High School State Championships: Bigfork Baseball Wins First A/B Title; Whitefish Tennis Sweeps Team Titles

After a weekend full of competition and weather delays, the 2025-2026 high school sports year came to a close with three Flathead Valley teams walking away with state titles.

In the first-ever Class A/B state baseball tournament, the Bigfork Vikings eclipsed a previously undefeated Dillon Beavers 7-2 to take home top honors, while the Whitefish boys and girls tennis teams swept the Class A team titles for the first time in school history.

Check out excerpts from 406mtsports.com coverage from the title-clinching performances below:

Bigfork Vikings shine brightest with Hayden Mayer’s star power

A first-time state champion was fitting for the inaugural Class A-B baseball tournament. Saturday’s title game was uninterrupted by weather despite the post game celebration transpiring under a light drizzle.

The third-place game between 1E Billings Central and 3N Whitefish was halted after four innings in Ronan due to persistent rain and couldn’t resume. Billings Central led 6-1, but per MHSA rules, every state tournament game must complete seven innings (except in case of a run-rule). Billings Central and Whitefish will share Class A-B state third-place hardware.

For the Rams, it’s the program’s second consecutive state trophy. Whitefish secured its best state baseball result since finishing runner-up to Polson in 2023.

Hayden Mayer stenciled bleach-blonde stars into his buzzed haircut the Wednesday before Bigfork departed for its first-ever state baseball tournament. Saturday, underneath dogpiling teammates, Mayer’s black and blue-brimmed cap ripped from his head, revealing the design to hundreds gathered at O’Malley Park.

“I think the stars and buzzing [my head] is like a re-over, it’s like a start over again,” Mayer said. “Got to start fresh. This tournament, I was hitting the crap out of the ball. I was doing the best I’ve done all season hitting the ball hard and putting it where they’re not.”

Mayer, one of four Bigfork seniors, was the Vikings’ star in the program’s first-ever state baseball championship, secured with Saturday’s 7-2 triumph over previously undefeated Dillon. 

The lanky right-hander went the distance, scattering six knocks and one free pass. A pair of Beavers runs (one earned) sandwiched Bigfork’s four-run third inning, and Mayer needed just 91 pitches to record his sixth victory of the season.

“He’s the MVP of this game,” Bigfork senior first baseman Holland Jantzen said. “He’s always out there working hard. Baseball is his sport, and he really showed that today.”

Mayer thumped the biggest double of his career into the right-center field gap with two outs in the third inning.

Facing newly-installed Dillon pitcher Garrett Tackett, Mayer ambushed a heater and cleared loaded bases. Bigfork (17-5) never trailed from that point, but Mayer added an RBI single as part of the Vikings’ game-securing three-run seventh. Mayer and Mason Lewis tallied two knocks apiece in the victory and combined for all five of Bigfork’s RBI.

Mayer completed the three-game state tournament 4-for-9 (.444) with six RBI.

“I’m like, ‘he can’t walk another guy, right?’” Mayer said. “‘He’s got to give me something.’ If it was the first pitch, or the third pitch, or the eighth pitch, I was still going to hit it hard and try my best to score the runners on base.”

Dillon’s undefeated season hinged on Cohen Hartman’s right arm Saturday. The Colorado Christian University commit shoved through two innings, punching out four Vikings with his crisp fastball and two different breaking balls. Cracks formed in the third when Hartman plunked Bigfork’s Wyatt Hickey. Ryder Hamilton singled and Rye Rodriguez reached via sacrifice bunt.

Hartman worked from down 3-1 to retire Max Schara, but on the strikeout pitch, fell to the ground awkwardly. Hartman identified his elbow as cause for concern to attending trainers. Hartman attempted to throw a warm-up pitch after being evaluated, but suffered pain and exited.

“His arm is a little banged up,” Dillon head coach Zach McRae said. “It just is not worth risking it. We took him out and our guys tried to rally. When you lose your stud, that’s always a challenge, but I thought we did the best we could given the circumstances.”

Tackett fanned eight over 4.1 innings, but Mayer was better, firing a four-pitch shutdown frame after Bigfork grabbed momentum. Dillon’s Trenton Moreni singled and scored in the fourth.

With Bigfork up 4-2 in the fifth, Dillon’s Sawyer Tackett was cut down by sophomore catcher Wyatt Hickey attempting to steal. Grady Campbell speared a line drive at shortstop to conclude the frame. Jase Alvarez singled and stole second in the sixth inning, but was stranded.

“That’s the least of, I think, all of our worries on this team,” Rodriguez said of Bigfork’s defense. “Our whole team, defensively, that’s where we strive. I don’t think we ever worry about defense. Defensively, I’d say we’re best in the state.”

“[Mayer] has always been a stud. He really pitched well today, really shut them down. I just can’t believe it. He’s a great player. He deserved everything today.”

Dillon (19-1-1) was nearly Montana’s first undefeated state baseball champion.

Instead, the Beavers secured the program’s first piece of state hardware – it just happens to be the wrong color. Dillon’s 12-game win streak was snapped in the championship. Outside of a tie with Missoula Big Sky last month, opposition struggled to match the Beavers all season, including Class AA titlist Missoula Sentinel – until Friday, and certainly Saturday.

“I’m disappointed about the game, but I’m definitely not disappointed in these guys,” McRae said. “We laid it all out on the line. Got to give credit to Bigfork – they’re hot. They don’t make a lot of mistakes and they keep the pressure on.”

Bigfork’s season concluded on a seven-game win streak. Nearly the North Division champion, Bigfork instead fought “underdog” accusations all weekend, and perhaps for good reason.

It took Lewis’ one-hitter to dispatch state title favorite Billings Central and a sixth-inning semifinal comeback for the Vikings’ star to shine brightest Saturday. Mayer drove home Thursday’s lone run.

“I’m so happy to be here,” Rodriguez said. “Our whole team, we put in so much work. We’ve got our four seniors, they’re a big attribute to this team. They put the team on their backs this year. Just super happy to be here. Can’t believe it, honestly.”

“Everyone thought [Billings Central] was supposed to win it. We just showed up. We didn’t want to lose. We came here for a reason and we got the job done.”

A third-year program, Bigfork rostered 11 players for state, plus five alternates. Schara, who soaked up 17 postseason innings between two starts, is a first-year Bigfork player as a senior, having previously played legion baseball in the area.

Young Vikings fans, some the future of Bigfork baseball, were among the first to filter onto the post game field Saturday and begin celebrating accomplishments of their heroes.

“Nobody expected us to win, really,” Mayer said. “The Billings Central game was a huge momentum change – best pitching we’ve seen all year. We still hit it. We’re a team to beat and people weren’t expecting it…They were just thinking we were a lucky in from the Hamilton [play-in] game. We’re really the team to beat.”

“Really worked hard for this,” Jantzen said. “Whole team did. Since the program started sophomore year, this has been the goal. We got it done today.”

-Daniel Shepard, 406mtsports.com

This article originally appeared in 406mtsports.com 

Hamilton’s Hanley repeats; Whitefish dominates on boys’ side, sweeps team titles

Whitefish emerged victorious in every other final Saturday [besides the girls singles championship]. And for the first time in school history, the Bulldogs won both the boys and girls team championships. The boys piled up 48 points to outdistance runner-up Hardin by 15. The girls tallied 39 points, which was 17 more than runner-up Miles City.

“It’s been quite a day,” Whitefish boys coach Chris Schwaderer said. “I didn’t see it coming fully to the extent that it did. It’s been a fantastic three days really.”

Bulldogs veteran girls coach Patrick Dryden credited the Whitefish boys team with setting an example for the whole tennis program this spring.

“They’re really mature and we were kind of lurking in the shadows. They got a lot of notoriety and pressure and we were just calm and taking notes,” Dryden said. “Then all that confidence spilled over to the girls team. We really started to gel two or three weeks ago.”

For the Whitefish boys, the team title was their second in a row. Leading the way were senior singles champion Jack Oehlerich and the state champion doubles team of senior Aaron Anderson and sophomore Marcus Mercer.

Oehlerich topped Hardin senior Wesley Walks in the indoor title match, 6-2, 6-2. It was somewhat anticlimactic after Oehlerich’s epic semifinal against Dillon senior Jack Robertson in Hardin Friday. Oehlerich rallied to win that match, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

“It was such an amazing match and what he was able to do, what he was able to pull himself out of, was just astonishing,” Schwaderer said. “He dropped the first set, then the winds were big, a big storm blowing in and it was crazy.

“It didn’t feel good, but instead of getting really rattled and throwing in the towel, he just kind of found a way. He adjusted his game. I think he was down 5-3 in the third. Then he chipped away at it and got to a tiebreaker, started out down in that and if I recall correctly he had three match points in that tiebreaker and it didn’t look good. But he found a way. Then today he was classic Jack, so efficient and accurate.”

Anderson and Mercer had a much closer final, rallying past Hardin’s William Noteboom and Adrian Taganahan, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4.

“That Hardin team, there’s no doubt I think probably about everyone at this tournament thought they were the favorite,” Schwaderer said. “They came out ready to get after it and full of adrenaline and they were bringing it. Then we just regrouped and made it our match. Just found a way to play to our strengths with precision and angles.”

Schwaderer noted that its the first time in his 17-year coaching career that the Whitefish boys have had a champion in either singles or doubles.

The Bulldog girls doubles team of Camry Kelch and Allie Shors topped Polson juniors Greta Lund and Hinkley Moss in the indoor championship, 6-3, 6-1. Kelch and Shors, who were paired together midway through the season, did not drop a set the entire tournament. 

“They’re a great combo — one sure and steady and the other one has a lot of firepower and they just complement each other,” Dryden said. “They play other sports together, basketball and volleyball, and they’re good friends with really good chemistry. They clicked right away and I don’t think they lost all year.”

Dryden noted that his team took six players to the state tourney and all six reached the podium. Junior Leisl Brust took third in singles, sophomore teammate Emy Hansen took fifth in singles and the doubles team of Lucy Marzo and Aubrey Talbot took fourth.

-Bill Speltz, 406mtsports.com 

This excerpt originally appeared in an article on 406mtsports.com.