GREAT FALLS — The Great Falls CMR softball team finished the 2024 season 12-13 overall and placing fourth at the Class AA state tournament. The team now gears up to start its new campaign which begins Thursday afternoon in Kalispell against both Glacier and Flathead.
"I think we're ready," senior Georgia Hatzenbeller said at the Great Falls multi-sports complex Wednesday. "Obviously there's going to be some nerves, but I think we've worked really hard at practice and we know what our plan is, and we know what we need to execute. So I think we're ready."
"It's been pretty smooth," junior Myli Adams said. "We've got back into working together and getting each other's chemistry back down. I say coming off of last year we've gotten a pretty good start."
"The work ethic right now has been great," head coach Alex Hurley said. "They're focused, they're hard at work and they've been that way since we started offseason stuff in January. So, it's exciting to see how much they've improved in these last few weeks."
The Rustlers had a younger core last year, which now has translated to eight juniors and five seniors on the roster this spring. Hatzenbeller, Adams and Hurley all said they know this team can achieve more than what it did last year.
But in order to get off on the right foot toward that, Hurley said seeing more success in the early games hitting wise is needed.
"Last year we were a little inconsistent with our hitting," Hurley said. "We went up and down and kind of hit our stride towards the end of the season, so I think if we could start early on this season and be strong one through nine with our lineup — and get on base and score base runners a little bit better this season — that's going to help us."
Adams said the team has an "E.A.T." motto this season.
"E.A.T. stands for effort, attitude and togetherness," Adams said.
The team has lived by that acronym thus far in practice as Hurley said.
"They show that every day, just their work ethic," Hurley said. "They're competitors, they push each other. We have pretty good leadership."
CMR has a goal firmly in mind for this season, and while it will take a lot to accomplish, Hatzenbeller and Hurley both said it's doable.
"Being more competitive and being there for each other, and I just think we all have realized that that's what we need to win a state championship," Hatzenbeller said. "I think we've talked about that, and we can do it."
"That's a big goal of ours is to be there in that championship game," Hurley said. "It's going to take a lot of work. So, just taking each conference game one at a time and trying to get a good record going into the postseason."
The Rustlers begin their season Thursday on the road against Glacier at 2 p.m. and Flathead at 4 p.m.
