The Class AA schools have crashed the party that is high school baseball in Montana, and the Northwest A felt the pinch.

When the infield dirt settled, the only conference team to advance to the State tournament  was Columbia Falls. 

That’s after four teams made it last year, with the Wildcats’ third-place finish the best of the bunch. Whitefish and 2023 state champion Polson made the first two tournaments, as did Eureka. But the number of programs under the Montana High School Association umbrella increased from 24 to 36 this season, while the number of teams making state stayed the same. 

That made this year’s tournament, which starts Thursday in Hamilton, one tough ticket. Eureka and Bigfork lost play-in games this past week. It would have been Bigfork’s first trip. 

“Bigfork played Hamilton really tough,” Columbia Falls coach Chad Green said of the Vikings, who fell 2-1 to the Broncs in 11 innings. “Eureka had one bad inning against Missoula Big Sky (in a 13-2 loss), so that much pretty did them in.” 

Columbia Falls is 17-1, including a 2-1 win over Southwest A champ Frenchtown last weekend that avenged the Wildcats’ lone loss (9-8 on April 18).  

Cooper Ross, Nico Young and Reggie Sapa lead a lineup that doesn’t feel top-heavy. Jory Hill, Jett Pitts and Brian Matson are also formidable. 

It is Pitts, the Wildcats’ No. 1 pitcher, that will start their opener against Billings Central, at 10 a.m. Thursday.  

“We’ll go with him,” Green said. “Some people look at it different and want to save pitchers. But you’ve got to win Game 1 to get to the state championship.” 

The Central Rams, 13-4 in their first season playing the sport, beat Dillon 8-1 in a play-in game to get to Hamilton. Paxton Prill was on the mound. 

“They’ve got a dude that throws hard,” Green said of Prill. “We expect to see him.” 

The Wildcats can draw confidence from facing the likes of Eureka’s Rowan Burow and Frenchtown’s Braxton Rodoni. Plus, quite a few of them played at last year’s state tournament. 

This year’s field includes Billings Skyview, Billings West, Big Sky and holdover Belgrade — Belgrade and Hamilton, which lost in last year’s championship to Florence, are the two programs that made all three state tournaments. 

The three Billings schools beat up on each other during the regular season. 

“All the Billings schools are pretty tough from what I’ve seen,” green said. “There’s not going to be an easy game down there.” 

The championship is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 p.m. 

State Baseball 

March 22-24, Vester Wilson Field, Hamilton 

Thursday

Game 1: Columbia Falls (17-1) vs. Billings Central (13-4), 10 a.m. 

Game 2: Billings West (17-1) vs. Frenchtown (17-4), 12:30 p.m. 

Game 3: Billings Skyview (15-3) vs. Hamilton (15-2), 4 p.m. 

Game 4: Missoula Big Sky (13-5) vs. Belgrade (16-2), 6:30 p.m. 

Friday

Game 5: Loser 1 vs. Loser 2, 10 a.m. 

Game 6: Loser 3 vs. Loser 4, 12:30 p.m. 

Game 7: Winner 1 vs. Winner 2, 4 p.m., semifinal 

Game 8: Winner 3 vs. Winner 4, 6:30 p.m., semifinal 

Saturday

Game 9: Loser 7 vs. Winner 6, 9 a.m. 

Game 10: Loser 8 vs. Winner 5, 11:30 a.m. 

Game 11: Winner 9 vs. Winner 10, third 

Game 12: Winner 7 vs. Winner 8, championship