Monday, May 11, 2026
48.0°F

Fisher, Wildkats enjoying big season

FRITZ NEIGHBOR | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 11 months AGO
by FRITZ NEIGHBOR
SPORTS EDITOR Fritz Neighbor is the Sports Editor for the Daily Inter Lake. He oversees sports coverage across the Flathead Valley, including high school athletics, youth sports, and regional competitions. In his leadership role, he helps shape the newspaper’s sports coverage and editorial direction. Fritz’s column, Full Count, taps into his decades’ long career covering Montana sports. You’ll also see Fritz sharing his thoughts and insights on the Big Sky Now podcast. IMPACT: Fritz’s work celebrates the athletes and teams that bring Northwest Montana communities together. | May 18, 2022 11:55 PM

Aletheia Fisher figures to teach middle school math someday, but it doesn’t take algebra to crunch Columbia Falls’ softball numbers.

For starters Fisher is one of nine Wildkats hitting over .300 this season, as they head into a home showdown with visiting Polson at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Ace pitcher Maddie Moultray has a 14-1 record; Haden Peters has driven in 36 runs in 20 games. Two Wildkats, Aspen Dawson and Haylee Lawrence, are hitting over .500.

Columbia Falls had three losses all spring, to AA Glacier and. … Class B powers Florence and Manhattan. OK, sometimes the numbers don’t add up.

But an early-season, 14-4 win at Polson has the Kats and their second baseman thinking big.

“They had a few errors (the Pirates committed nine),” Fisher recalled. “But I think our team was able to get on their pitcher pretty well. I think we hit better against her than most teams. Then we had a ton of momentum.

“It was a huge game for us, though. I think we all felt like we could do something special.”

The Polson pitcher is Katelyn Druyvestein, a hard-throwing senior with a State A championship from 2021 in her back pocket. Six Pirates hit over .300 — Druyvestein leads the way at .472 — and Polson has that championship pedigree.

Columbia Falls has that “mo.”

“We had to fill a few holes, and the girls have just done a really good job,” veteran Columbia Falls coach Dave Kehr said. “They’ve hit better than I thought they’d hit, honestly. Our team average is .448, which is outlandish.”

The defense has fallen in place nicely: Lawrence moved from second over to short, and Fisher — she played shortstop as a sub-varsity freshman — has fit perfectly into second.

“I figured she’d be good at it,” said Kehr, who had her playing left field and some third last season. “She has good speed and good range.”

Aside from that, Fisher is going places. The State A tournament is a week away in Hamilton. After that, Crown College, a Christian school in St. Bonifacius, Minn., awaits. It’s where her parents went, and where brother Payton is a junior.

Aletheia — her pastor father Joe took a philosophy course at Crown, and her name means “truth” in Greek — plans to play soccer and softball.

“I’m going to study elementary education, with a middle school math endorsement,” she said. “I want to teach middle school math.”

One of three seniors, Fisher helps make Columbia Falls solid up the middle: Dawson, a senior, is in center (Abby Darsow, the third senior, plays right field), and sophomore Demye Rensel has taken over at catch.

Add a little luck to that outlandish batting average and this could be a historic season.

“We’ve got just a lot of good girls and a deep bench,” Fisher said. “We made it to state (in 2021) and we didn’t go as far as we hoped. We were pretty good but not at the top level.

“I think this year we definitely have a chance to do something pretty

ARTICLES BY FRITZ NEIGHBOR

Somers Stock: Bristol Lenz building a stellar senior season with Flathead track
May 7, 2026 midnight

Somers Stock: Bristol Lenz building a stellar senior season with Flathead track

The short-term goal for Bristol Lenz is to slowly add events, lower her marks, attract more attention from college track and field programs and — most importantly — stay healthy.

April 30, 2026 midnight

Full Count: Merchant of Vikings has big goals

On May 25, 2024, Bigfork sophomore Robert Merchant clocked 11.23 seconds in the 100 meters, good for sixth place at the State A track and field championships.

April 23, 2026 midnight

Back on the trail: Libby’s Tristan Andersen aims toward big finish

By his sophomore year Tristan Andersen could do it all for the Libby Loggers: throw the football, keep it, drive the hoop, rebound it.