BILLINGS — Billings Skyview softball coach Michael Falcon has been with the program for 15 seasons mainly as head coach from 2009-12 and 2016 to the present. In that time, he said, never has he had more than one freshman in his starting lineup.
This season has busted that norm, however.
“I did not expect us to have five freshmen make varsity, and at some point, out of those five, we’d have four of them start,” Falcon said. “So, it’s kind of a cool thing.”
Post-COVID, the Falcons have had just one season where the roster was dominated by seniors. That was in 2022, when there were eight.
Other than that season, Falcon has mostly operated with younger rosters, including in 2023 when there were just two seniors. And though this season features three seniors — Kacie Morris, Lexi Johnston and Rebekah Nickisch — the program might be the youngest overall it’s been in a while.
Eighteen of the 23 players out for softball are sophomores or freshmen.
“We have a good mix,” Falcon said. “Our older kids have welcomed in the younger kids and helped push them and they’ve really blended in well with the group of girls we have.”
The younger group, more than just filling out a roster, have been important pieces to complement the veterans.
Second baseman Ruby Sheridan and catcher Ella Martin have spearheaded the youth movement and have been in the starting lineup since day one.
Teammates on a travel-ball team that placed second at a national tournament this past summer, Sheridan is batting .468 with 12 stolen bases and is tied with Johnston for the team-high in runs scored with 16. Martin, the team’s catcher, is hitting .343.
Among the other freshmen, Kaylee Baker has earned the starting designated player spot in the lineup with her .533 average and 13 steals, which is tops in Class AA. Hadley Moore was the team’s MVP out of preseason camp, according to Falcon, and a starter to begin the season.
But she suffered a broken finger early on, and she’s just returned to limited action, mostly as a courtesy runner. Falcon hopes to have her back in the regular lineup soon. And pitcher Harpar Lindseth is the first in line to back up sophomore pitcher Brooklyn Arce.
“I think we’ve done pretty well,” Sheridan said. “Since our team is young, our chemistry isn’t 100% yet, but we’re definitely getting better with that.”
Consistency is always elusive with young rosters, and that’s true with the Falcons. They have had strong showings against some of the teams ahead of them in the Eastern AA standings, like a 17-7 win over Billings West or a tight 3-1 loss to Belgrade.
A recent back-to-back series against Gallatin encapsulated the Falcons’ season. They were no-hit on Wednesday by the Raptors’ Olivia Klemann in a 5-0 loss, but on the next day they battled back from deficits of 3-1, 5-1 and 7-5 to tie the score at 7-7 before eventually losing 13-9 to the same Gallatin team.
“We could have beaten some of the teams that we’ve lost to because, I don’t know, we get down sometimes,” Martin said. “But I think we’re in a good spot right now.”
As for the more seasoned players, Johnston leads the team with 20 RBIs to go along with her .340 batting average. Junior Taylor Gallardo is hitting .348 with 18 RBIs. And Arce has logged 86% of the team’s innings in the circle.
The Falcons haven’t had a winning season since 2021 when they finished 13-10. Since then, they’ve posted records of 11-15, 2-16 and 7-15. With three regular-season games to go, they’re fighting to reach the .500 level this season (6-8, 4-6 in Eastern AA) and have secured the fifth spot in the conference, which means an upcoming state playoff spot.
Regardless of how this season ends up, Falcon thinks his squad's mix of veteran leadership and newcomers has walked that thin line between rebuilding a program without forgoing the current season.
“The youth that we have on varsity isn’t there because we didn’t have capable people there,” Falcon said. “They’re there because they are the best people at that spot, and it just so happened that they are young.
“So, we really haven’t had to sacrifice being competitive this year. We’re developing them for the future, but at the same time, we’re being competitive.”
