Softball roundup

Purple Rain are champions

FRENCHTOWN - The 16U Polson Purple Rain have found themselves champions once again, bringing home the first place trophy from the Summer Sizzler last weekend in Frenchtown. In the championship game, the Purple Rain was victorious with an 11-5 win over the Flathead Monsters, a team that had stymied them earlier in the season.

"We figured them out," head coach Larry Smith said. "They play really fell, they're a real feisty bunch."

The Monsters had knocked out the Purple Rain before in elimination round play and in championship games before. However, Smith devised a strategy to defeat the team and it paid off.

"They have a couple girls in their line up that hit the ball real well," Smith said. "We wanted to keep the lesser hitters around them off the bases."

While the number of hits in the championship game was very similar, 11 hits by the Monsters to 13 by the Purple Rain, the different proved to be the extra-base power by the Polson players.

Sallie Sams hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to break the game wide open for Polson.

"That took the wind out of their sails," Smith said.

Before Sams' slam, the game saw back-to-back home runs by Purple Rain players in the third inning. Riley Kenney had a two-run shot in the third inning and Shay Duford followed that up with a solo homer of her own.

"It's nice to see Riley do that, she's come back so strong," Smith said referring to Kenney and her shoulder injury earlier in the season. "She's back one-hundred percent I think."

The impressive offensive display in the championship game was also mirrored at the start of the tournament on Friday when the Purple Wave defeated the Montana Smash 14-3 in just three and a half innings.

Then things got more conservative.

On Saturday, the Purple Rain went on to win 3-1 over the Summer Knights, which was a combination of Missoula and Ronan players. Shay Duford allowed just three hits and struck out eight for the Purple Rain on the mound.

At the plate, it was Kodi Woods who shined, going two-for-two with an RBI and two runs. Stephanie Angle also went two-for-two and had two RBIs. There were just nine hits for both teams in the entire game.

"Both defenses made some great plays on balls that were hit hard," Smith said.

That great defense continued on Saturday as Polson disposed of the Davenport Havoc 12-0 in three innings. Even though it was an offensive showcase for the Purple Rain, Duford pitched a one-hitter with four strikeouts, meaning that the players behind her were solid as a rock and contributed to the victory.

Polson's defense would again be pivotal in their Sunday morning matchup against Deer Lodge to kick-off elimination round play. Duford pitched a no-hitter with one strikeout, for a game that went four innings. Kayla Duford went two-for-three with two RBIs, and Johnson also went two-for-three, as the Purple Rain rocked Deer Lodge 11-0.

In the semifinals, Polson battled the Missoula Osprey to a 0-0 score through seven innings. It went to international tie-breaking rules, which put the batting team's last player to get out on second base and gave the team three outs.

The Purple Rain shut out the Osprey in the top frame. Then when Polson came up to bat, they had the speedy Johnson on second base and Sallie Sams at the plate. Sams bunted and a bad throw was made to allow Johnson to score for the 1-0 victory.

"In a good game like this it's the first team that's going to make a mistake that is going to lose," Smith said.

That advanced the Purple rain to the championship game where they beat the Flathead Monsters for their second straight tournament weekend championship. This is the position that Smith wants to be as he said his team is peaking at the right time heading into the state tournament next weekend in Butte.

"Play is much more intense," Smith said. "They're mature enough they're going to do well. They wont take anyone for granted but not get intimidated by anyone."

Purple Wave wins two games

FRENCHTOWN - Despite inconsistency at the plate, Polson 12U Purple Wave still won two games, including one in the elimination round of Summer Sizzler last weekend in Frenchtown.

"We either really have our bats or we really don't," Purple Wave head coach Kirk Murphy said.

The Wave didn't have their bats when they lost their first game 1-0 to the Bitterroot Sparks on Friday.

"We put some balls in play and they made some great plays," Murphy said "We made some great plays."

Polson bounced back on Saturday with a 12-8 win over Ronan in their early game. They went cold at the plate again in their second game of the day, getting frozen by the Glacier Emeralds 2-0.

Entering elimination play on Sunday, they once again found their stride, working the Missoula Osprey 11-0 to advance to within one game of the tournament championship.

However, the Bitterroot Sporks would ice the Purple Wave again, winning 2-1.

Polson will now get ready for the state tournament next weekend in Butte.

"We had three games that were all real close," Murphy said. "Our defense was solid all weekend."

Lakers take second place

FRENCHTOWN - The Polson 14U Lakers went 4-2 over the weekend and won second place at Summer Sizzler last weekend in Frenchtown. After losing their first game to the Bitterroot Sparks 7-3, the won four straight to advance to the championship game.

They won their last two games of pool play in high scoring fashion, beating the Great Falls Heat 14-2 and then the Ronan Raptors 12-8. That made them the second seed in the tournament. They faced off against the Columbia Falls Clash, beating them 19-3 and then the Kalispell Emeralds 4-1.

In the championship game, they fell to the Frenchtown Fury 8-0.

The Lakers hit .417 as a team, and snapped a three-game losing streak against Columbia Falls.

Jaiden Toth, Jaylin Kenney and Jessica Bagnell all had over 10 hits in the tournament.

"We think that was our best tournament," Lakers head coach Tom Kenney said. "Those last five games were some of the best we played all year."

Heading into the state tournament, Kenney said that the team has been undefeated before 11 a.m. in the morning but really stuggles in the afternoon.

"We've got to look at that schedule," Kenney said, jokingly.

The state tournament is next weekend in Butte.

"It's a big tournament," Kenney said. "You have to win a lot of games to be competitive."

10U Lil Lakers win second place

FRENCHTOWN - The 10U Polson Lil' Lakers packed a big wallop, scoring nearly 80 runs during the Summer Sizzler last weekend in Frenchtown and getting second place. Despite having players suffering the flu, and head coach Scott Renault having the jumble the line up, the Lil Lakers persisted.

"Kudos to the girls," Renault said. "That's all I can say."

They went 1-2 in pool play, including a 28-4 win over Anaconda. Overall in pool play, the team scored a total of 45 runs.

"Our bats have kind of been there but not consistent," Renault said. "Now the bats are coming around and we're a threat."

The Lakers won their first game on the elimination round against the Mission Valley All-Stars 14 and then knocked off Libby 17-3

That got them in the championship game where they fell to the Glacier Emeralds 9-3.

"Every one of them was doing their job," Renault said. "Every one of the girls is playing their hearts out."

They'll head to the state tournament next weekend in Butte.

Attack read to pounce on state

FRENCHTOWN - Despite four losses in the Summer Sizzler last weekend in Frenchtown, the 12U Ronan Orange and Black Attack are getting ready for the state tournament.

"We had a real tight weekend," coach Allen Smith said. "We had a real tough weekend."

The Attack played Polson tough but fell 12-8. Then they dropped the next two games of pool play. 5-1 to the Bitterroot Sparks and 6-0 to the Emerald Green.

In their first game of elimination play on Sunday, they lost to the Frenchtown Fury 3-2.

"We pretty much beat ourselves if we can get our errors out of the way, we'll be pretty good," said head coach Arnie Colman.

They'll play in the state tournament next weekend in Butte.

14U Raptors play close

FRENCHTOWN - The 14 Ronan Rators dropped four contests but three of them were tightly contested battled including their first game of elimination play during the Summer Sizzler last weekend in Frenchtown

"We usually had a bad inning that did us in," head coach Brian Youngren said.

The Raptors lost the Electirc City Heat 8-5, and then took the Polson Purple Lakers right down to the write.

"They got us right at the end," Youngren said.

The Lakers won 12-8, and then the Raptors finished pool play winless with a 10-0 loss to the Bitterroot Sparks.

Then on Sunday, they faced the no. 1 seeded Glacier Emeralds in the first round of elimination play, losing 5-2. They gave up four runs in the first and that really proved to be the different in the loss.

"We were in most of them," "Considering we had new blood, we did pretty good."

The team had to bring in two players from Florence to finish out the roster. The Raptors will play in the state tournament next weekend in Butte.