If you think the young Blue Hawks will be an easy out, it may be best to think again.

Proving not to be an easy out for anyone anywhere yet this season, coach Jared Koskela and his hardy Hawks defeated visiting Whitefish 18-8 in five innings in non-conference softball action at Pirk’s Place in Thompson Falls Saturday.

The Hawks were set to visit Plains for a game last Monday April 13 but that date was rained out and has been tentatively rescheduled for April 27 in Plains.

The Hawks return to Western B-C conference play Friday hosting MAC (Mission-Arlee-Charlo) Friday in a key league game. MAC lost by one run to Troy Saturday, and the Hawks lost to the Trojans by one run last week.

It looks like these kind of games are becoming a trend, every conference game could be like this, a battle to the last inning.

“It’s looking like it could come down to one- or two-run games every time out,” Koskela said, “and someone is going to end up moving on and somebody staying home because of it.

“It will be interesting these last weeks of the regular season,” he continued. “You can’t afford to underestimate anyone because it could end up biting you if you do.”

The Hawks had a bit of an unexpected battle against the feisty Bulldogs Saturday.

After building a 4-1 lead after the first inning, the Hawks watched Whitefish answer with four runs of their own in the top of the second to take a 5-4 lead. Quickly regaining their equilibrium after that, the Hawks scored six in the second inning and five more in the third to take a more comfortable 15-6 lead into the fourth.

The bottom half of the batting order stood tall for the Hawks in the win over Whitefish as Thompson Falls totaled 22 hits in the five innings.

Freshman Marley Robinson had three hits, including a double and triple, driving in four runs and scoring three, Nevaeh Christensen went four for four with a double and three RBI and Kylee Borgmann was three for three with a double, a run scored and an RBI.

Audrey Fairbank was three for four with three runs scored and an RBI, Annalise Fairbanks was three for four with two runs scored, Kassidy Dana three for four with three RBI, Kaylie Mercer added a hit, two runs and two RBI, Addie Trave a hit, three runs and two more RBI, Sydnie Eichert a hit and Gabby Taylor two runs scored.

Eichert and Kaydence Pavlik pitched the Thompson Falls win, scattering 10 hits over the five innings combining to strike out five Whitefish hitters while walking only four.