Three Polson teams take Splash championships

Zach Urness

Leader Staff

Large masses of girls, aged as young as eight and as old as 18, descended upon the town of Polson last weekend for the annual "Splash Classic" summer softball tournament.

There were four age divisions, including 10 and under, 12u, 14u and a combined 16 and 18u division.

Polson teams were the most successful at the weekend tournament, as the host teams won championships in three of the four divisions.

The Polson Lil' Lakers (10u), the Polson Lakers (14u) and the Polson Purple Rain (16u) each took home a trophy for first prize and the Polson Purple Wave (12u) wern't too far behind, taking home second place.

The Ronan Mighty Maidens (10u) also competed and did a good job, as did the Ronan Orange and Black Attack (10u).

Games were began on Friday and exciting action continued through Sunday afternoon, when the champions were crowned.

The Lil' Lakers win

big championship

The Polson Lil' Lakers saved their best for last, as they rallied from a 5-run deficit to win the 10u championship over the Glacier Emeralds by a final score of 8-5. The Lil' Lakers' bats came alive in the fifth inning as every hitter came to the plate to help score seven runs and erase a 5-0 lead and eventually win 8-5.

"The championship game was the first time we really hit the ball," said head coach Lisa Kenney. "That was big for us. But the great thing is that, even though we were down, the kids kept their heads in the game."

The win in the championship game was made sweeter by the fact that they lost to the Emeralds 13-2 earlier in the tournament.

"Our kids were really excited," commented Kenney. "They made very few errors and played so well to come back and beat them."

Jaylin Kenney, who along with teammate Taylor Davis, did all of the Lil Lakers' pitching throughout the tournament, had seven strikeouts in the game.

They won their first game of the tournament over the Ronan Mighty Maidens, 7-1, before losing to the Emeralds in the second game. Their final game of pool play came against Glacier Green, and Polson's youngest team came through in a big way, winning 24-5.

In their first game on Sunday, the semi-finals, the Lil Lakers beat Glacier Green for the second time, 10-3.

"The girls were thrilled the whole tournament," noted Kenney. "We are a very young team with only three returning players from last year's team and this was our first tournament. But we got better every game and by the end I really think the girls were starting to figure out how to play together."

The Lil' Lakers are composed of Jaylin Kenney, Taylor Davis, Kyrie Bitterman, Peyton Anderson, Veronica Marquardt, Skyla Krantz, Jenna Evertz, Kayla Forman and Jade Newman, Kaelen Wall and Kylie Murphy.

Purple Wave take second place in Splash tourney

The very young Polson Purple Wave had a great weekend at the Splash tournament, going 4-2 overall and making it all the way to the championship game before taking second for the weekend.

"The girls have dramatically improved since their first practice together," said head coach Brigit Johnson. "We've been focusing a lot on hitting and bunting, base running, and defensive plays."

All the work apparently paid off as the Wave earned second place, after dominating a lot of teams along the way.

The Purple Wave got their tournament underway with a 7-0 victory over the Columbia Falls Wildcats on Friday. On Saturday they beat the Glacier Emeralds 9-5, but then lost to the Lady Osprey 5-2.

On Sunday the Wave took on the Wildcats for the second time and won again, 10-4, and then earned redemption by beating the Lady Osprey 7-3 to earn a berth into the championship game.

The Purple Wave ran into a tough opponent in the championship, however, and they lost 8-0 to a much older and more mature team.

"I think we did very well this weekend," noted Johnson, "Especially in our championship game when we played the older and notably larger and more mature Montana Bandits team."

Shay Duford and Ashley Johnson were standouts for the Wave over the weekend, as Shay pitched every game to catcher Ashley, who caught four out of the six games.

"Shay is a very hard worker and has the capacity to become a very successful pitcher in the future," noted Johnson.

"Other standouts are Heidi Rausch, who played short stop and catcher for us this weekend and who hits with a lot of power, mainly in our 4-spot in the line up," continued Johnson. "Also there is Ashley Johnson, who caught the last four games of our tournament and who is very quick around the bases. Makaliah Wilson and Jessica Bagnell are also very good players who work very hard and maintain a successful infield for us. Jessica plays third while Makaliah plays second base, they also are a couple of our stronger hitters."

The team is composed of Shay Duford, Jessica Bagnell, Heidi Rausch, Makaliah Wilson, Ashley Johnson, Amber Quequesah, Amanda Quequesah, Martina Marquardt, Kiley Webber, Jordyn Evertz, Colleen Jacobson and Ashlee Berens.

Polson Lakers win championship, go 5-0

The Polson Lakers swept through the competition last week, going 5-0 en route to the 14u Splash championship.

"We played great," said head coach Paul Noble. "A lot of the kids just moved up from 12u this year and we're pretty young so there was a transition period for a while. But we're playing great ball now."

Kendra Bouley pitched all five games, going 5-0 in the process, including a shutout in the championship game against the Big Sky Blast, where Bouley faced only 15 batters through five innings, Noble said.

"Kendra pitched great all the way through," noted Noble.

The Lakers first win came over the Great Falls Flames, 12-7. Polson's 14u team then beat up on Libby, taking an 8-2 win in the second game of pool play. In the final game of pool play the Lakers took on the Big Sky Blast and won a close one, 3-2.

On Sunday, the final day of the tournament, the Lakers played their best ball of the weekend, beating the Flames for the second time, 15-1. The Lakers took that momentum into the championship game and won easily, 9-0 over the Big Sky Blast.

"They all played great," said Noble of his team. "We had heroes all over the place getting hits for us at different times, up and down the lineup."

Noble noted that Marissa McCrea played very well on offense side, going 9-for-13 from the plate and really driving the ball from the leadoff spot. He also said that Sallie Sams made some great plays at second base for the team.

Tom Kenney is the assistant coach of the Lakers, who are now 11-3 overall this season.

The team is composed of Kiley Knutson, Tana Ash, Heather Mathison, Kolie Clairmont, Breanne Kelley, Riley Kenney, Kodi Woods, Marlee Berry, Marissa McCrea, Kayla Duford, Sallie Sams and Kendra Bouley.

Polson Purple Rain beat back older teams for championship

The future looks bright for Polson softball program, as the 16u Purple Rain, a young team even by 16u standards, beat their way through much older competition including the 18u Kalispell Emeralds for the championship.

Playing in a division that was combined between 16 and 18u teams, the Purple Rain went 4-0-1, and won the Splash championship for the second year in a row.

"I thought we really came together this weekend," said head coach Larry Smith. "We were great on offense, and got good pitching from both Sarah (Newton) and Dakota (Peterson)."

The Rain's first game came against the 18u Kalispell Emeralds, and the game ended in a 11-11 tie.

"We were actually ahead 13-11 and up to bat when the time limit on the game ran out," said Smith, "so the score went back to what it was during the previous inning, and it ended in a tie."

Polson rallied in their second game and beat the Montana Ice 10-0, and followed that up with a 7-3 win over Kalispell's 16u team. The Purple Rain continued to play well against Missoula Hellgate and won 11-2.

"Our offense was really sharp," noted Smith. "Some of the younger girls, like Christa Redcrow and Caitlyn Vasser who were pretty quiet earlier are starting to come into their own."

On Sunday the Purple Rain opened things up with a big win over Frenchtown's 18u team in the semi-finals, getting hits off a very good pitcher and playing what Smith called, "a very good game."

Polson put the icing on the cake with a 13-5 win over the Kalispell 18u Emeralds.

"It was neat to beat a couple of those 18u teams," noted Smith.

He also said that players like Staci Benson, Charlee Jenson and Susan Perez-Tenas stepped up their game and are becoming leaders on the team.

The Purple Rain got home runs from Vasser, Newton and Jenson last weekend.

The team is composed of Rochelle Woods, Susan Perez-Tenas, Staci Benson, Sarah Newton, Dakota Peterson, Caitlyn Vassar, Christa Red Crow, Charlee Jenson, Daniel Burris, Melissia Delwo and Liz Simshaw.

Ronan Mighty Maidens have good showing

The Ronan 10u team played hard, showing great team spirit and going 1-3 for the tournament. "I was so proud of them," said coach Toni Michael. "They really did well."

The Mighty Maidens lost their first game to the Polson Lakers 7-1, but won their second game, over Kootani, 14-9. They had a tough one against the Glacier Emralds and lost 18-3, and played well against the Kootani Crushersa, but lost 10-2.