Whatever happens this week, whichever direction the Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawk softball season eventually takes, the one thing coach Jared Koskela and his girls will carry forward with them is optimism.

Looking at a potentially season-ending or season-extending Western B-C divisional tournament play-in game with Eureka Tuesday at 4 p.m. in Thompson Falls (results were not available), Koskela sees hope in the future with his young team, regardless of how that game with the Lions goes Tuesday.

If the Hawks do win Tuesday, they will head for Anaconda for the Western B-C divisional tournament Friday and Saturday. The top four teams from Anaconda advance on to the Sate B-C tournament in Billings May 28-30.

“We’re excited, the future is extremely bright with this group,” he said of his young Hawk squad which features 17 eight graders and freshmen among its 23 team members. “We have three junior starters to lead us next year, we are really looking forward to seeing what the next few seasons bring.”

Koskela and his Hawks reached this crucial point in the season playing five games last week, hosting MAC at Pirk’s Place May 12 (falling 18-8 in that game), and then playing Cut Bank/Shelby (winning 8-6) and Conrad (falling 12-2) in the Cut Bank tournament Friday, and Glasgow (losing 14-6) and Manhattan (falling 14-4) in Cut Bank Saturday.

Unrelenting Montana wind and cold weather definitely factored into the Hawk’s performance in Cut Bank. “The conditions were kind of brutal but we are a better team for having gone through that together,” Koskela said. "These are the kind of games where kids learn to be accountable to each other. You’re only as good as the rest of your team is, you have to rely on each other.”

In the game with MAC May 12 in Mission, the Hawks hit the ball well but fielding errors cost them in the 18-8 loss.

Nevaeh Christensen led the Hawk offense in that game with three base hits and two runs batted in, Kaydence Pavlik also drove in two runs and Annalise Fairbank had two hits and three runs scored.

In the win over Cut Bank, Fairbank and Pavlik drove in two runs apiece and Kaylie Mercer and Pavlik each scored twice. Against Conrad, Fairbank was two for three with an RBI and Addy Traver added a hit and an RBI.

Marley Robinson doubled and homered driving in three runs, and Christensen, Mercer, and Sydnie Eichert all hit doubles against Glasgow.

Fairbank went three for three with an RBI and a run scored against Manhattan, Christensen was two for three with both hits doubles, Kassidy Dana had a hit and an RBI and Robinson and Kylee Borgmann added a hit and a run scored each.