LAKE SHOW!

GREAT FALLS - Polson 14U head coach Don Toth had a motto for his team. After noticing that his team was progressively getting better every tournament, finishing in third place then second and then first, he told his team that they were just getting ready to blast off at the state tournament.

"Three...two...one - blast off."

And after the girls had pulled off their 14U state championship by beating an old nemesis and downing new ones, Toth told his team that they had fulfilled the motto.

Not quite, his pitcher, Kylie Murphy informed him, it was three...two...one...zero - blast off.

The week before in Kalispell, after weeks of getting one placing better than the other, the girls went two games and

out in bracket play. Their batting hadn't been quite what they expected in that tournament, hence the zero. Toth called it a hiccup and there was a sign in the first game of state that showed him just that.

After a first-round bye on Friday, Polson collected 10 hits en route to a 4-1 victory against the Great Falls Selects.

"Every one of my starters got a hit," Toth said. "It gave me more confidence, and it just started our weekend off on a positive note."

Murphy, probably focused on making sure the Lakers got to blast off, struck out nine and allowed just two hits against the Selects. Meanwhile, Kaelen Wall went 2-for-3 and Skyla Krantz collected an extra-base hit.

"Everybody got on base," Toth said.

On Saturday, the Lakers had their closest game of the tournament but came away with an 8-7 victory over the Great Falls Heat.

Polson had the 6-2 lead going into the seventh before Great Falls scored five to take the slim lead. Three errors

by the Lakers in the game allowed the Heat to come back despite 14 strikeouts by Murphy.

"Most of the outs in the game defensively ended up being strikeouts for us," Toth said. "Overall, she had a really commanding presence."

The bats rolled for Polson though, and they were able to score two to win it in the bottom of the seventh. Four different Lakers finished with multiple hits. Murphy went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple. Sarah Rausch and Skyla Krantz also went 2-for-4 and Shelby Mallon-Reid was 2-for-3.

That set up the Saturday evening game against a Fastpitch Fury Frenchtown team that was of epic proportions. Rumors had swirled around this squad like they were a segment on "Sportcenter."

Frenchtown's 14U team had played up in 16U at tournaments during the year. Nobody had come close to beating them in 14U. Some of their girls were close to six feet tall and could hit the ball a mile. They already were making plans for the Northwest Regional tournament.

Then, they played the Lakers.

"That was the pivotal game of the entire tournament," Toth said. "Everybody was talking about them. They ten-runned everybody until then so it was kind of a David and Goliath

thing."

Polson started off the game by quickly getting two girls on base, and then Kylie Murphy hit a triple to bring them home and set the tone for the rest of the evening.

"The way the game opened up it was like a punch to their mouth," Toth said.

Their pitcher hadn't been touched before then. Meanwhile Murphy continued her dominant pitching performance striking out nine and holding the powerhouse to four hits.

"She kept them down to four hits and this was a team that was just killing everybody," Toth said.

Frenchtown was flustered and committed three errors in the game. Polson came away with the big 5-3 victory to advance to the undefeated game.

"When we won that game it was a huge flood of emotion from the team," Toth said. "Most of the girls had experienced defeat from that Frenchtown team, both from last year's 12U

and 14U teams. They got through the hurdle, that team was the height of the tournament."

The bats were again huge for Polson. Jaiden Toth, Kylie Murphy, Kaelen Wall and Kyrie Bitterman all went 2-for-4 in the game.

"It was a big hump to get over and it was vengeance because they dumped us so many times in the tournament before," Toth said.

Toth said he certainly noticed a change among the team after beating Frenchtown.

"After that victory they were extremely relaxed and focused," Toth said. "I sense it was business as usual after that."

Polson faced the Capital City Thunder in the undefeated game, and the Lakers rolled to a 5-1 victory behind eight hits by the team and seven strikeouts by Kylie Murphy.

Jaiden Toth went 2-for-4, Liydia DuPuis went 2-for-2 and Skyla Krantz was 1-for-3 with a double. Murphy was the most productive at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double.

The Lakers rolled on to the championship game and then the Thunder defeated the Fury for the right to play Polson gain in the double-elimination tournament.

Polson crushed the Thunder the second time around, 13-2 with five different batters getting multiple hits.

"Our bats were on fire," Toth said.

The Lakers had 17 hits, while Murphy held Capital City to just four.

"They stranded a lot of runners," Toth said. "It was deflating for them."

Sarah Rausch was 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs to lead Polson. Kaelen Wall was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and Kyrie Bitterman was 2-for-4 with four RBIs.

Taylor Brackey was 3-for-4 and Jaiden Toth was 2-for-3.

"We ended like we started the state tournament, with every one of our starters with a hit," Toth said.

That consistency got them the state championship, a particularly sweet title considering only nine girls had signed up for the team at the beginning of the ASA season.

"It looked like we underperformed at the beginning of the year but we progressively got better and we ended up carrying the torch for Polson," Toth said. "That was special."

A big part of the run were the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 hitters in the lineup for the Lakers. Kaelen Wall went 8-for-17 (.471), Kylie Murphy went 9-for-17 (.529) with two doubles, two triples and Sarah Rausch was 7-for-16 (.438) with a double.

"That nucleus spearheaded our bats," Toth said. "We just came to hit. After the Kalispell tournament we really worked in the batting cages at practice."

And much like their season, Polson's lineup most definitely ended with a blastoff.

16U heading to regionals

The 16 Polson Purple Rain lost two close games in the state tournament but have already decided they're going to make a go at the regional tournament in Spokane this weekend.

"Overall they had a great run to this point," head coach Larry Smith said. "I kind of thought that maybe this season might be dragging on for them but they all seemed to be real enthusiastic for the regional tournament. They want to show that they're capable."

Polson lost to the Billings Havoc 13-11 and the Mountain West Crush 4-3 on Friday to get knocked out of the state tournament.

"We had our opportunities to win both games and we just couldn't get that key hit," Smith said.

The Purple Rain will be attending their first regional ASA tournament since 2005. Smith said that he felt that Polson was well represented in the state tournament by all the teams, and thinks the Lakers-Frenchtown Fury matchup is a preview for the future.

"They'll be competing against each other for years," Smith said. "Don Toth and his coaching staff did a great job."

12U finishes fifth

The Polson 12U Purple Wave finished a very impressive season with a fifthplace finish at the state tournament.

"They are a great team," head coach Bonnie Klein said. "They had a lot of talent. For the most part, when they needed to, they stuck it out. They're a team that never gave up."

The Purple Wave started out Friday with a win over the Great Falls Select, but were tripped up with a one-run loss to the Osprey Blue.

Then on Saturday, Polson thumped the Emeralds Green, 17-2, and the Bozeman Steelers, 16-0, to push through the bracket.

Then things got interesting. Against the Emeralds White, Polson had a 14-4 lead before a late comeback pulled the Emeralds to within 14-9.

"Then they had to postpone it due to darkness with just seven minutes left before the time limit wouldn't allow another inning," Klein said.

So the next day at 7 a.m., the two teams battled and the Purple Wave came away with the 17-16 victory.

"It was quite a game," Klein said. "That one inning had a lot of excitement in it."

Polson then lost their Sunday matchup against the Missoula Osprey Blue, falling 11-8 after international tie-breaking rules came into play.

Klein said that her team showed a lot of determination against towns with a much large population base to pull from.

Polson's secret weapon? Team unity.

"You can really see it and for us to be among the top five in the state is very good," Klein said.