The Blue Hawk softball team is young, but given time just could be monsters in the making.

Thompson Falls-Noxon softball coach Jared Koskela says his Blue Hawks are painfully young right now, but will be the ones dealing out the pain within the next few years. The Hawks open season play with varsity/JV pair of games at Sandpoint Saturday, getting a one-week jump on most other sports teams in the area.

“We have a lot of young players,” Koskela said of his 22-strong roster featuring ten eighth graders and seven freshmen. "We are pretty young right now but could be very good in a couple of years as these girls grow and get better.”

Most of the new Blue Hawks have a tinge of Red Devil red in their blood as five of the brand-new eighth graders are from Noxon. And they are really not that brand-new to the world of high school sports as most of them played varsity basketball for NHS this past winter, gaining valuable big-game experience in that sport.

The incoming wave of young players is also mostly girls that have put in a lot of time playing softball in youth leagues to get to this high school stage of their careers.

This year’s Hawks will be captained by senior Annalise Fairbank and freshman Nevaeh Christensen. Fairbank is a four-year starter for the Hawks who plays infield positions and pitches, while Christensen, from Noxon, saw time mostly at third base and in the outfield as an eighth grader last spring.

Kylee Borgmann, Addie Traver and Dana Kassidy are the veteran juniors for the Hawks, and Alyssa Geisbusch the only sophomore.

Mostly back for their second season Blue Hawk softball, Marley Robinson, Audrey Fairbank, Maddilyn Ward, Angela Koskela, Lauren Hudson and Christensen are the returning freshmen for Thompson Falls.

Brielle MacArthur, Sydnie Eichert, Kaylie Mercer, Madds Thompson and Dani Hill are the red wave of eighth graders from Noxon, and Gabby Taylor, Cammie Preston, Peyton Ellul and Kaydence Pavlik are the true blue eighth grade Hawks from Thompson Falls.

The Blue Hawks have a string of three straight State B-C tournament appearances under their belt heading into this season, after going 13 straight years before that not making it to the big show.

Coach Koskela’s daughter Sarah, who is now playing softball as a true freshman for Miles Community College in Miles City, was a two-time All-State B-C performer for the Hawks, and Olivia Fitchett, who also graduated last spring, was also All-State B-C as a junior and an all-conference pick last year.

Coach Koskela says a good part of the early season will be spent figuring out where everyone fits best in the lineup, and determining what his pitching staff looks like once the season gets rolling.

“We have a lot of things to figure out but it is going to be fun,” he said. “The girls are really upbeat, we have a pretty favorable schedule. We have a lot of room to grow.

“We may take some bumps early but are going to get better as we go,” Koskela added. “We look forward to going to Sandpoint Saturday, we are very familiar with them and expect them to be one of the better teams we see this year.”

Koskela and several of his players have joined up with coaches and players from Sandpoint in the past for playing together during the high school off season, building familiarity, and friendships with each other’s programs.