HAMILTON — Though baseball has thrived in the Bitterroot Valley the past few years, one thing has eluded both the high school club at Hamilton and the American Legion squad of the Bitterroot Red Sox.
A state championship.
That so-called drought — after all, high school baseball has existed in Montana since only 2023 and Hamilton High School has finished fourth, second and fourth in the three state tournaments, and the Red Sox have won a Class A-best eight state Legion titles since 1987 — will extend into 2026. Instead, the Red Sox will enter next spring as the reigning champion of the Northwest Region.
“It was awesome. I think that was the biggest smile I’ve had in a while,” Bitterroot infielder and pitcher Boedy Tadvick said of winning the regional title in Burley, Idaho, on Monday, Aug. 11. “And it was just like the sense that we finally did it, because obviously last year for high school, we got second against Florence, and then we came up short this year for high school. So just to finally take first, it felt really good.”
HEAR FROM THE RED SOX:
The Class A state title still escaped the Red Sox, who placed second to the champion Bozeman Bucks. Thanks to the rotation that qualified two Montana teams for this year's Northwest Region tournament, though, Bitterroot got to continue its season.
“We sat out in the right field (after losing to Bozeman in the Class A state championship) and just kind of talked about how great of a season that we had up to that point, wishing that we would have got a state title for those seniors,” said second-year coach Trevor Paro. “I think kind of the biggest thing that I told the boys was we just got to find a way to hit the reset button.”
And the Red Sox took full advantage of the fresh start. They dominated at the regional tournament, outscoring opponents 64-8 with three shutouts, including a 7-0 win over Klamath Falls, Ore., in the title game.
“Obviously we lost state and that sucked, but we were so happy we got to go to regionals,” said Red Sox shortstop and pitcher Jackson Lubke, who was named co-MVP of the tournament alongside teammate Cash Lawrence. “Everything came together at the right time. We hit the ball better than we have all season. We played really good defense, and we pitched really good.”
“Everything clicked,” echoed Tadvick, who was Bitterroot’s best bat all season, hitting .464 with 57 RBIs and 68 runs scored. “Everyone started hitting one through nine, and everybody was finding gaps. And our pitching was phenomenal, defense made plays, so everything kind of worked out.”
Pitching and defense were Bitterroot’s calling cards all season. In 58 games this spring and summer, the Red Sox allowed more than seven runs just five times behind the arms of Lubke, Jude Widmer, Lawrence and Connor Quinn.
Lubke was sensational in two starts during the regional tournament, combining with Brady DeMoss for a one-hit shutout of Wasilla, Alaska, in the first game and then throwing a complete-game, three-hit shutout against Klamath Falls in the third game.
Lawrence pitched just three innings in Bitterroot’s second game as the Red Sox built a 16-0 lead en route to a 23-4 win over Lovell, Wyo., and Quinn, Trevyn Bakken and Reese Earp took care of Millville, Utah, in a 13-4 victory to advance to the title game.
Lawrence, Montana’s 2025 high school Gatorade baseball player of the year, shut the door in the championship. He hurled a complete-game gem, striking out eight batters while allowing just two hits and one walk.
“Cash is obviously a special talent,” Paro said. “We put up three runs in the first inning, and that was kind of a ‘we got this’ moment. I mean, you got a three-run lead with Cash Lawrence on the bump, you’re sitting in a good spot.”
“Every time he’s on the mound, we know something good is going to happen,” added Lubke, who boasted a 2.44 ERA over 57.1 innings pitched on the season. “He fills up the strike zone, and he throws hard, and he has a good curveball. He’s very reliable.”
When Lawrence forced Klamath Falls’ final batter to fly out to Owen Marston, Bitterroot erupted in a celebration that was years in the making — but expected since winter workouts.
Fueled by the near-miss at the 2024 high school state tournament, the Red Sox got good participation in January, as players gathered to work out and go to the batting cages. That carried over to the spring high school season at Hamilton, which reached the semifinals of the state tournament.
And then the Red Sox — made up of eight kids from Hamilton, three from Corvallis and one from Darby — immediately bonded off the field and showed the resilience of a champion on it.
“Every time that we lost, we just all had extra motivation to come and do better the next day,” Tadvick said. “Or if we had a bad practice, the next day was going to be better, and we just always tried to do better than the day before.”
Said Paro: “The 12 guys that we had, they kind of accepted the mantra of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ and whatever it takes to get down and dirty to do the business to get it done. ... There’s only one team that finishes the season on a win, and we’re lucky it was us.”
