At Polson, the host Lady Pirates tangled with the visiting WildKats and caged them with their first loss of the season to take sole possession of the lead in the Northwestern A Division standings. Polson started out with a bang when senior Kodi Woods ripped an opening triple in the bottom of the 1st inning. Number two hitter Ashley Johnson layed down an infield hit and “busted a move” toward first to draw the coverage and plate Woods for a 1-0 lead. Successive singles would place two more runners on board, but WildKat pitcher Jessica Owens was adept at extracting herself from any further damage. Columbia Falls would answer right back in the top of the 2nd when Niki Birky opened with a sharply hit liner that curled off the glove of the fielding shortstop and safely reached first, then stole second. Number five hitter Erika Nelson followed with a sharply hit ball to the infield, which was fielded and thrown to third in an attempt to erase the lead runner. The play would not be in time to catch the fleet-of-foot Birky, while Nelson reached first safely. After two successive strikeouts, Jaylynn Cantu would stroke a RBI single to plate Birky to knot the score at 1-1 before Polson would end the threat with a second-to-first 4-3 put-out.
In the bottom of the 2nd, Polson would send ten batters to the plate to take a commanding 8-1 lead. Number seven hitter Kylie Knutson would open with a single, number eight hitter Makaliah Wilson would draw a walk and bottom-of-the-order hitter Tina Marquardt would single to load the bases. Top-of-the-order hitter Woods would draw a walk to force in a run. Johnson followed with a RBI single to plate Wilson. Number three batter Shay Duford hit a fielder’s choice chopper toward the gap between second and third to plate Marquardt, which CFalls shortstop Renae Nelson was able to intercept and relay to third base infielder Shaun Rowe to force Woods. Cleanup hitter “Slammin” Sallie Sams then stroked a 2 RBI double to plate Johnson and S. Duford to stretch the lead to 6-1. Middle-of-the-order hitter Heidi “Rumblin” Rausch then stroked a triple to plate Sams. Number six hitter Kayla “Mighty KC” Duford knocked her pitch toward the shortstop to sacrifice home Rausch to extend the lead to 8-1. CFalls pitcher Owens was then able to extract herself from the inning once the order had come around again by forcing an infield pop-up. The WildKats were tamed 1-2-3 during the top half of the 3rd. In the bottom of the 3rd, Makaliah “Smackin Mak” Wilson walloped a zinger for a solo home run that put another dimple in the Polson scoreboard to extend Polson’s lead to 9-1, but the WildKats would retire the next three batters on a pair of outlfield fly-outs and a relay from third to first to end the inning.
In the top of the 4th, Birky opened with a single. Follow-up hitter Renae Nelson reached on a fielder’s choice when the Lady Pirates elected to negate the lead runner at second for one out. Madison Sandefer then singled, followed by a RBI single by Jordan Lefebvre to plate Nelson to trim the lead to 9-2. Jaylynn Cantu followed with a sacrifice hit to plate Sandefer to narrow the gap 9-3. Bottom-of-the-order batter Kathrin Jetty drew a walk to place two runners on board with two outs. But Lady Pirate pitcher Shay “The Tiger” Duford threw her sixth strikeout of the evening to snuff the rally. Polson pitcher Duford then opened the bottom of the 4th with a single. Cleanup hitter Sams sacrificed “The Tiger” over into scoring position at second. Rausch rumbled at the plate for a single to place runners at the corners. Kayla Duford then hit a long fly ball to right field for a RBI sacrifice to plate her sister for a 10-1 lead. A subsequent fly ball to the shortstop would end the inning.
With two outs in the top of the 5th, Columbia Falls would pick up another run when Birky was hit-by-a-pitch, Renae Nelson reached on a dropped-third-strike and Sandefer reached first safely on an infield overthrowing error that plated the fleet-of-foot Birky to rearrange the score at 10-4 before Polson would end the inning. With two outs in the bottom of the 5th, leadoff batter Woods stroked a double for naught as a subsequent strikeout would end the threat.
In the top of the 6th with two out, leadoff hitter Owens would single, but that was all the noise that would be made as Polson closed out the inning. In the bottom portion of the 6th, Shay Duford opened with a walk, followed by a single from Sams. Third-batter-of-the-inning Rausch hit a fielder’s choice to center, which the WildKat outfielder effectively relayed home for the tag-out Shay Duford trying to score for the first out. Kayla Duford then singled to plate Sams. Knutson followed with a sacrifice hit to plate Rausch for a RBI before an infield fly-out would end the Polson scoring.
In the top of the 7th, Birky would draw a one-out walk. Erika Nelson followed with a single to place two runners on board. Then Sandefer hit a dying liner into shallow center that looked like it was going to fall to load the bases. But centerfielder Woods closed the gap when she charged the would-be hit and made an almost shoestring-like catch, then fired to second for a double play to end the game that forced out Birky who had rounded third with the intent of scoring another run for her team.
Columbia Falls - 010 - 210 - 0 - 4
Polson - 171 - 102 - x - 12
C-Falls - 6 hits and zero errors. Polson - 14 hits and three errors.
Jessica Owens and Erika Nelson. Shay Duford and Kayla Duford. W - S. Duford ([6-2], 7 strikeouts, 6 hits, 2 walks, hbp), L - Owens (2 strkeouts, 14 hits, 3 walks).
CFALLS - Jessica Owens 1-4, Renae Nelson 0-4, Shaun Rowe 0-4, Niki Birky 1-1 (E,HBP,W), E. Nelson 1-3 (FC,FC,DTS), Madison Sandefer 1-3, Jordan Lefebvre 1-3, Jaylynn Cantu 1-2, Kathrin Jetty 0-2.
POLSON - Kodi Woods 2-3, Ashley Johnson 1-3, S. Duford 2-3, Sallie Sams 3-3, Heidi Rausch 2-4, K. Duford 1-2, Kylie Knutson 1-3, Makaliah Wilson 1-3, Tina Marquardt 1-3.
HR - Wilson. 3B - Woods, Rausch. 2B - Woods, Sams. SacH - Cantu, K. Duford 2, Johnson, Sams, Knutson. RBIs - Cantu 2, Lefebvre, K. Duford 3, Johnson 2, Sams 2, Woods, Rausch, Knutson, Wilson. SB - Birky, E. Nelson, Sandefer, Wilson.
Unofficial game summary by John Heglie. May vary from official results in minor detail.
Here are some photos from Polson's victory over Columbia Falls on Thursday.
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