Reese Conley hits at the top of the lineup for a team that made the last two State AA softball tournaments, but she and the Flathead Bravettes have a tougher road this year.

The Montana High School Association reverted back to an 8-team bracket for its AA championship, set for May 22-24 in Great Falls this season. This is after two years of a 12-team tournament, which helped Flathead end a long state tournament absence. 

Now the Bravettes need to be in the top six in the Western AA to get a play-in game. At 2-13 overall (and 1-8 in league) going into Thursday’s Crosstown game against Glacier, they’re once again a long shot. 

“That is true,” Conley said this week. “But we’re still trying. We have definitely lost a lot of close games. It comes down to who can rack up more runs and unfortunately, we haven’t quite got there. But I can tell we’ve made progress.” 

Conley is hitting .444, leading an offense that boasts four .300 hitters and two of the top six home run hitters in the Western AA: she has four, and teammate Mackenzie Brandt has seven, one off the pace set by Missoula Big Sky’s Sadie McGuinn. 

Conley has known Brandt and fellow Bravette Lacie Franklin since moving back to Kalispell at age 12; minus the injured Bryn Mailman, they make a very solid senior class for Flathead softball. 

Leading off and leading behind the plate is Conley, who switched back to catcher after a couple years playing the infield. 

“She was shortstop last year,” Flathead coach Brittany Williams said. 

“Then she got hurt against Great Falls and was out for a while. Cleated in the hand.” 

Conley missed six games and ended up with a .317 average. Take those numbers away and she’s a .400 hitter; her career average right now is .396. 

She began this season at shortstop as well, but it started to make more sense to have Conley behind the plate and put sophomore Olivia Nyman at short. 

“She’s kind of come full-circle,” Williams said. “High softball IQ behind the plate, she communicates and leads. Our pitchers feel more confident with her back there.  

“She’s pretty tough. She’s had to deal with a lot of injuries. I’m just glad to be a part of her journey. She’s very charismatic and smart, tough and competitive. Let’s just say I’m not ready for her Senior Day, by any means.” 

Postseason or no, that won’t be the last time Conley is on the diamond. She has signed to play at Northwest Community College in Sheldon, Iowa. She plans to study nursing, which makes sense when you consider she is already a Certified Nurse’s Assistant at Emmanuel Living. 

That journey began when she was 14 or 15, her mom said. “She came in and was a volunteer,” said Tiffany Stamm, who is an RN. “She has a great feel with people.” 

Stamm sees it with her three kids from her second marriage, and with the three kids Ronald Conley has with his second marriage. Reese is the oldest; the natural babysitter. 

“She’s a little mother hen,” Stamm said. “She’s able to get down to their level and play with them. My 8-year-old just idolizes her.” 

Little sister Rami is very much a softball player. 

“Hard to think back that that was Reese 10 years ago,” Stamm said. “How much time flies.” 

Conley’s teammates Franklin and Brandt are also going to compete in college, Franklin at the University of Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) and Brandt at Northwestern Ohio, in Lima. That senior class is also a solid recruiting base. 

It would be cool, obviously, to pile up some wins. Five times they’ve lost by three runs or less. 

The victories piled up pre-high school, when Conley played alongside Nakiah Persinger, Khristen Terrell, Aubree Gerber, Olivia Gibbons and Kaydee Walcheck — all of whom suit up for 12-2 Glacier. 

“We played for a few years together,” Conley said. “We were definitely a well-functioning team.” 

Glacier comes to Kidsport having won the first meeting this season 15-1, with Flathead playing solid defense, hitting a few “atom balls” and then seeing the Wolfpack’s power (four home runs) take over. 

“It was a lot of balls hit hard right at people,” Williams said. “When they had runners in scoring position, they had the hits and found the holes.” 

“They deserved every run they got,” Connelly said of the Pack. “But I hope that we’ve learned a lot since then; that we’ve learned to hit the ball just as well.” 

Continue that, and the Bravettes can get their swings well behind Senior day. 

    Flathead's Reese Conley (17) connects on a solo home run against Columbia Falls at Kidsports Complex on Thursday, April 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
 Casey Kreider