POLSON — Nine players is all a softball team needs, and for the 16U Polson Purple Rain, that couldn’t be better news.

Purple Rain coach Larry Smith will only take 10 players to the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA) state tournament in Helena this weekend, and only eight of those are local kids.

“We’ve lost a lot of girls to summer jobs and vacations,” Smith said of the low summer ball turnout.

Luckily for Smith and his players, Brooke Denny of Missoula and Sarah Bonner of Billings were looking for a travel softball team to play with this summer. Perhaps, Smith mused, the notoriety that comes with a high school state championship three-peat has paid off after all.

“We have a pretty good reputation and girls call us and want to play,” Smith said. “We usually turn them down because we want local Polson girls to play, but our numbers were so low, and we needed pitching. They’ve been a tremendous help.”

The out-of-town girls don’t drive across the state to practice with the Purple Rain, but they do trek wherever the Polson party does for weekend tournaments. Missing out on practice doesn’t seem to be too big of a deal anyway, as Smith said proper practices are few and far between, even for the local players.

“We go through these cycles,” the long-time softball coach said. “…We have a tough time working around everybody’s jobs. If we can get them all together once a week, we call that a success.”

Given the low numbers and lack of practice, Smith said his team has performed better than expected over the course of the summer. Those results include a second-place finish at a late-June tournament in Kalispell and another second-place effort at the tournament the Purple Rain hosted in early June.

The glue that holds the team together is do-it-all Jaylin Kenney. Kenney, the starting catcher on Polson High School’s squad, has showed both her versatility and her willingness to sacrifice for the betterment of the team.

“She’s definitely the leader of the team,” Smith said.

Kenney boasts a .569 batting average on the summer circuit and leads the Purple Rain in hits, runs scored, and numerous other offensive categories.

Kenney’s presence was noted especially when she volunteered to pitch early in the season, prior to the Purple Rain’s acquisition of the out-of-town help, both of whom happen to be hurlers.

Her leadership has inspired other girls to step up as well. The Purple Rain have three players—Hannah Potter, Natalie Slonaker, and Lydia Dupuis—playing up from the 14U age group, and all are contributing.

Taylor Brackey and Kania Smith hold down the middle of the order with 17 and 15 RBI, respectively. Skyla Krantz is hitting a solid .420.

Polson opens up at state Friday against the Montana Avalanche.