Local All-State B-C softball standouts Bri Kulawinski and Nevaeh Christensen have earned invitations and been named to the Air Force team for the 13th Annual Veteran’s Memorial Softball Classic in Belgrade August 7-8.

Both talented Sanders County girls are rising sophomores after earning All-State B-C honors as freshmen last spring, Kulawinski as a durable, hard-throwing pitcher and productive hitter for the Plains Trotters, and Christensen, from Noxon, as a hitter for power and average who also capably handled the catching duties for the Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawks.

Considered by many to be the preeminent, conclusive softball event of the year in Montana, the Veteran’s Classic will again feature some of the very best players from around the state, including the finest from all Montana levels including Class AA, Class A and Class B-C.

Played in honor of Montana’s fallen war heroes, those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, five teams representing each branch of service – the Air Force, the Marines, the Army, the Navy and the Coast Guard – are selected each year for this game, to be played at the Belgrade High Softball Complex.

Each team is named after a selected fallen Montana hero. Bri and Naveah’s team, for example, is called the David Altman Air Force team this year.

Ten games will be played in the two days with the possibility of an if-necessary championship game under the lights Saturday night. Teams are guaranteed three games each at a minimum.

Following the tournament, two one-thousand dollar scholarships will be awarded to players and a one-thousand dollar award will also be made in Otto Thill’s memory to one of the game’s coaches.

Also from this area, Keith Haggerty of Troy will be the head coach for the Marines team in Belgrade.