The Whitefish Bulldogs are 3-1 and bent on getting back to the state tournament in May after a near-miss in 2025.

Win No. 3 came Tuesday night at the same venue as the 2026 State A Tournament: Polson’s O’Malley Park. In the middle of it was a quiet right-hander named Tait Orme.

The senior threw five shutout innings in Whitefish’s 6-1 victory over Polson, striking out five. He went 1-for-3 with a walk hitting in the three-hole.  

He was steady. 

“He’s our stud that we lean on,” Whitefish coach Kyler Blades said before the game. “He’s our captain; he’s the only two-time captain in our short history. 

“He does better than anybody whatever we ask him to do. He’s a fantastic corner infielder. He would be a plus first baseman, I think, at the next level, but we’re pitching him today in an important conference game.” 

Orme himself doesn’t say much: He uses about as many words as pitches, and for the record his arsenal is fastball-curveball-change. 

“I love the game,” he said. “It’s always been fun.’ 

Of pitching, he said: “It’s a job.” 

His dad Denny laughs; his son is not the verbose type. But he is an athlete, and that was apparent from the start. What led Tait Orme to a standout career on the diamond can be traced to when he was 10 and doing it all: Football, ski-racing and hockey. 

“We let them play every sport they wanted, right?” Denny said of Tait and daughter Avery, a freshman who already excels in basketball and track for Whitefish. “At one point he was playing hockey and they were up in Creston, British Columbia. He took a hit to the head and slid into the boards and — it kind of changed his life, to be honest.” 

Tait Orme was 10 and a stout 100 pounds, and he’d really been rocked: His dad saw him lose 20 pounds, they double that in weight gained; shortly it was decided contact sports were over. 

Baseball remained. Orme had to give up catching, but with the exception of part of his 10U season he kept playing. 

“It was like baseball that kept me going,” Orme said. “Everyday, same 10 guys. You’re always working to get better.” 

“It was a rough go for us,” his dad said. “When sports is what you do, even at 10, it kind of changes your perspective. But we always had the saying: ‘Baseball is fun.’ He sure has a lot of fun out there.” 

We should mention here that football wasn’t over. 

“You know, having done Pee-Wee football, he wanted to keep trying to play,” his dad said. “My wife and I made a compromise: He could place-kick.” 

“I played Little Guy in fourth and fifth grade,” Orme said. “I learned to kick those first couple years. Once I got to high school I said, ‘Maybe I can do this and be around the team and be around all the guys.’ “ 

Orme scored 94 points the past two seasons for the football Bulldogs. 

Somewhere in there Orme sent out at least 100 emails to college baseball coaches, his dad said. A few showed interest and Eric Cruise of Ripon College in Wisconsin came out last summer.  

Orme committed the Ripon (pronounced “RIP-pun”) Red Hawks, who play Division III baseball.   

Easy call, said Orme. 

“He actually came out and visited, watched me play,” he said of Cruise. “Mostly, I figured that this coach wants me to be there. He’s looking to have me play.” 

Blades, the Bulldogs’ coach since their high school program began in 2023, pitched Orme all of seven innings last season, when the squad went 15-5. Between graduation and transfers, three big arms were no longer available.  

Orme stepped in, but let’s be clear: The guy can rake. 

Last year he hit .469 with eight doubles, a triple and a homer. He’s hitting .583 this young season, with a 1.289 OPS (on base-plus-slugging). 

“Tait is Steady Eddie,” Blades, whose club hosts Noxon today and unbeaten Glacier on Saturday, said. “Doesn’t say a whole lot and just grinds in the weight room and crushes baseballs. That’s what he likes to do.” 

And when asked, he ‘ll get on the bump and do the job. 

“It was good,” he said of his Tuesday start. “Threw a lot of strikes. Kept them from scoring, so I’d call it a good day.”