BUTTE — The Polson baseball team carved out a piece of Montana sports history on Saturday.
The Pirates piled up four runs in the bottom of the second inning and went on to down Whitefish 10-4 in the state title game at 3 Legends Stadium to become the first high school baseball championship program in state history.
Espn Fisher pitched a complete game, throwing 110 pitches and striking out nine, and also hit a momentum-changing 3-RBI triple in the second inning to put Polson up 5-1. The Pirates never relinquished the lead from that point.
"It's pretty unreal, not gonna lie," said Fisher. "I've been playing (American Legion) baseball for a long time, we've come up short in semifinals and championships but to get away with this one, especially being the first high school team to win is pretty awesome."
Whitefish opened the scoring in the top of the first inning on an RBI double from Ty Schwaiger before Dawson Dumont notched an RBI double of his own in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.
Then, with the bases loaded in the second inning, Fisher delivered his big play and the Bulldogs were left trying to play catch up for the remainder of the game.
Aside from a three-run spree from Whitefish in the top of the 5th, Fisher held the Bulldogs at bay.
"I just got mentally prepared the night before, coach told me I was throwing the next day so I just had to get locked in," said Fisher.
Dumont, who pitched the Pirates to the win in Friday's semifinal against Florence-Carlton, batted in a pair of runners in the bottom of the sixth inning for the game's final score.
"We're a pretty resilient team," said the senior of his team reeling off three wins in as many days. "After that first game we started getting a feel for the state tournament. It was smooth sailing from there."
Jarrett Wilson, Cody Haggard and Aiden Gfroerer also batted in runners for Polson and Wilson notched a triple.
Schwaiger batted in two runners for Whitefish and Jake McIntyre also had an RBI on one hit.
"This tournament, I want to say that I didn't really focus on myself I focused more on my teammates, and trying to get them up," Dumont said. "I tried to get the positive energy as best I could. So whenever I got a good hit or pitched pretty good, I tried to bring my energy with the team."
Belgrade 10, Hamilton 7, third place
The Panthers avenged their first-round loss to the Broncs, beating them 10-7 to take home third place at the state baseball tournament.
Collin Delph was on the mound for all seven innings, allowing nine hits. Delph, Cam Ueland and Sawyer Olson scored two runs apiece, one being an inside-the-park home run for the pitcher.
Diego Casas, Ryas Olson, Keenan Kraft and Brody Jacksha all crossed home once for the Panthers.
This is the second piece of state hardware the Panthers have won since moving to Class AA, the other being the 2021 state softball title.
