No time to relax: AA Lakers start season today
Daily Inter Lake | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 7 hours, 9 minutes AGO
Glacier starting pitcher Kyler Croft (11) delivers in the first inning against Belgrade at Griffin Field on Saturday, March 28. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
Whitefish's Tait Orme (9) connects on an RBI double in the third inning against Glacier at Smith Fields on Saturday, April 18. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
High school baseball season may have just finished, but the diamond is still active as Legion baseball fires up this week.
Mike O’Connell takes over the helm as head coach of the AA Lakers in 2026, returning to the club he played on and was an assistant for. Following his initial stint with the Lakers coaching staff he spent 10 years at Miles Community College.
“Tough to say no when they offered me the job,” O’Connell said. “Super excited to coach the team that I played for.”
O’Connell’s squad heads to Libby for their season opening game today with only a 20-minute practice under their belts.
“It’s a very quick turnaround,” O’Connell said, noting that he has been in contact with his players during the high school season. “We haven’t had a whole lot of time with the guys.”
O’Connell adds that he isn’t worried about results early in the season as his team gels together.
“Its a marathon, not a sprint and we need to be playing our best ball in the month of July,” O’Connell said.
The Lakers feature a who’s-who of players from schools around the valley.
Leading the charge are Kyler Croft and Tait Orme, among others.
Croft allowed a 3.41 earned runs average in 24 2-3 innings on the mound for Glacier High, which advanced to the State AA baseball semifinals in Butte a week ago.
At the plate, Brady Buckmaster comes in after hitting .405 for the Wolfpack with one home run.
Orme added a monstrous .446 average with three long balls for Whitefish, which reached the State A/B tournament.
O’Connell noted that above all, he loves how deep his squad is.
“I really like our depth, all 16 guys on AA,” O’Connell said. “All of them were the better players on their high school teams.”
The Lakers come off a 38-21 season in 2025 that saw them fall to the Billings Royals in the Montana-Alberta Legion tournament in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Another trip to Canada is on the line for region teams in 2026 as the tournament is in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Whitefish's Tait Orme (9) connects on an RBI double in the third inning against Glacier at Smith Fields on Saturday, April 18. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)Casey Kreider