When you’re 13, life should be relatively worry-free and for Cale Brink things were going good right up until they weren’t.

“Just normal everyday stuff,” Brink remembered. “Going to school, playing baseball. And then I started getting really sick. I would wake up in the middle of the night and throw up. I had really bad side cramps one day and my parents took me to the hospital.” 

A blood test brought the diagnosis: Brink was diabetic, and it was serious. His dad, Eric, has the date memorized: April 24, 2020, was the first of five days his son spent in the ICU. 

After that there was the learning — how to test his blood sugar, foods to eat and ones to avoid, insulin amounts to counteract certain foods.  

It was a lot for a 13-year-old to take in. He felt right as rain a few days before, and now he wondered: How am I going to do this? 

Of course, he has done it. Brink is an important senior on the 35-18 Kalispell Lakers, who have won eight of 11 games heading into their last three AA Legion conference games against Helena, Friday and Saturday at Griffin Field.  

Things seem to be right as rain again. 

Ryan Malmin has known Brink for seven years.  

“His older brother Gage played for us,” the AA Lakers’ coach noted. “He’s been around the yard. I remember when he was 11 years old coming up through the ranks.” 

There were mixed results: Cale Brink played a year of B Legion in 2022, then played sparingly with the A Lakers. 

Last year, he said, “I was on A again, and that’s when I took a big leap. It was really a young team and I was one of the oldest there, and I pretty much played every day.” 

That leads to this summer, and while Brink was excited to play at the AA level, he didn’t imagine getting a lot of time. 

“I came into this year really thinking that I wasn’t going to have much of a role,” he said. “We’re a really talented team. I ended up taking on a bigger role than I saw for myself.” 

“It’s kind of what the program’s about,” Malmin said. “Nose to the grindstone, stick with our core values of coming to work every day and trying to get better. And he’s done that. He’s continued to grow mentally as well as in his skill set.” 

It probably helps that Brink sprouted about 4 inches, to 6-foot-1. Meanwhile injuries to Bryce Buckmaster and others opened up opportunities in the mound and outfield. Brink played his usual first and second base to start the season, then became the regular left fielder on July 1.  

“He’s kind of become our Swiss Army Knife,” Malmin said. “We lose two guys for the season and he went from first base into moving him into the outfield. We’ve also moved him up and down the lineup as we’ve felt the need.  

“He’s done a tremendous job, especially because he came into the season as a question mark.” 

Now he’s hitting .323, with 41 hits in 127 at-bats with 19 steals in 21 attempts, 30 runs scored and 28 RBIs. And while he never played the outfield before this season, it hasn’t hurt his hitting: Over 12 July starts in left Brink has hit .469. 

On the mound he’s thrown 22 innings, going 3-0 with one save and a miniscule 0.63 earned-run average. 

A constant in Brink’s life is an insulin pump, which understandably comes out when he’s playing.  

“I would say about two-and-half or 3 years ago I truly felt I had it controlled and could be my own and handle it and keep my blood sugar at manageable levels,” he said. “I’m lucky because I have a great team here, and my dad is one of the coaches.  

“Baseball-wise it’s nice because they remind me to check my sugar, if I’m unplugged from my pump long enough.” 

The Lakers’ sweep of Lethbridge last week earned them a spot at next week’s Montana/Alberta State tournament in Medicine Hat. After dropping two of three to the Billings Royals, they won two from the Bozeman Bucks before Lethbridge came in. 

“It was much needed,” Brink said. “We’re a very talented team. In the games where we play well and win, we’re sticking together all the way, all seven innings.  

“The stuff people don’t talk about is the mental part of the game. Baseball is very mental and sometimes that gets the better of us. It makes this game hard, and we make errors and let it snowball.” 

Malmin thinks back to the Royals series and said that 70 percent of the time, his hitters had solid at-bats. They hit a lot of what they call “at ‘em balls.” 

“It was just right at guys,” Malmin said. “We didn’t get that clutch hit but we were happy with the quality at-bats we were getting. We just stayed the course and we were fortunate to come out and play well against Bozeman, both on the mound and offensively.” 

Next up is Helena — the first-place team — and then State. The Lakers have built some momentum, and Brink is certainly part of that. 

Malmin allowed he hadn’t projected a spot anywhere in the lineup for Brink in February. 

“That’s all they are — projections,” he added. “The first 20 games, everyone plays. The more he played the more he earned a spot and we needed to find a spot pace for him. 

“He hits, plays small ball, runs the bases well and fights with two strikes. You want goes who are dirtbags that compete on a daily basis. He earned his time.” 

    Kalispell's Cale Brink (9) listens to head coach Ryan Malmin in between innings against the Lethbridge Elks at Griffin Field on Saturday, July 19. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider