trails only Lexie Nelson (1,696) on the Butte High girls’ all-time list.