The 2025-26 high school sports season will come to an end this weekend.

What a busy weekend it will be. Butte High will host the Class AA State baseball tournament at 3 Legends Stadium, while the Bulldog girls head to Missoula for the Class AA State softball tournament.

Meanwhile, 40 track athletes — 31 from Butte High and nine from Butte Central — will compete in state track meets. Butte High will head to Missoula for the Class AA meet. BC’s athletes will be in Laurel for the Class A meet.

We will take a look at off of that and more as we take a lap around the last week of Mining City Sports.

Bulldogs face Raptors in opener

Miners Field at 3 Legends Stadium will feature four games a day Thursday through Saturday at the inaugural Class AA State tournament. (Bracket)

This is the fourth year of high school baseball in Montana, but it is the first season in which enough teams played to break up the teams into classifications.

Butte High will play the third game of the day Thursday, taking on Gallatin at 4 p.m. The Raptors are the No. 1 seed from the Eastern AA. The Bulldogs are the No. 4 seed from the Western AA.

Great Falls Russell (No. 2 Eastern AA) will battle Kalispell Glacier (No. 3 Western AA) in the opener at 10 a.m. Missoula Sentinel (No. 1 Western AA) faces Bozeman (No. 4 Eastern AA) at 12:30 p.m.

Billings Wester (No. 3 Eastern) will play Missoula Big Sky (No. 2 Western AA) in the 6:30 p.m. nightcap.

This is not a true double-elimination. One loss will end a team’s title hopes, although a team can lose and still battle back to place third.

Coach Jim LeProwse’s Bulldogs (7-9) booked a spot in the tournament with last Friday’s 5-4 walk-off win over Kalispell Flathead at 3 Legends Stadium. Gallatin (15-1) won the Eastern AA regular-season crown, earning a bye to state.

The Raptors beat Butte High 11-4 March 27 in Butte. That was the first game in school history. Gallatin lost its first game May 14, a 5-4 decision to the Bozeman Hawks. The Raptors beat Bozeman 16-0 in April.

Shortstop Louis Musial hit a triple and two doubles to lead the Raptors the last time they played in Butte. Braeden Mathews and Cody Smith also doubled.

Starter Wyatt Ford struck out eight batters in just three innings of work.

Senior shortstop Cayde Stajcar leads the Bulldogs with a .413 batting average.  His season included 14 extra-base hits — seven doubles, four home runs and three triples. Senior Gunnar Bushman and sophomores Teagan Duffy and Kodye Kjersten are the only other Bulldogs to hit homers. Bushman catches, Duffy plays first base, and the speedy Kjersten plays right field.

Calvin Cunningham, a sophomore third baseman who returned for the playoff game after missing four games with a hip injury, hit 409 on the regular season. Kjersten hit .352, while Bushman hit .306.

Senior center fielder Logan Carden hit .288, followed by Duffy at .264 and junior second baseman Evan McEwen hit .244. Freshman Chase Nasheim has played left field most of the season, while junior Cole Solomon and seniors Brooks Vincent and Grady Foley have started at a few games at first base or designated hitter.

Freshman Zyler Peterson has also seen time at third base, and sophomore Tucker Kissell, a catcher on the junior varsity team, has seen time as a runner.

Senior Chase Lubick will likely get the start in the opener for the Bulldogs. He threw 38 and a two thirds innings during the regular season. Sophomore Noah Powers, junior Hunter Davies, McEwen, Solomon, Vincent, Cunningham, Kjersten and Peterson have also pitched for the Bulldogs this season.

The winner of the Butte-Gallatin game will advance to Friday’s 6:30 p.m. semifinal against West or Big Sky. The loser will move to loser-out play at 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

Butte girls face Golden Bears

Butte High will open the Class AA State softball tournament at 4 p.m. Thursday. The Bulldogs will take on Billings West (15-3), the No. 1 seed from the Eastern AA at the Fort Missoula Regional Park.

The tournament will begin at 2 p.m. when Kalispell Glacier (No. 1 Western AA) takes on Great Falls Russell (No. 4 Eastern AA) and Belgrade (No. 2 Eastern AA) faces Missoula Big Sky (o. 3 Western AA). Missoula Sentinel (No. 2 Western AA) will play Billings Senior (No. 3 Eastern AA) at 4.

Butte High qualified for the tournament Thursday with a 7-0 playoff win over Helena Capital. Coach Ryan Stosich’s Bulldogs enter the tournament red hot. They have won six straight and seven out of their last eight games.

Junior first baseman Kendallyn Schad and senior right fielder Gracie Jonart hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning to put the Bulldogs on top 3-0. Junior shortstop Allie Becker added a three-run blast for Butte High.

Freshman pitcher Brea Henderson was once again lights out. She struck out nine batters and surrendered just three singles in the shutout victory.

Henderson has racked up 113 innings through 18 games. She carries a 3.22 ERA with 107 strikeouts compared to 41 walks.

Schad is hitting a team-best .390 batting average (for players with more than 10 plate appearances).  Senior catcher Mattie Stepan is hitting .385, while Becker is hitting .364 and Jonart is batting .311.

Stepan and Henderson lead the team with three home runs on the season. Becker has two bombs, while junior Brittyn Klima joins Schad and Jonart with one.

Sophomore Cliry Conway, senior Ally Godbout and junior Reese Johnson have been dependable players for the Bulldogs.

Junior Avery Barsness, freshmen Lilly Sandoval, Aspen Shaffer, Taylor Regan and Elli Graham have also contributed for the Bulldog varsity team, as has eighth grader Savannah Stosich.

Shaffer and sophomore Rigby Bauer have also pitched for the Bulldog varsity squad this season.

Butte High fell 11-0 to West April 30 in Billings. Tayten Abrahms hit two homer runs and Asa Edwards added one for the Bears in that win. Tatum Bush struck out 14 batters in 14 innings.

After that loss, though, the Bulldogs turned their season around.

Saturday’s championship game will be played at the University of Montana stadium.

Dogs send 31 to state

The field at the Class AA State meet at Missoula County Stadium will include 31 Butte High Bulldogs. (Schedule)

The three-day tournament, which runs in conjunction with the Class B meet, kicks off at 4 p.m. Thursday with the girls’ pole vault competition.

Butte High is coming off a Western AA Divisional meet that saw the Bulldogs finish sixth on the girls’ side and seventh on the boys’ side. (Results)

Seniors Jacob Galle and Ryan Hanson will be the busiest Bulldog boys in the meet. Galle will compete in the 100- and 200-meter races along with the 110- and 300-meter hurdles races. He will also run the 1,600-meter relay along with teammates Chase Choquette, Reece Cunneen and Bridger Luebke.

Hanson will compete in the high jump, long jump and triple jump. His sophomore brother, Brady Hanson, qualified in the high jump.

Cunneen will also run the 400 for the Bulldogs. Miner Lee will run the 200-meter race. He will also compete in the 400-meter relay with Preston Jensen, Jory Xavier and Bridger Stearns.

Brady Walsh will run the 100 and jump in the long jump.

Jaeger Hansen will look to build in his second-place performance at last year’s state meet in the javelin. He has been peaking late in the season.

Seniors Camden Houchin and Levi Wiltsie are Bulldog distance runners looking for metals. Houchin, a future Montana State Bobcat, will run the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. Wiltsie, who signed to run at the University of Providence in Great Falls, will compete in the 3,200.

Bradey Doyle will compete in the pole vault, and Raeder Grey will run the 300 hurdles. Tyce Snow and Rhett Arntson will make the trip as relay alternates.

On the girls’ side, sophomore Wakely Burelson and Cadence Graham will each compete in three events for the Bulldogs.

Graham will run the 100- and 300-meter hurdles as well as a leg of the 400-meter relay along with Burelson, Autumn Clary and Kloe Dickinson. Burelson will also run the 400-meter race and the 1,600 relay with teammates Sophia Houchin, Evelyn Smith and Clary.

Saege Grey will run the 100- and 200-meter races. Houchin will also run the 800-meter race, Kate DeShaw will compete in the long jump, Emma Johnson will throw the discus, Valerie Trabert will compete in the pole vault, and eighth grader Peyton Poole will throw the javelin.

Franki Salusso and Penelope Luebke will make the trip as alternates.

Nine Maroons head to Laurel

Laurel will once again play host to the Class A State meet. (Schedule)

Butte Central will send nine athletes to compete after last week’s Western A Divisional in Frenchtown. (Results)

Palmer Kellicut, Danny McCarthy and Will McGree will represent the Butte Central boys. Kellicut, a sophomore, will run the 110-meter hurdles, and McCarthy, a junior, will run the 100.

McGree, a senior, will compete in the triple jump.

Central’s girls will only compete in the relay races. Cambri Campbell, Harper McGree, Lexa Thompson and Evyn Tippett are signed up to run the 400-meter relay. Caden Tippett and Ashley White are listed as alternates.

Campbell, McGree, Evyn Tippett and White will run the 1,600. Thompson is an alternate in that event.

Tennis season closes

Butte High and Butte Central did not send any tennis players to their respective state tournaments. The Bulldogs and Maroons, though, had a few near misses at divisional tournaments.

Butte Central hosted the Central A Divisional tournament last week at Stodden Park. (Results) Butte High competed in a divisional tournament in Missoula.

Two Butte High doubles teams came within one win of advancing to the Class AA State tournament in Kalispell. Josh Schraeder and Matthew Weldon teamed up and fell on win short of the third-place match on in boys’ doubles. Chloe Jewell and Sienna Bradley did the same in girls’ doubles.

Tashi Hanley came within on win of state in boys’ singles.

At the Central A tournament in Butte, Central’s Presli Smith-Anderson and Tessa Ganzenmueller came within one win of qualifying for the Class A State tournament in Harden. They received a first-round bye before dropping their second-round match. They then won two matches before bowing out.

On the boys’ side, Aidan McPartland and Connor Hardy each picked up a victory on the consolation side of the bracket.