McDonald swings for the fence in weekend of wins

FLORENCE — The Mission Bulldogs accomplished a lot this past weekend. They beat Thompson Falls 5-3, split games with Deer Lodge, losing the first 3-2 then battled for a 14-11 win in the second and took down Florence 11-1.

And a Katie McDonald grand slam in the third inning against Florence gave the girls of Mission softball about all of the excitement they could handle.

“I was really surprised, I knew it was a home run then after rounding second it all set in and I gathered my thoughts and thought, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a grand slam,’” Katie said.

It was the Mission junior’s first career grand slam.

“It was so exciting. So many emotions were going through my head at once. I just kept smiling and was screaming and shouting as I was going around the bases,” she said.

Her teammates felt the moment as well.

“It took us a little while to focus back on what was going on. We were just so excited,” she said.

It was her biggest play no doubt, but not the only difference maker for Katie that week.

Mission started the week with the Thompson Falls win - a big one by any measure.

They had to come from behind to do it, down 3-0 going into the bottom of the sixth.

Then the Bulldogs exploded. Charlo freshman Kinley Pope, freshman Janeal McDonald and Kyla Olson each had an RBI and Katie had two to get the job done.

“That game was huge,” Mission head coach Tom Peterson said.

It severed the tie with Thompson Falls and the rest of the weekend secured a third place finish for Mission.

Even though they didn’t get points early, a strong defensive front and good at-bats kept the pressure on the Bluehawks.

“I thought it was important to get off to a good start for the weekend,” Peterson said. “I thought we played a good game all game long and put ourselves in a position to come from behind for a win.”

Thompson Falls beat the one team that bested Mission twice - Loyola.

“For them to go out there and beat somebody like Thompson Falls kind of gets the girls believing a bit,” Peterson said.

The first game against Deer Lodge, the umpire called a pretty open strike zone, resulting in a low-scoring game. Each team had five hits a piece.

In the second things were tightened way up and it was a different kind of ball game. Mission hit the ball 11 times to Deer Lodge’s nine and took the win.

“That’s just part of the game,” Peterson said. “Different umpires have different strikezones and you just gotta adjust to it.”

In the first match, Pope led the way, going 2-3.

In the second, Katie was the star, batting 5-5, with three singles, a double and a triple.

And against Florence, she had the grand slam of a lifetime. She had a total of six RBIs in that one.

Mission hosts Noxon for a doubleheader at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. today for the final games of regular season.