POLSON — The Polson Pirates recently claimed the first high school baseball state championship in Montana's history. And although most of the team is already playing American Legion ball, they're still relishing in their historic feat.
“It was pretty sweet. I was kind of glad I got to play this year with my senior partners because you know, it was their last year but also their first year as well,” said junior Espn Fisher, who pitched the entire title game, a 10-4 victory over Whitefish.
“And being able to win the state championship was definitely something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Teammate Jarrett Wilson, who led the team in batting average in his first year playing baseball since middle school, knows there couldn’t have been a more storybook ending to his senior year.
“I mean right when that that last pitch happened, everyone knew Dawson (Dumont) was gonna catch that ball,” said Wilson. “But you know that last inning, kind of just started getting a little excited, and then as soon as that last out happened it was just crazy.”
Dumont recalls the same moment himself as being truly surreal.
“The ball was hit pretty high up in the air I’m not gonna lie,” said Dumont with a smile. “I tracked it, I knew I was going to catch it, so it was like right when I caught it, I was just kind of shocked, like did we actually just win State right there.”
Dumont who will be heading to Shoreline Community College in Washington to continue his baseball career is excited to see where high school baseball in Montana goes in the years to come.
“I feel like some colleges they didn’t take Montana baseball that seriously before because we didn't have high school baseball,” said Dumont. “So now that we have high school baseball, I think it's gonna open up some more opportunities for people.”
Head coach Brad Fisher knows it was the teams approach that led them to their success.
“Our motto was, ‘There is no tomorrow so we're gonna win today,’ so when we were playing on Thursday, we weren't worried about Friday,” said Fisher. “It was, hey we got to win this game because you can't get to the next one without winning.”
And after coaching many of his players in both tee ball growing up and on the legion team the Mission Valley Mariners, Fisher credits their success to a culmination of years of hard work.
“It's not like this happened overnight. It was a process, and we reiterate that to all the kids that you know, if you work hard enough, sometimes it'll happen for you,” said Fisher. “And we've been saying that the last couple of years and it seems like you know, we come up a little short here or there, but just to get them to keep believing.”
It was a belief that ultimately led to the Pirates etching their names in Montana sports history as the first ever high school baseball state champions.
