Mission-Arlee-Charlo combine for two wins
Senior Dalena Weaselhead sits behind the plate in place of regular catcher, senior Katie McDonald, against Plains last Friday.
ST. IGNATIUS - Once the Mission softball team gets its bats going at the plate, they can be hard to stop.
Against Plains last Friday, the Bulldogs scored 11 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning in the 12-2 win.
The day before, Mission lost to Florence 4-0. The Bulldogs managed one hit, from senior Dalena Weaselhead, while making two errors.
"We just couldn't get any hits," head coach Susan Weaselhead said.
In the top of the third, with Plains at the plate, junior Kyla Olson walked a batter, who stole second on a wild pitch, before striking out the next.
Senior Bella Dally threw a runner out at home from the outfield to end the inning.
Mission scored its first run in the bottom of the inning when sophomore Serena Long walked and stole second. She moved over to third on sophomore Janeal McDonald's hit before scoring on Dally's fielder's choice hit.
In the bottom of the fourth, Olson started with a single to right field and junior Jessica Foust replaced her on the base path. Foust stole second before senior Katie McDonald doubled for Foust to score. Long doubled, scoring two runs for a 4-2 lead with no outs. Janeal singled, scoring Long, before stealing second on a passed ball.
Dally tripled to left field, scoring Janeal, and crossed the plate on sophomore Kinley Pope's single. Pope advanced to second on a past ball before scoring on sophomore Bryanna Steele's double.
Still with no outs and a 9-2 score, senior Jasmine Gilleard pulled out a triple, scoring two more runs. Gilleard scored on Katie's single and that ended the Bulldog's run, as they didn't need to bat in the bottom of the fifth.
Last Saturday, Mission kept the runs coming with a 9-0 win over Drummond.
The Bulldogs scored in five separate innings as Olson allowed only four hits while striking out 12 batters. At the plate, Olson went 2-for-3.
Katie and Pope each drilled home runs as Katie went 3-for-4.
"Katie came up to the plate and has hit well for us," Susan said.
From here on out, Susan said every win is important. Right now, Mission is in fourth place but hopes to move up.
Mission hosts Loyola tonight, travels to Troy tomorrow and hosts Deer Lodge on Saturday.
"I'm hoping we don't make the same mistakes we did last time against them, especially the errors," Susan said of the last time Mission faced Loyola.