GREAT FALLS — In the upcoming Class AA state baseball and softball tournaments, Great Falls CMR will be well represented.
In baseball, the Rustlers hold the East's No. 2 seed. On the softball diamond, CMR enters as the fourth seed.
This is the first year there will be a Class AA baseball tournament, and it's been a successful first-ever campaign for the Rustlers to earn a bye into the final eight. Pitchers Kayden Neil and Deuce Nichols said the team has grown exponentially since the start of the spring.
"We're proud to wear the 'R' and everyone's super excited," Neil said during Tuesday's practice at the Westside Little League Complex. "Wanted to show that we deserved to get a team and we're ready to go out and play."
"We all have a lot of great attitudes going out," Nichols said. "We're just ready to go out and just prove it."
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A big reason for CMR earning the second seed, Nichols said, is team chemistry.
"Learn who we all were and just trying to, like, build together," Nichols said. "Now, I feel like we already are together, we're already a team. We're already just ready to go out and fight for each other, not just for ourselves, and ready to go out and just win it."
CMR will face West No. 3 Kalispell Glacier in the first round Thursday in Butte. Earlier this spring, the Rustlers got the better of the Wolfpack, but Neil said it'll still be a challenge.
"They're a solid hitting team, but we're definitely not going to look past them at all," Neil said.
Last time CMR played in Butte, the pitching staff had quite the day.
"We had a one-hitter through six innings, so that was just great to see," Nichols said.
When it comes to softball, the Rustlers played their way into state with a 4-2 win over Billings Skyview last Thursday.
That win — and the prior pair of one-run wins over the Falcons — sparked momentum, infielders Aspyn Zuelke and Emma McGraw said.
"We're really confident and we're really coming at it with strong force," Zuelke said on Tuesday at the Multi Sports Complex. "Being together and just focusing, like, on the little details."
"We never give up, like we fight every single inning," McGraw said. "It obviously showed up because we won multiple times. Even though they kept with us, we still come out."
CMR has had a substantial turnaround from 2025's campaign, where it won just five games.
"Everybody's in it for each other instead of themselves," Zuelke said. "I think our team's putting everybody before themselves. So from last year to this year, I think it's just out team chemistry growing."
Softball also squares off with Glacier (West No. 1) on Thursday. The Wolfpack are the defending state champions and a team which the Rustlers fell to earlier this spring.
"We weren't really there mentally, especially with our bats," McGraw said. "They came out in like the last inning or two. But if ... our bats come out in the first inning, I think we'll be great."
CMR baseball plays Glacier at 10 a.m. in Butte, while softball takes the diamond against the Wolfpack in Missoula for a 2 p.m. first pitch.
