Strong shoulders: Labrum hopes Wolfpack can turn softball season around

Sammie Labrum has a solid softball name, and it makes sense that as a senior she’s shouldering more of a leadership role for the Glacier Wolfpack softball squad.

Gone are four seniors, two of which — Kynzie Mohl and Kenna Vanorny — put up video game statistics in 2021.

Into that void steps an infielder with a .474 career batting average, heading into today’s home game against crosstown rival Flathead.

“She has been an integral part of our team since she jumped on the field as a freshman, when she played third base (and hit .494, in 2019),” Glacier coach Abby Connolly said. “Sammie is a great leader, on and off the field — really the epitome of what you want in a student athlete.”

Labrum has been on the diamond so long she can hardly remember not playing. When older sister Addie began playing, so did Sammie.

“It feels like I’ve been playing since I was like, 6,” she said. “I started out in the little boys and girls T-ball stuff.

“And when my sister joined travel ball, I also did. I was 8.”

She doesn’t figure to stop anytime soon. She committed to Bellevue Community College initially, but when she was accepted into the Carroll College nursing program, she started thinking bigger.

A 4.0 student, Labrum has wanted to be a nurse since touring the NICU facility at Logan Health as a youngster.

The Saints have a softball team too, don’t they?

“It’s actually kind of a funny situation,” she said. “I randomly applied and the academic situation lined up over there really well.”

The problem, if it is that, is she doesn’t know who she’ll be playing for. She reached out first to Brian Bessette, named head coach after Luke Jackson stepped down last August. But then Bessette stepped down four months later amid health issues, and volleyball coach Maureen Boyle took over on an interim basis.

Labrum continued to reach out, and Boyle — who guided Flathead to its lone State AA volleyball title, in 2001 — didn’t need much convincing.

“I just knew,” Coyle said Wednesday, “That a good Montana softball player that’s really interested in nursing probably belongs at Carroll College more than any other school.

“When I took over in January, I got a lot of contacts about her. I really believe that she has a ton of potential at the college level.”

Like a softball diamond, life has a lot of left turns. Coyle will step aside when Carroll names its fourth head coach in the span of 10 or so months. None of this bothers Labrum.

“So excited,” she said. “I feel super good about it.”

It helps that travel ball teammates like Amber Countryman and Kenna Thomas are already at Carroll. The Saints also landed Billings Senior’s Kennedy Venner, who along with Glacier’s Ella Farrell struck out a ton of hitters in 2021.

Meanwhile Labrum and a host of talented teammates — Teagan Powell and Alli Kernan are close friends — are back but the Pack has yet to win a conference game.

“I would say I’m surprised,” Labrum said. “I thought we would come out a little more fiery. We’re working really hard and slowly putting things together, and finding what our team can do without such dominant players.

“It’s coming along. I’m confident we’ll be turning a corner here.”

“This is certainly not what we expected,” added Connelly, whose club is 3-4 overall and 0-4 in the Western AA (Flathead is 1-7, 1-4). “Our message today was go out there and prove that we’re the team we think we are. Nobody is going to give you any wins, especially at the AA level. You have to go out and earn it every at-bat, every pitch, every opportunity.”

In Labrum, Connolly sees a player that can keep things light, but turn on the laser focus when it's needed.

“She has a great arm, and shortstop is a spot where you definitely need a commander on the field,” she said. “She balances a really focused intensity with a good sense of humor.”

And a hot bat, despite the cool early season conditions. The weather won’t be optimal Thursday, but Labrum and Co. will try to make do against a Bravette squad that earned its first win on Tuesday.

“We obviously know there’s work to be done, and we can’t underestimate any team,” Labrum said. “We have a lot of talent on the team, a lot of skill. We just need to put it together.”