DILLON — A week ago, the stakes were clear for Dillon's baseball team — defeat East Helena and Townsend and the Class AB central division title, and a trip to the state tournament for the first time ever, was theirs.
"We're chasing something that this program has never done, and that's make a state tournament," said head coach Zach McRae ahead of Dillon's game against East Helena on Saturday. "And so we're just trying to stay in the moment."
HEAR FROM THE BEAVERS:
The Beavers did just that and earned run-rule victories over both the Vigilantes and Bulldogs to fulfill a goal that had been four seasons in the making. Their record heading into the final week of the regular season is 13-0-1, with that tie coming against Class AA Missoula Big Sky, which sits atop the Western AA standings.
Dillon has seven seniors on its roster, and they were freshmen when high school baseball made its debut in Montana. Their freshman, sophomore and junior seasons all ended the same way — coming up short of the state tournament. And after falling to eventual champion Billings Central in a play-in game last season, this team was determined to have a breakthrough in 2026.
"It struck a flame in us," said senior Trenton Moreni. "It motivated us to come to practice, get ready and we're ready."
"I think it gave us all the fuel we needed," said Cohen Hartman, also a senior. "I think we knew we were right on the cusp of making a state tournament run, right on the cusp of being a really good team. I think we've just put it all out there, we're finally doing what we knew we could do for four years."
Back in 2023, high school baseball was in uncharted waters as teams embarked on the first-ever season of the sport in the state. Today, Dillon has fulfilled one big objective and is now setting its sights on bringing home state hardware.
"It's just been awesome, coming from not knowing what was gonna happen in high school baseball," said senior Sawyer Tackett. "We've just had kids continually join the program, had kids stay in the program and you can see what's become of it. We're just rolling."
