Lady Pirates lose, regain Western A crown overnight in Libby showdowns

By Trent Makela/Leader Staff

One night as a second-place team was long enough.

The Polson High School softball team dropped an air-tight 3-2 contest at Libby on Friday to lose the lead in Western A, but bounced back on Saturday afternoon to steal the crown back from the Loggers with a 6-4 rematch home win.

The Lady Pirates (9-1 , 18-4) were scheduled to host the Loggers (9-1, 18-4) way back on April 19, but three makeup dates were canceled due to the weather. Eventually, Polson hosted the teams' final showdown instead of Libby. Both teams were undefeated in confference prior to Friday night's game.

"In this case [the top seed] wasn't that important because both of the top west teams got a bye," Polson coach Larry Smith said. "We were going to play one of those top teams from [Central A] either way. It was just a matter of winning the conference, and the girls wanted it."

Smith added that his players wanted to have sweatshirts made that said how many consecutive years the Lady Pirates had won the conference. Neither Smith nor the players, though, could remember how long it had been since they started winning titles."I'd say about four years, maybe," Smith said. "It could easily be more than that, though."

Polson must now defend their title as Class A state champions by facing a stacked field at the state tournament in Butte next Thursday-Saturday.

"We're just trying to stay loose and relaxed about things. We want to go in there and play how we play," Smith said. "I don't want to put a lot of pressure on them. When you step on the field [at the tournament] you can already feel the tension pick up."

The Lady Pirates will open their bracket by facing the winner of Thursday morning's game between Billings Central and the hosts from Butte Central. Polson's first game will begin at 3 p.m. at Butte's Copper Mountain Fields.

Polson 6, Libby 4

The Lady Pirates showed the Loggers what a good piece of wood can do, knocking in all six runs in the game's first three innings.

"We were just putting the ball in play. That was our game plan in Libby and we probably shouldn't have gone away from it," Smith said. "They don't have too strong of an infield and that's how we scored. We had good, agressive base-running and made them throw the ball around."

Smith's gameplan forced Libby into five errors in the game, while the Lady Pirates racked up eight hits.

Polson needed a two-run win to take first after losing by one to Libby on Friday, but nearly surrendered the margin when the Loggers landed runners on first and second base with just one out in the top of the seventh. Pitcher Dakota Peterson racked up a big swinging strikeout for the inning's second out and Liz Simshaw officially pulled her out of the jam with a full-speed diving catch in shallow right.

Senior outfielder Maggie Gordon came led the charge offensively on her long-delayed senior night, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Staci Benson also contributed a 2-for-4 effort to the cause.

"[Maggie] hit the ball really well as a leadoff hitter," Smith said. "She and Staci Benson did really well for us batting one-two."

Libby 012 010 0 — 4 6

Polson 222 000 x — 6 8

W - Peterson. L - Hageness.

LIBBY — Brooke Hageness 1-4, Shelby Barton 2-4, Nickole Lapka 0-2, Laice Dedrick 2-4, Alysha Martin 1-4, Megan Wedel 0-2, Jordan Refsland 0-3, Emily Monroe 0-2, Kimi Klin 0-1, Holly Cirian 0-3.

POLSON — Maggie Gordon 2-4, Staci Benson 2-4, Sarah Newton 1-3, Rochelle Woods 0-3, Amanda James 1-3, Caitlyn Vassar 0-3, Peterson 1-2, Liz Simshaw 1-2, SuSan Perez -Tenas 0-2, Charlee Jenson 0-1.

Libby 3, Polson 2

The Lady Pirates tied their final regular-season road game in the top of the seventh, but a controversial call in the bottom of the inning came back to bite them.

The Loggers picked up runners on second and third with no outs in the seventh when a third baseman Sarah Newton ran towards home to field a bunt. Newton faked a throw to first and then threw to shortstop Amanda James at third base. The Libby runner, taken by surprise charged into James and the ball rolled away after the collision. The umpire ruled that James had not held onto the ball long enough to make the out.

"I thought the girl was out. I thought [Amanda] held onto it long enough to get her out," Smith said. "The game was tied at that point. I also thought the leadoff batter missed first base when she got on with a double. We appealed that, too. On the very last play, I thought their runner impeded our fielder's path to the ball as well. It was a wild inning."

Rochelle Woods led the offensive effort for the Lady Pirates, going 2-for-3 on the day.

"Rochelle had a very nice game, but it seemed when she got her hits that nobody was on," Smith said. "She's been hitting very consistently against the top pitchers in the state."

Newton and SuSan Perez-Tenas each knocked in a run for Polson.

Peterson allowed just seven hits over the complete-game effort.

Polson 100 000 1 — 2 7

Libby 101 000 1 — 3 7

W - Hageness (17-2). L - Peterson.

POLSON — Maggie Gordon 1-4, Staci Benson 0-2, Sarah Newton 1-3, Rochelle Woods 2-3, Vassar 0-2, Amanda James 1-3, Peterson 1-2, Sallie Sams 0-1, Charlee Jenson 0-3, SuSan Perez-Tenas 1-3.

LIBBY — Hageness 2-4, Barton 1-3, Nicky Lapka 1-3, Laice Dedrick 1-2, Alysha Martin 0-3, Megan Wedel 0-2, Jordan Refsland 1-3, Kimi Klin 0-2, Emily Monroe 1-1, Holly Cirian 0-3.