A Lakers open season Wednesday
The Kalispell A Lakers have to retool a little up the middle, but pitching depth and a half-dozen familiar faces have coach Walker Malmin feeling positive this American Legion season.
Why not — 65 percent of the innings pitched returns from a team that went 34-26 and finished second at the Western A district tournament.
“For us, that’s a pretty big deal,” said Malmin, whose dad Ryan coaches the AA Lakers. “We’re lucky to get 40 percent back as a feeder program.”
George Schwan threw 97 innings last season and has seen action already for the AA Lakers. He’ll pitch for both and play some outfield for the A Lakers, who begin their season Wednesday at 6 p.m. with a home game against the Libby Loggers.
Second to Schwan was Max Schara with 60 innings; Beau McEwen and Dillon Sharp got in 40 innings each.
Schara is also “double-rostered,” in that he’s getting playing time with the 3-2 AA Lakers; when he’s not pitching Malmin figures he will hold down the second base position.
Which brings us back to the middle of the field. It’s not a complete retooling, because Schara saw time in the infield in 2024 and Beau Schulz came up from the B Lakers to play shortstop late last year — and in fact started in the district championship.
But the A Lakers did lose slick-fielding catcher Brady Buckmaster to the AA program. In his place Malmin is turning to Ethan Kim — he missed last season after shoulder surgery — and Carter Wiggington behind the plate.
In center field, Malmin turns to Jake Hale, a swift lefthander who played in both the B and A programs last season. Beyond Hale there are Dillon Wink, who is penciled in for left field, and Fischer Lee. Wyatt Sharp returns to the team to play right field.
Back in the infield, Tait Orme — who is also playing the high school season with the Whitefish Bulldogs — is coming back to play third. He was the Lakers’ top hitter last season and ranked in the top three for extra-base hits and runs batted in.
Liam Rech led the team in RBIs and extra-base hits and is back to play first. Malmin noted McEwen and Hale could also factor in at first.
The bullpen is fortified by Hale, Reich, Miles Arrowsmith and Bigfork’s Mason Lewis. Arrowsmith is another who has already been on the bump for the AA Lakers.
“We’re very excited about the pitching staff this year,” Malmin said. “We have a couple guys double-rostered right now, but we’ll drop a guy or two back down.”
The schedule includes five games against Libby by the end of May; the Lakers are on the road at Great Falls and Havre this weekend, and have multiple games with Great Falls, Havre and Helena while the high school season winds down. Not a lot of variety, Malmin admitted.
“It’s also good in that it gives us an opportunity to fit those roles and holes we have,” he said. “It’s created competition for us, and that’s what we’re looking for these first five weeks before we hit conference.”
The Lakers didn’t make state in 2024 because the Mission Valley Mariners hosted the State A tournament, taking one of the district’s two berths along with the champion Glacier Twins. The Lakers' goal is to line out their bullpen, solidify a lineup and play the final game at Districts again.