KALISPELL — With the odds stacked against them, the Kalispell Glacier Wolfpack came out on top at the Class AA state softball tournament.
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After dropping the first game of the tournament, the team rallied off six straight wins, including two come-from-behind victories in the championship round against Billings Senior.
Even with a giant obstacle in front of them, coach Abby Snipes says her team never lost faith in each other.
“Really, that build-up from our worst and lowest performance on Thursday evening to really just reaching that pinnacle of sports and that comeback story,” Snipes said. “I'm just really, really proud of them, and all the great work that they put in prior to the state tournament and all that they accomplished at the state tournament.”
It takes a lot of hard work and grit for any team to win a state championship, but for Glacier to win it in the fashion it did, the team needed a lot of support from the people in the dugout.
Senior catcher Cazz Rankosky says the support from the rest of the team helped the Wolfpack stay focused.
“I think just the energy of the dugout and the knowing that we are here and we are going to make an impact even after that first game. It's like we're not coming to state to lose, we're coming to win,” Rankosky said. “We put our foot on the gas and kept going.”
With the support of the bench players, the senior leaders on the team ended their high school careers as champions, and Snipes says that was the perfect sendoff for the most successful class in program history.
“They just are incredible leaders, top to bottom, they all had moments in the state tournament,” Snipes said. “Everyone was just working really hard, and these seniors, I just think, you know, it's such a, it's a testament to who they are as people too, which is probably most important.”
It was a fitting end to the state championship when senior Nakiah Persinger caught the final out of the second championship, sealing the second state title for the senior class.
“From a little girl playing at 8 years old, and that moment just wrapped up my entire career, and it really just felt good, and to be able to celebrate with my teammates,” Persinger said. “I couldn't ask for a better feeling, being in the arms of my teammates, just being celebrated together, it was truly incredible for me, and I couldn't have asked for it any differently.”
