Huckers double up Riverhouse for second softball tournament trophy in three years 

Big Sky Softball League wraps 24th season, BSCO to organize pickup games through September 

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

The Hillbilly Huckers overcame their dip into the loser’s bracket on Sunday afternoon, beating Riverhouse twice in the championship, 22-15 and 27-16, to win the 2024 Big Sky Softball League tournament.  

Brett Slehofer, Riverhouse team manager, told EBS he couldn’t think of a time when a team emerged from the loser’s bracket to win the whole thing—the feat requires beating the top team twice in a row after playing at least one extra game on the second day of the weekend tournament.  

Even Huckers manager Lee Horning was a bit surprised that his team came out on top, considering their “advanced age” with half a dozen 50-plus-year-olds, and a few key players away on vacation.  

“Every year we kind of focus on the regular season trophy… Don’t feel we’re built for a lot of games in a row,” Horning said. But they made a run, and Horning said it feels good to get one of the trophies back—they last won the tournament in 2022.  

After some tough, unexpected losses early in the season, Horning said the Huckers stayed determined every week and focused on simply scoring as much as possible.  

“And that’s what we did,” he said. 

Horning credited the Huckers’ young guns, including “outstanding” third baseman Jared Rogers, shortstop Tito Ruiz—who couldn’t attend the tournament—and Ruiz’ power-hitting replacement, Ryan Rothing, who joined Huckers for the 2024 season.  

“Derek [Christensen] and Matt [Hockinson], our top of the lineup hitters, they all did great,” Horning said. “And our girls did an awesome job, even though we were shorthanded again, missing Mara [Mitchell] and Kate [Scott], longtime Huckers.” 

Horning shouted out Huckers’ ladies Vanessa Wilson, Destini Vega-Climo, Michelle Horning and Kelly Sheedy, as well as pitcher Cord Halmes. 

“I tell you what man, they were playing really solid softball all day,” Slehofer said. “We couldn’t keep up with them. Their defense was on point, and their offense was better. They were the better team yesterday, for sure.” 

The double-win championship didn’t come easy, though.  

Riverhouse took down Huckers in the semifinal game, as a tactical blunder led Horning to intentionally walk in Riverhouse’s winning run—the batter he avoided, Yale Rosen, had two grand slams in the tournament among other tape-measure shots.  

Riverhouse was hot throughout the tournament.  

“Man, we had a couple defensive plays that were SportsCenter highlights, I tell you what. Our left-center fielder, Yale, and our shortstop [Jake Lorenzini] were on fire,” Slehofer said. 

After falling to Riverhouse, the Huckers had to play an extra game just to reach the championship—in which they’d still need to win twice. They defeated rival Lone Peak Cannabis Co. (LPC), 24-9, to set up the Riverhouse rematch on Sunday afternoon.  

Steven Reid, league coordinator for the Big Sky Community Organization, which runs the softball league, said Riverhouse improved this year, especially on defense.  

“Last year many of their games were kind of shootouts. I think that’s what really bumped them up in the standings [this year],” Reid said.   

Riverhouse went undefeated, 13-0, in the regular season. Until the tournament championship, their only loss came to LPC in the regular season championship.  

Slehofer explained that Riverhouse tried something new with their lineup this season. Prioritizing the number of at-bats for the strongest hitters, those with weaker bats shared a lineup spot, alternating turns with each cycle through the batting order.  

“And it worked,” he said. “We went 13-0.”  

As for next year, Slehofer said he’s not sure what to improve upon.  

“But I’d be happy if we did the exact same thing. Win 13 in a row, and have a strong showing in the tournament. That’s a successful year for me, man.”  

In the championship, wind howled and lightning bolted across the northwestern sky before an hour-long rain delay. Perhaps the shift in weather gave the Huckers the life they needed for 14 more innings at the end of a long tournament. Or maybe the Huckers are a dangerous team to doubt.  

Extra innings 

For next season, Reid anticipates a similar 14-team structure, and noted that a few people have expressed interest in starting a team—possibly inspired by the success of the Kenai Kangaroos and BYWOM Knights, both new for 2024.  

BYWOM didn’t win until the final week of the regular season, and entered the tournament as the final seed. But they played some ball, winning twice on Saturday and making it into the second day of tournament action.  

“That was really impressive,” Reid said. “Chemistry clicking—hope they come back next year.”  

Reid reflected on a fun 2024 end-of-season tournament. He noted mostly good weather until the championship and strong attendance, with a Big Sky dose of good-natured heckling and many games decided by one or two runs.  

Given that this year’s softball season ended a few weeks early—the schedule was adjusted for field construction that won’t happen as planned—Reid said BSCO will run pickup softball on Mondays and Tuesdays through the last week of September, except for Labor Day.  

Games will begin at 6 p.m., with registration required online. Each game will cost $5 per person, as a fundraiser for the league.  

“We’re gonna take advantage of having this field still available, and keep playing,” Reid said.