Raptors fall short in National Qualifier
By Trent Makela / Leader Staff
The Mission Valley Raptors 16 and under ASA softball team came away empty-handed after facing some stiff competition at the National Qualifier in Helena last Friday and Saturday.
Mission Valley had a steep hill to climb as they fell to the Silver Bullets from Beaverton, Oregon 6-3 on Friday night. The team did it's best to bounce back in Saturday's 8 a.m. game, pushing the Glacier Emeralds into the seventh before falling one run short with a late rally 6-5. Saturday's night game against the Oregon Panthers finally knocked the Raptors out for good as they lost 8-0.
Beaverton 6, Raptors 3
Russ struck out six batters in seven innings, but the eight hits she surrendered turned into six Beaverton runs as the Raptors got off to a slow start. Russ also had just one wild pitch in the game, despite facing 31 batters.
The Raptors trailed 6-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh before before Kaylee Larson reached on an error with two outs. Strozzi followed with a walk before Katie McDonald scored them both with a clutch double. Russ followed with a big single of her own, bringing the tieing run to the plate.
A hard-hit grounder from Bella Dally found it's way to the third baseman, though, and ended the game.
Raptors 001 000 2 — 3 6
Beaverton 021 001 2 — 6 8
Raptors — K. Larson 0-4, Strozzi 0-3, K. McDonald 3-4, Russ 2-4, Dally 0-2, K. Clairmont 0-2, Allstad 0-3, Olson 0-3, Apland 1-3.
Glacier 6, Raptors 5
A late rally fell short as the Raps dropped their closest game of the weekend to the Emeralds from AA Kalispell.
Kaylee Larson drew a walk with two outs to start the Mission Valley rally in the top of the seventh. Strozzi followed with a single that advanced Larson into scoring position. Katie McDonald then plated Larson and moved the tieing run into scoring position with a clutch double.
Shelby Russ, who was already 2-for-3 with three RBIs in the game, could not come up with one more hit, though, and the game ended with a groundout. Russ had previously kept the Raptors in the game with a first-inning RBI double and a two-run dinger in the third.
Raptors 103 000 1 — 5 6
Emeralds 300 012 X — 6 7
Raptors — K. Larson 0-2, Strozzi 2-3, K. McDonald 2-4, Russ 2-4, Allstad 0-2, K. Clairmont 0-3, Dally 0-2, Olson 0-2, Apland 0-3, L. Clairmont 0-1, Delaurenti 0-1, J. McDonald 0-1.
Oregon Panthers 8, Raptors 0
Kyla Olson and Shelby Russ combined to allow just nine hits in the game, but the Raptors offense finally met their match against the Panthers in a game shortened to five innings by the time limit.
Katie McDonald slapped a double and Kaylee Larson picked up a single for the only two hits by the Raptors offense.
Raptors 000 00 — 0 2
Panthers 230 12 — 8 9
Raptors — Jordan Strozzi 0-3, Katie McDonald 1-2, Shelby Russ 0-2, Kaylee Larson 1-2, Kelsey Clairmont 0-1, Kelsey Apland 0-2, Carlee Allstad 0-2, Kyla Olson 0-1, Bella Dally 0-1, Lindsey Clairmont 0-1, Paige Delaurenti 0-1.