St. Ignatius sandwiches wins around bigger conference loss By Trent Makela / Leader Staff

The St. Ignatius High School softball team looked like an offensive juggernaut in their two non-conference games last week, but came up one run short of the one they really wanted.

The Lady Bulldogs (9-6, 7-4) opened their week with heartbreak, narrowly falling on Thursday in a rescheduled game against Florence (8-6, 7-4) that could have boosted them into third place in the Western B-C standings.

"Florence is in third and we were trying to leap-frog them into that position," St. Ignatius coach Steve Woll said. "Our conference only takes four teams to state, so it's a pretty important position. That loss hurt quite a bit."

Loyola and Thompson Falls are currently atop the conference's standings, with Florence, Troy, Deer Lodge, Noxon and St. Ignatius all within two games of the fourth position.

The Florence loss sent the team on an offensive rampage for the rest of the week. They drummed non-conference Drummond in five innings thanks to the 10-run rule on Saturday and used a steady steam of offense to burn Plains in another Western B-C contest on Monday.

"I guess we ended a winning streak but started another one," Woll said.

The Lady Bulldogs will resume their schedule with two huge conference games at Thompson Falls on Thursday and at home against Troy on Friday.

Florence 15, St. Ignatius 14

The Lady Bulldogs scored three runs in the top of the eighth on a bases-loaded single from Kyla Olson and a pair of errant throws, but gave up four in the bottom for the extra-innings loss.

Florence scored the game's final run on a wild pitch, squeezing out of their second do-or-die situation of the game. St. Ignatius had scored four runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth before the Falcons rallied with two outs to force the extra period.

"We knew it was a huge game and it was a tournament atmosphere," Woll said. "There were butterflies in the belly and the whole deal — then it turned into an old fashioned shoot out."

The Lady Bulldog offense was led by Dalena Weaselhead's 4-for-6 effort, which included three doubles and three RBIs. Sophomore Katie McDonald also had a big day, finishing 4-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.

"It was just one of those games where the team with the last at-bat won," Woll said. "And that wasn't us."

St. Ignat. 130 304 03 — 14 14

Florence 110 600 14 — 15 10

W - Hoagland. L - Grant.

ST. IGNAT. — Mattea Grant 1-4, Dalena Weaselhead 4-6, McDonald 4-5, Kelci Apland 2-6, Carlee Allstad 0-3, Olson 2-5, Bella Dally 1-2, Jonna Grant 0-3, Naomi Knight 0-4.

FLORENCE — Kayla Daniels 1-4, Kayla Schmidt 3-5, Shelby Meuchel 0-4, Shanna Moore 1-3, Cassie Pedersen 0-4, Kaitlyn Rolshoven 3-5, Kelsi Hoagland 0-2, Mo Chapman 0-4, Chayla Pedersen 2-5.

St. Ignatius 17, Drummond 1

The Lady Bulldogs knocked out nine hits and somehow pulled 17 runs out of a hat for the non-conference win.

Mattea Grant led the charge, kicking off a red-hot three day steak with a 4-for-4 effort that included two triples and six RBIs.

"We made them make plays for the most part by putting the ball in play," Woll said. "That's key for us. We want to have a lead instead of coming from behind all the time."

Kyla Olson started the game for St. Ignatius and allowed just two hits and racking up six strikeouts. She was replaced by Bella Dally in the fourth with the game well in hand. The pair combined to toss a four-hitter with the help of just three errors from their defense.

"Bella just needed to get some work in and we were able to give it to her," Woll said.

McDonald added another big offensive game, smacking a triple and three RBIs. Bella Dally also singled twice and drove in a pair.

Drummond 00 1 00 — 1 4

St. Ignat. 10(11) 5x — 17 9

W - Olson. L - Angelo.

DRUMMOND - Jesse Paske 2-3, Megan Oberweiser 1-2, Brianna Jesse 0-3, Emily Angelo 0-3, Belinda Buck 0-1, Jessica Billington 0-2, Amanda Wright 1-2, K.D. Shatto 0-2, Brianna Wright 0-2.

ST. IGNAT. - Mattea Grant 4-4, J. Grant 1-2, Jazz Gilleard 0-1, McDonald 1-1, Kelci Apland 0-3, Shianne Montgomery 0-2, Olson 0-2, Dally 2-3, Carlee Allstad 0-1, Naomi Knight 0-0.

St. Ignatius 15, Plains 9

The Lady Bulldogs easily out hit the Trotters, but needed to pull away late for the ugly Western B-C win.

"We had 18 hits, they had one and it was 15 to 9 ball game," Woll said. "It was not a beautiful day on the mound or in the field. At one point we were in an 8-7 ballgame and they had one hit."

Grant brought a few good-looking moments to the sloppy game, finishing 5-for-6 at the plate. She also took over on the mound for Olson with two outs in the third, surrendering just two runs.

McDonald finished 3-for-5 with a second-inning home run that was the only extra base hit of the game.

Kelci Apland finished 3-for-5 and Shianne Montgomery went 2-for-4 for St. Ignatius.

The game ended with 11 errors between the two teams and with no batter recording an RBI.

"We know we can hit, but we need to pick it up on other side of the ball," Woll said. "We can't rely on outscoring people."

St. Ignat. 323 041 2 — 15 18

Plains 007 002 0 — 9 1

W - Grant. L - Catalanello.

ST. IGNAT. — Grant 5-6, Weaselhead 0-4, McDonald 3-5, Apland 3-5, Montgomery 2-4, Olson 1-5, Dally 1-2, Carlee Allstad 0-1, Jonna Grant 0-2, Shelby Piedalue 1-2, Naomi Knight 1-3, Kilee Bartschi 1-2.

PLAINS - Sam Buchanan 0-3, Gabby Reynolds 0-4, Bethany Catalanello 1-4, Keaton Jones 0-4, Chelsea Roosma 0-4, Brittany Spencer 0-3, Karly Ryan 0-3, Chrstian Ziegler 0-2, Abi Mitch 0-2.