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3 Wildcats, 3Lions, 1 Viking named All-State for baseball

Three players from the North A champion Columbia Falls Wildcats are All-State in baseball, and three more Wildcats garnered all-conference honors in voting by league coaches.

Fifteen players were designated first-team all-North A, of which nine were named All-State. Eureka had three players named All-State, Polson two and Bigfork, one.

Columbia Falls’ Reggie Sapa was one of just two seniors named All-State, along with Polson’s Landon Shoemake. Sapa was joined on the elite squad by fellow Wildcats Jett Pitts, a sophomore, and Nico Young, a junior.

Sapa hit .397 with 17 runs batted in for the Wildcats and had a 2.94 earned-run average on the mound, usually as a closer. Young hit .373 with a home run and 19 RBIs and as a pitcher held a 2.07 ERA. Pitts hit.321 with 21 RBIs and led the pitching staff with 53 strikeouts against 14 walks. He also had a 2.07 ERA.

Eureka’s trio of All-State picks were juniors Rowan Burow and Rogan Lytle and sophomore Tyce VanOrden.

Burow hit .419 for the Lions, with 20 RBIs and 20 runs scored, and was also a top pitcher: In 34 innings he struck out 63 hitters, with a 4.74 ERA. Lytle hit .426 with 18 RBIs and 26 runs scored, and in 17 innings pitched he had a 2.83 ERA. VanOrden hit .375 with 36 runs scored and 12 RBIs, and he stole 31 bases; on the mound he threw 30 1-3 innings with 38 strikeouts and a 4.15 ERA.

Joining Shoemake with All-State honors from Polson was sophomore Cole Wadsworth.

Shoemake hit .451 for the Pirates this spring, with a .606 on-base percentage. He had one homer, 12 runs batted in and a team-high 28 runs scored. He also stole six bases. Wadsworth was also All-State: He hit .400 with 27 runs scored and eight steals, and also led the Pirates in innings pitched with 33. He allowed 22 hits, 14 walks and struck out 40, with a 1.70 ERA.

Bigfork’s Hayden Mayer hit .360 as a junior for the Vikings, with one home run, 20 RBIs and 24 runs scored. He was second on his team in innings pitched with 22, posting a 3.81 ERA with 26 strikeouts.

Filling out the North A first team were: Cooper Ross from Columbia Falls; Ryan Conklin and Tait Orme from Whitefish; Mason Lewis and Ryeln Rodriguez from Bigfork; and Bryson McCormick from Noxon-Thompson Falls.

The full honors teams follow:

All-North A

First Team

Reggie Sapa, sr. Columbia Falls*

Nico Young, jr. Columbia Falls*

Rowan Burow, jr. Eureka*

Landon Shoemake, sr. Polson*

Rogan Lytle, jr. Eureka*

Cole Wadswroth, so. Polson*

Jett Pitts, so. Columbia Falls*

Hayden Mayer, jr. Bigfork*

Tyce VanOrden, so. Eureka*