Winning the 4/5 3A district tournament, the Lady Dragons earned their berth to the IHSAA state softball tournament.  Held at Lakeside and Lakeland High Schools north of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho May 14-16, the MHS team was seeded #3, prepared to compete against the best teams of the state.  Finishing the tournament in fourth place, the team prided themselves on the great accomplishments of not only the tournament but of the season as the young team stepped into new roles and found great success.

As the season wrapped up, Head Coach Bri Adams commented, “Obviously nobody goes into the state tournament looking for 4th place, right? But that being said, I knew from the get-go of the season that it was going to be tough competition.  Most teams didn’t graduate many last year. Every team at state except for us had seniors pitching. We graduated 7 starters and had a very young team and I’m so darn proud of them for their season. We may not have had our best showing at state but they gave us coaches their best and that’s all we can ever ask of them.”

Playing in game three of the tournament, Malad took on the Kellogg Wildcats, providing a nailbiting experience until the very last play of the game.  Defense dominated the game, both teams remaining scoreless until the fifth inning.  

In the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Dragons finally made their way around the bases, Liddia Gonzalez scoring after being walked on base, stealing third, and finishing her way across home base on a passed ball to take the lead 1-0.

The Wildcats answer in the next inning, batting in a run of their own on a defensive error by the Lady Dragons to tie the game.  Neither team managed a successful run in the seventh inning, pushing the game into extra innings.  In the top of the ninth, Kellogg began the inning with a runner on second.  A base hit advanced the runner to third, who was batted in on a sacrifice fly to Gonzalez.  Pitcher Sarah Toone struck out the following batter before the Wildcats loaded the bases.  Instead of falling to the pressure, the MHS team stepped up to get the out and prevent any additional runs by Kellogg.

Down by one, Malad knew this offensive inning would decide the game.  Senior Aubrey Shulz was sent to second base with Stella Merja at the plate to bat.  Fueled with drive and desire to win, Merja ripped a hit to center field, a triple bagger to punch in Shulz and tie the game.

Toone followed at the plate, connecting with the first pitching.  Despite the Wildcat fielder making the catch, Merja tagged up at third before running home with the winning score of the game.

The win advanced Malad through the bracket, pitting them against the Parma Panthers the following day.  Malad came out slow, compiling three outs in their first at bats.  In contrast, Parma began the game in a strong fashion, tallying three runs in the first inning.  

Settling into their game, the MHS defense held the Panther’s scoreless over the next three innings, while putting up three runs by Harlee Maddox, Merja, and Toone.  Unfortunately the Panthers weren’t finished and retook the lead 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth.  

The top of the seventh inning closed the gap for the Lady Dragons by one as Maci Arnout hit a single to center field to bat in Gonzalez.  But a strikeout put an end to the inning, Malad coming up short, 4-6.

Coming from behind, the MHS ties the game at four points in the bottom of the fifth inning as they took on the Orofino Maniacs in their second game of the day.  WIth the bases loaded, Maddox singled for an RBI.  Arnout followed with an unfortunate out ground out to second, but provided the opportunity for Logan Maroney to add a run to the MHS score.  Kialey Pickkett hit an additional sacrifice hit to help tie the game as Maddox ran across home.  

It was in the bottom of the fifth that Malad took over the lead, Shulz scoring on a single by Merja.  Both teams remained scoreless through the final innings, awarding the game to Malad, 5-4.

That evening the Lady Dragons took the field to take on the familiar competition, the North Fremont Huskies.  The game began with a defensive battle with both teams going scoreless through four innings. Malad’s defense looked sharp from the start behind solid pitching from Kyndall Tanner and several clean plays in the field.  The Huskies kept Malad quiet with a string of unlucky strikeouts.

Malad threatened a scoring run several times but couldn’t bring a runner home.  North Fremont finally broke through in the fifth inning, scoring two runs to take the lead.  Despite having several runners in scoring range, Malad couldn’t finish their way around the bases, losing 0-2.  The second loss ended the team’s state run, finishing in fourth place.     

Thinking back over the season and the Lady Dragon’s accomplishments, Coach Adams shared, “I’m most proud of their character! These girls are such good girls!  As coaches we are asked to win games and yes that’s what keeps it fun, but even more rewarding for us is to see these girls bounce back mentally after an error or a strike out.   We talked about how life is going to get them down and learning these things in sports will help them so much outside of sports.”

Not only did Coach Adams express her pride but also gave thanks for the team she had, saying, “I’m grateful for the girls, for rolling with me being out to have a baby, the coaches being shuffled around, assistant coaches filling in for me and supporting me in my role as mom. It was a fun season and I’m so proud of the girls.  But most of all I’m sad it’s over and we have to wait a year to try again.”