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KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of May 4.
Monday
7 p.m. — Rosary Rattlers vs. Washington Generals
8 p.m. — Poi Time vs. Parish
9 p.m. — Parish vs. HoopballasTuesday
7 p.m. — Crib Crew vs. Someday Starters
8 p.m. — Moof’s Dawgs vs. Poi TimeWednesday
7 p.m. —ButteSports vs. Hoopballas
8 p.m. —Someday Starters vs. Washington GeneralsThursday
7 p.m. —ButteSports vs. Rosary Rattlers
8 p.m. —Someday Starters vs. Moof’s Dawgs
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Five 49s lead Week 3 of trap league
Riley Rigby, Ken Rustad, Garrett St. Clair, Larry St. Clair and Jake Taverna each broke 49 out of 50 targets to top individual standings during Week 3 of the Butte Trap Club’s spring league.
Rich Long, Tim Cassidy and Dean Vesco each broke 48 targets, while Kohlton Fultz, Les Anderson and James Little each shot a 47. (Results)
Anna Ledden’s 45 topped women’s shooters. Michelle Andrene shot a 41, while Andrea Largent shot a 33.
Taverna’s 48 led wobble scores. Mel Kie and Chris Andersen each shot a 41 on the wobble.
Through three weeks, Triple S Construction sits atop team scratch standings at 562. WET 1 is next at 539, followed by Pro Repair at 535.
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Episode No. 343: John Kovacich
John Kovacich is going to double dip this summer as the Butte Sports Hall of Fame inducts its 20th class.
John will finally go in as an individual inductee during the July 24-25 ceremonies at the Butte Civic Center. He was voted into the Hall by the selection committee earlier this year.
John will also go in as a member of the 1972 Mile High All-Star baseball team. That team is still Butte’s only 12-year-old (and under) Little League baseball team to win a state title and advance to the West Regional in San Bernardino, California.
Oh, and John was a member of the 1977 Butte High state championship football team that was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. John was a first-team All-State defensive back and a second-team All-State punter on the team that finished the season with an 11-0 record. The Bulldogs gave up just 20 total points that season, and it was named as Butte High’s best team of the 20th Century by Pat Kearney.
John, who also started two seasons on Butte High’s basketball team, took his talents to the University of Montana. He helped the Grizzlies win the 1982 Big Sky Conference football title.
Today, John is retired and living in Missoula, though that’s not how he puts it. He says he’s from Butte and vacationing in Missoula.
Earlier today, I met with John inside the Vault at the Metals Sports Bar & Grill for a fun conversation. Listen in as John talks about playing for championship teams in Little League, high school and college.
Listen as he talks about many of his coaches and teammates and how he is still connected with so many of those great people. Listen as he talks about joining so many of them in the Butte Sports Hall of Fame.
Today’s episode is presented by Thriftway Super Stops. Download the TLC app and start saving today.
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No. 342: Shirley Chesterfield-Stanton
Shirley Chesterfield-Stanton will be inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame this July.
She is one of the many overdue members of the Class of 2026. While some might not have recognized that name when the class was announced in February, Shirley was well known in Helena.
The retired physical education teacher spent 40 years coaching at Helena Capital. She coached gymnastics and track, and her teams won multiple state titles in both sports. She also served as announcer for Helena Capital football, basketball and volleyball.
Shirley was a star in track, gymnastics and volleyball at Montana State University from 1972 through 1976. She qualified for the National Track & Field Championships in 1975. She was also a part of four state championship softball teams.
That athletic career got its start in the Mining City, after her parents moved to town when she was in the sixth grade. In the days before Title IX, Shirley grew up dreaming of competing in sports. There were not a lot of opportunities for girls, however.
She played volleyball at Emerson Elementary before competing in track, gymnastics and cross country at Butte High. Then, the girls had to wear smaller letters on their letter jackets, as not to offend the boys.
Today, girls have all kinds of opportunities in sports. That is largely because of the determination and perseverance of people like Shirley, who dedicated her life to athletics.
Shirley was inducted into the Montana Coaches Association Hall of fame in 2002, the Helena Sports Hall of Fame in 2009, and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018. The Montana Coaches Association awarded her the National Distinguished Service award in 2024.
This July, she will finally take her rightful place in the Butte Sports Hall of Fame.
Today’s episode is presented by the Kvichak Fish Co. Think of it as salmon and halibut gone Girl Scout cookie. Place your order today.
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Ryan Hanson shines at Top 10 meet
Maroons grab wins on diamonds
MISSOULA —Ryan Hanson was not intimidated by the top competition Tuesday at Missoula County Stadium.
The Butte High senior posted a pair of personal-best marks to lead Mining City athletes at the Russ Pilcher Top 10 Meet. (Results)
Hanson won the long jump with a mark of 21 feet, 6 ¾ inches. He beat second-place Tamret Savik of Bigfork by a half an inch.
Hanson also reached a personal-best by clearing 6 feet, 4 inches to place second in the high jump. That is his best mark while officially competing for the Bulldogs. He also cleared 6-4 in an indoor meet in early March.
Landon Richards of Superior won the event by clearing 6-8.
Both of Hanson’s marks Tuesday would have qualified him for the Class AA State meet. Of course, he already reached qualifying standards in both events.
Fellow Butte High senior Camden Houchin placed fourth in the 1,600-meter race. The future Montana State Bobcat finished with a personal-best time of 4 minutes, 29.33 seconds.
Also for Butte High’s boys, senior Jacob Galle took seventh in the 110-meter hurdles, junior Brady Walsh took ninth in the long jump, and Colt Stenson finished 10th in the discus.
Butte High’s 1,600-meter relay team of Raeder Grey, Galle, Reece Cunneen and Houchin placed 10th.
Butte Central’s Danny McCartthy ran to ninth place in the 100.
On the girls’ side, Bulldog junior Cadence Graham ran to fifth place in the 300 hurdles and sixth in the 100 hurdles. She posted a personal-best time in each event. She finished the 100 hurdles in 15.99 and 46.61 in the 300 hurdles.
Both times qualified Graham for the Class AA State meet.
Graham also ran a leg of Butte High’s 1,600-meter relay team, which placed eighth. Evelyn Smth, Sophia Houchin and Wakely Burelson also ran a leg for the Bulldogs.
Butte High will compete at Butte Central’s John Tomich Invitational Saturday at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. The Bulldogs will also send a team to Friday’s Western AA Frosh Meet in Missoula.
McCarthy, Kellicut, Tippett win at Boulder track meet
BOULDER — Butte Central’s Danny McCarthy, Palmer Kellicut and Evyn Tippett posted wins to lead Butte Central’s track teams Friday at the Jefferson Invitational. (Results)
East Helena ran away with the boys’ title, scoring 153 points. Townsend took second at 91, finishing four points better than the host Panthers. Central placed sixth at 36,
On the girls’ side, Boulder won with 139 points. Townsend was second at 72, and Manhattan Christian placed third at 63. The Maroons took eighth in the 11-team meet with 19 points.
McCarthy, a junior, won the 100-meter race with a time of 11.44 seconds. He placed second in the 200.
Kellicut won the 110-meter hurdles, cross the finish line in 15.85 seconds. He also ran to third place in the 300 hurdles.
Also for the BC boys, freshman Henley Mansanit took fifth in the high jump.
Tippett, a freshman, won the girls’ 100-meter race, finishing in 13.88 seconds. She placed fourth in the 200.
Senior Caden Tippett placed fifth in the shot put for the Maroons, while freshman Harper McGree placed sixth in the 200.
Maroons rally for win
A seventh-inning rally carried Butte Central’s softball team to a 6-4 win over East Helena Tuesday in East Helena. (Boxscore)
The Maroons scored three runs in the top of the last inning. Natalie Osterman started the rally by working a walk. Kenzie McQueary was hit by a pitch before Kodee Badovinac reached on a one-out error, and Osterman and McQueary scored.
Badovinac raced home on a second error on the play.
Braelynn Schelin got the Vigilantes to go down in order, preserving the victory. Schelin pitched the distance, striking out 14 Vigilantes to get the win.
BC’s offense used five hits and took advantage of six East Helena errors. Blake Smith, McQueary, Badovinac, Zayonna Otherbull and Ryan Olson singled in the win. Badovinac drove in two runs. Olson knocked in one.
The win came three days after the Maroons split a pair of Southwestern A games in the Bitterroot Valley. Central went to Stevensville for a 7-5 win before falling 9-8 at Hamilton.
Luci Fantini blasted a home run, and Schelin hit a double and a single to lead the Maroons in the win over Stevi. (Boxscore) Schelin drove in a pair of runs.
Osterman poked two singles, while Smith hit one. Schelin pitched the distance, fanning nine in the win.
Emma Tan homered and Maddix Yaeger hit a pair of doubles and a single to lead the Yellowjackets.
Central’s rally in Hamilton came up just a little short. (Boxscore) One week after falling 15-0 to the Broncs, BC scored four runs in the top of the seventh.
Mariah Johnson went 3 for 3 with a walk, and RBI and four runs scored from the leadoff spot to lead the Broncs. Addalyn Henderson doubled, and Hayleigh Savage and Dawsyn Ekin each hit two singles for Hamilton.
McQueary, Osterman and Otherbull doubled to lead the Maroons. Smith and Schelin each added a pair of singles. Fantini and Badovinac also hit a single.
McQueary drove in a pair of runs. Osterman, Badovinac, Schelin and Otherbull knocked in one.
The Maroons are back in action Thursday when they welcome Livingston to Stodden Park for a 3 p.m. game. That game was originally scheduled for March 28.
Bailey blast Bulldog softball
Bailey Bridger belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning Monday, lifting Missoula Sentinel to a 9-8 over the Butte High softball team. (Boxscore)
The game-winning blast came after the Bulldogs took an 8-7 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the inning.
Alyssa Hanninen, who struck out nine in the complete-game win, also homered for the Spartans. Payton Taylor hit two doubles, while Ella Wingo and Gigi Nimlos each hit one.
Kendallyn Schad went 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs to lead the Bulldogs in the loss.
Ally Godbout, Gracie Jonart and Mattie Stepan added doubles, while Brittyn Klima, Allie Becker and Brea Henderson each hit a single. Cliry Conway worked a pair of walks, while Reese Johnson walked once.
The loss came after the Bulldogs split a pair of Western AA games in Kalispell.
Butte High beat Flathead 1-0 on Friday. (Boxscore). Less than 24 hours later, Butte High dropped a 12-5 decision to Glacier. (Boxscore)
Klima singled in pinch runner Savannah Stosich with the game’s only run in the top of the first inning against Flathead.
Henderson took over from there. The freshman pitcher struck out eight batters and allowed just three hits in the complete-game win. She walked one.
Butte High got four hits off Flathead pitcher June Stickney, who struck out eight in the hard-luck loss. Jonart, Becker and Conway added singles for the Bulldogs.
A nine-run fourth inning sunk the Bulldogs in Saturday’s battle with Glacier.
Ava Grady hit a home run and two doubles to lead the Wolfpack. She drove in five runs. Addyson Cunningham also homered in the win, and Olivia Warriner struck out 11 Bulldogs.
Schad hit a double and a single to lead the Bulldogs. She also worked a walk. Jonart and Klima each hit a single and drove in two runs. Becker singled in one run.
Butte High will head to Billings later this week for three non-conference games. The Bulldogs play Billings West on Friday. They will stay overnight to take on Skyview and Senior on Friday.
BC grabs pair of wins
Butte Central once again saw its game against Butte High washed out by wet weather on Monday.
The Maroons, though, still picked up home victories since last report.
The Maroons pounded Townsend 16-4 Tuesday afternoon at 3 Legends Stadium. (Boxscore) That came three days after Saturday’s 10-6 win over Livingston. (Boxscore)
Tuesday’s victory over Townsend was called after five innings by the run rule.
Colt Hassler and Kelton Berger each went 2 for three with three RBIs to lead BC’s 10 hit attack against Townsend. Leadoff hitter Trapper Stajcar went 3 for 4 with two RBIs. He also joined Hassler, Gunnar O’Brien, Jack Nagle and Beau McGree with two runs scored.
Nagle and Berger tripled in the win.
McGree and O’Brien singled for the Maroons. Cohen Stajcar worked a pair of walks. Drew Kachmarik, Nagle, O’Brien and McGree each walked once.
Hassler, Nagle and Kelsen Brackett pitched in the win.
Keaton Boylan tripled and singled to lead the Bulldogs, who managed five hits. Traven Chamberlin hit two singles, and Luke Tullos added one.
O’Brien had a big game at the dish and on the bump to lead BC past Livingston. He pitched six innings to grab the victory. He struck out four and worked around six walks.
At the plate, O’Brien went 3 for 3 with a walk and three runs scored.
Brackett and Berger doubled, while McGree hit two singles to knock in two runs. Berger also hit a single, as did Nagle and Cohen Stajcar. McGree, Berger and Nagle each knocked in two runs.
Hassler got the last three outs on the mound, helping O’Brien complete the three-hit win.
Ben Cipriani, Lliam Edwards and Brentin Allgood hit singles for the Rangers.
The Maroons are back in action Friday when they head to East Helena to take on the Vigilantes.
Dogs back in action
Thanks to Monday’s postponement with Butte Central, Butte High’s baseball teams did not play since last Tuesday’s loss at Missoula Big Sky.
Butte High is primed for two home games this week, and it looks like the weather forecast will cooperate this time as the Kalispell schools come to town for Western AA games at 3 Legends Stadium.
Butte High will host Flathead at 2 p.m. Friday before taking on Glacier at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The Bulldogs split with the Kalispell teams earlier this month in Kalispell. Butte High rolled to a 21-5 win over Flathead before falling 1-0 to the Wolfpack.
A makeup date for Butte High’s game against Butte Central has not yet been set.
Tennis teams set for home matches
No reports from recent action from the Butte High and Butte Central tennis teams have been received in time for this report.
The Maroons were set to play Saturday in Anaconda, while the Bulldogs were headed to ta Western AA meet in Missoula.
Butte Central’s teams will be at home Friday to take on Lewistown at Stodden Park. Butte High’s junior varsity teams will get in on that action.
The Bulldog varsity teams will head to Missoula Saturday to play with Glacier, Flathead and Missoula Sentinel. Butte High will be at home next Tuesday as Missoula Big Sky, Sentinel and Belgrade come to town.
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These 17 keep Mariah’s message alive
When you tell somebody that you quit drinking, you will get immediate compliments and congratulations.
People you hardly know will be taken aback, and they will be proud of you. I know this because I quit drinking alcohol 18 and a half years ago.
My last drink came early in the morning of Oct. 28, 2007. It was two weeks before the birth of our second child.
I was also on a collision course with a divorce because I did not have an off switch when I drank alcohol. One was too many and 24 was not enough. I needed to quit, but I did not know that I needed to quit.
Until Oct. 28, that is.
That, however, is not a date I celebrate because there is nothing good about that date in my eyes. Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007 was when my good friend Leo McCarthy lost his daughter.
I spent that Saturday working for The Montana Standard. I covered Montana Tech’s Senior Day football game against Montana Western.
After writing the story of Tech’s 28-21 win over the Bulldogs, I helped put the sports pages together before sneaking out the front door of the paper to unwind at Maloney’s Bar just before midnight. Co-workers heard the call over the police scanner not long after I left.
The call was for three 14-year-old Butte girls who were hit by an underage drunk driver as they walked on a trail along Blacktail Lane. Mariah McCarthy was flown to Missoula, where she was pronounced dead.
Her friends, Valerie Kilmer and Kaitlyn Okrusch, suffered injuries that kept them in the local hospital for several days. Their physical wounds eventually healed, but the emotional scars will likely be there forever.
Before that night, I was perfectly content living a dangerous and destructive lifestyle. I was fine with our culture that accepted drunk driving and underage drinking as something we all just do sometimes.
When someone we knew got arrested for driving drunk, we would blame the police officer. Our first question would inevitably be, “Who was the cop?” We would turn into defense attorneys, feeling sorry for ourselves and our friends as we put our lives — and the lives of strangers — in jeopardy because it was too tough to take a cab ride home.
That one October night, tough, changed everything.
The news that my friend lost his daughter, who was 10 years older than my oldest daughter, hit me hard. The sad days in the aftermath of the tragedy completely took away my desire to drink.
Instead of picturing myself in the shoes of the driver of the crash, like we too often do, I could only see myself in Leo’s shoes. I kept hugging and kissing my daughter to the point that I was bugging her that Sunday and the rest of the following week.
Several days after the tragedy, I made a promise to my little girl that I would never drink again, and I have lived up to that promise for nearly two decades.
That promise was made because the death of Mariah made me take a long, hard look in the mirror. I decided that if my children were going to grow up to drink and drive, they would not learn it from me.
Following the lead of Leo, I decided I was going to do my part to break the destructive cycle.
Along with his wife, Janice, and daughter, Jenna, Leo started Mariah’s Challenge. At Mariah’s funeral, Leo promised Mariah’s friends that if they did their part to break the cycle, he would have scholarship money for them to go to college.
He thought he was talking to just a few friends, but it turns out an entire community was listening. In April of 2009, the first Mariah’s Challenge Scholarships were awarded to 31 high school seniors.
Since then, Mariah’s Challenge has doled out a half a million dollars, $1,000 at a time. This May 21, we will see 17 more “Mariah’s Messengers,” as Leo calls them, awarded a scholarship at a ceremony at Montana Tech.
Those recipients are Xaiden Daly, Ava Field, Ally Godbout, Preston Jensen, Kylah Johnson, McKenna LeCoure, Peyton Liva, Jaydyn Mason, Caden Phillips, Reece Zahler and Ziggy Okrusch of Butte High; Molly Peck, Will McGree, Ryan Peoples and Caden Tippett of Butte Central; Brayden Villasenor of Anaconda; and Butte native Marcus Schutey of East Helena.
They will be honored for living by the ideals of Mariah’s Challenge, which means refraining for drinking under age and never getting into a vehicle driven by someone who is impaired.
That is no easy task.
My sobriety, which followed a decade and a half of partying hard, actually came easy for me. That is because I had so much positive reinforcement.
Sure, it took several weeks to convince my friends and coworkers that I was really giving up the booze. Eventually, though, they knew that I meant it, and they were proud of me.
My wife was proud of me, and so was my little girl. As our next two children started to grow up, they, too, were impressed that they never saw me with a drink in my hand. They never saw me drunk, and I think they all know that I made the change for them.
My parents were proud of me, and so were my grandparents before they passed. People I don’t even know were proud of me.
To this day, if I bring up, even strangers will tell me how proud they are.
Literally every day of my life, I find some sort of positive reinforcement to stay away from alcohol. There is plenty of negative reinforcement, too, because I still remember how destructive of a lifestyle I was living.
But it is the positive support that makes the difference.
What these 17 Mariah’s Messengers have accomplished, however, has come despite experience the exact opposite. They live every day under constant peer pressure to drink. They often must sacrifice friendships because they are standing by their convictions.
I saw that firsthand when my oldest daughter went to her last prom four years ago. After pictures and dinner with friends, she came home for an hour or so to wait for the dance to start.
She did that because all her friends were going to a hotel room to drink. The room was booked by some parents of her friends, and I think they might have provided the booze, too.
Delaney stayed away from that because of the pact we made in the days after Mariah’s death. It was a decision that could not have been easy. It was a decision that cost her friends.
That is the kind of decision the 17 scholarship winners from 2026 must make all the time. While I believe that the younger generations are light years ahead of mine when it comes to avoiding drinking and driving, alcohol still plays a very dominant role in our culture.
These young men and women were not around to when the tragedy that took Mariah shook our community, so their commitment is probably much more difficult to live up to than the first classes of scholarship winners.
Making things worse is that we offer very little for our teenagers to do a night. We lost our indoor movie theater, and we have no mall or teen center for them to gather.
Butte has turned into the town from the great Hal Ketchum song “Small Town Saturday Night.” We are basically daring our kids to go to the outskirts of town and drink, and the clock is only ticking on the next inevitable tragedy.
That is why these 17 Mariah’s Messengers — and the 500 or so who preceded them — are so special. That is why their commitment is so important.
If one of these 17 is on your graduation list, double the amount you were planning to put in that graduation card.
More importantly, tell them how amazing they are and how much you admire their dedication, strength and courage. Give them that same positive reinforcement that you would give to a stranger who told you he quit drinking.
Tell them thank you for keeping Mariah’s message going strong 18 and a half years after she left us.
— Bill Foley can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
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Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Gunnar O’Brien and Brittyn Klima
Butte Central junior Gunnar O’Brien and Butte High junior Brittyn Klima are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
O’Brien takes home the boys’ honor after a strong start to the baseball season. O’Brien started and pitched six innings to lead the Maroons to a 10-6 win over Livingston Saturday at 3 Legends Stadium. He struck out four batters and gave up three earned runs.
O’Brien also went 3 for 3 with a walk and three runs scored to lead the BC offense. Through six games, O’Brien leads the Maroons with a .588 batting average and a 1.417 OPS. He has a double, triple, eight RBIs and 10 runs scored.
On the bump, O’Brien is 2-0 with 18 strikeouts in 17 and two thirds innings pitched.
Klima takes home the girls’ honor after a break-out week at the plate for the Butte High softball team. In four games, the Butte High designated hitter batted 6 for 13 (.462) with eight RBIs as the Bulldogs went 2-2 in Western AA games.
Her week included a home run in Butte’s 11-3 home win over Missoula Hellgate. She drove in the lone run of the game as the Bulldogs beat Flathead 1-0 in Kalispell. She went 3 for 3 in Tuesday’s 13-3 home loss to Missoula Big Sky.
The big week raised Klima’s season batting average to .360. Her OPS is now at 1.007. Klima’s season includes three doubles and that home run.
For the fourth year, Leskovar Honda, home of the non-commission sales staff that always has your back, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest student-athletes from the Mining City to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photo of O’Brien courtesy Jay “Hollywood” Foley. Photo of Klima provided by Tony DiFronzo.
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Bulldog-Maroon baseball games postponed again
Butte High’s baseball games with Butte Central set for Monday have been postponed because of the snow on Sunday, the Bulldogs announced this evening.
This marks the second time the Bulldogs and Maroons have been wiped out by wet weather. Butte High was supposed to play BC March 31.
A makeup date for the games — one varsity and one junior varsity — has not yet been announced.
The Bulldogs are set to play host to Flathead and Glacier on Friday and Saturday. The Maroons are scheduled to play host to Townsend Tuesday before heading to East Helena on Friday.
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KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of April 27.
Monday
7 p.m. — Parish vs. Someday Starters
8 p.m. — Parish vs. Rosary RattlersTuesday
7 p.m. — Crib Crew vs. Moof’s Dawgs
8 p.m. — Hoopballas vs. Someday StartersWednesday
7 p.m. — Moof’s Dawgs vs. ButteSports
8 p.m. — Washington Generals vs. Rosary Rattlers
9 p.m. — Poi Time vs. Someday StartersThursday
7 p.m. — Washington Generals vs. Hoopballas
8 p.m. — ButteSports vs. Poi Time -
Dahlberg, Optimist wiped out
Friday’s snow has forced the cancellation of two of the premier track meets in the state.
The Harry “Swede” Dahlberg Invitational in Butte and the Optimist meet in Great Falls have been called off, Butte High announced today.
The meets will not be made up.
Next up for the Bulldogs is the Top 10 meet, which is Tuesday in Missoula. The Bulldogs will send their full teams to Butte Central’s John Tomich Invitational on May 2.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 