Wolfpack have 3 make All-State; 2 are MVPs

The Glacier Wolfpack, who just finished 20-5 with a third-place finish at the State AA tournament, had three players selected All-State for softball, with two of them earning MVP honors.

Junior Olivia Warriner was named co-Offensive Player of the Year by Western AA coaches. She hit .511 with seven home runs and 40 runs scored; she also stole 11 bases. In the circle went 14-4. Warriner is a three-time All-State selection — as a utility player as a freshman and at third base last season — and shared MVP honors with Missoula Sentinel senior Piper Whitman. 

Sophomore Ava Grady, who led AA in strikeouts with 124 in 76 innings, was named the Western AA’s Defensive Player of the Year. Grady and Warriner split the pitching and shortstop duties, and Grady had six wins and eight saves to go with a 1.85 earned-run average in the circle. At the plate she hit .500 with seven homers — she hit three last Friday, one in each of the Pack’s consolation bracket wins — and 49 runs batted in. 

The third Glacier All-State selection is junior outfielder Taelor Holt, who batted .500 and set a new school single-season record with 37 singles. 

Every first-team selection for the Western AA is also accorded All-State honors. 

Flathead, coming off a 7-14 season that ended with a narrow play-in loss to Missoula Big Sky, had three players on the second team and Glacier had two. 

For the Bravettes, freshman pitcher June Stickney, junior shortstop Olivia Nyman and junior designated player/hitter Tegan Strauss were selected. Strauss hit .364 this season and Nyman hit .328 with four home runs. Stickney struck out 105 hitters in 74 1-3 innings, and also hit .347. 

Senior outfielder Karley Allen was named to the second team from Glacier along with freshman Tensley Conner at Utility. Allen hit .430 with 35 runs scored; Conner hit .346. 

Senior catcher Emma Smith of Glacier and sophomore outfielder Sophia Torgison of Flathead were honorable mention. 

The full honors teams follow: 

All-Western AA 

First Team*

Pitcher    Ava Grady, so., Glacier

    Breanna Henderson, fr., Butte 

Catcher    Hailey Nicoson, so., Big Sky 

First Base    Bailey Bridger, jr., Sentinel 

Middle Infield    Olivia Warriner, jr., Glacier

    Dakota Leiberg, jr., Helena 

    Allie Becker, jr., Butte 

Third Base    Ali Miller, sr., Capital 

Outfield    Piper Whitman, sr., Sentinel 

    Taelor Holt, jr., Glacier

    Alyssa Hanninen, Sentinel 

Utility    Sara Bjornson, so., Sentinel 

DP/DH    Piper Wells, sr., Hellgate 

Co-Offensive Players of the Year: Olivia Warriner, Glacier; Piper Whitman, Sentinel. 

Defensive Player of the Year: Ava Grady, Glacier. 

*-First-team selections are also All-State. 

Second Team 

Pitcher: June Stickney, fr., Flathead; Payton Walters, fr., Big Sky. 

Catcher: Mattie Stepanb, sr., Butte. 

First Base: Logan Latrielle, jr., Big Sky; Kendallyn Schad, jr., Butte. 

Middle Infield: Olivia Nyman, jr., Flathead; Seeley Schwenk, jr., Capital. 

Third Base: Madison Norcross, fr., Big Sky. 

Outfield: Karley Allen, sr., Glacier; Hayden Weaver, so., Big Sky; Madi Emmert, jr., Capital. 

Utility: Tensley Conner, fr., Glacier.

DP/DH: Tegan Strauss, Flathead. 

Honorable mention — Emma Smith, C, Glacier, sr.; Haydan Slater, MI, Sentinel, jr.; Bailey Smith, OF, Helena, so.; Gracie Jonart, OF, Butte, sr.; Jaiden Grooms, OF, Capital; Sophia Torgison, OF, Flathead, so.; Izzy Leventes, Util, Capital, sr.; Avery Williams, DP/DH, Capital.