MAC gets No. 2 seed for divisionals

ST. IGNATIUS - The Lady Bulldogs (13-3) secured the No. 2 spot

in the upcoming divisional tournament with a 14-4 victory over

defending state champion Thompson Falls last Saturday.

ST. IGNATIUS - The Lady Bulldogs (13-3) secured the No. 2 spot in the upcoming divisional tournament with a 14-4 victory over defending state champion Thompson Falls last Saturday.

"It's really nice to have a bye in the first round," Mission-Arlee-Charlo head coach Susan Weaselhead said. "I'm overall really happy with the girls' play, they've worked hard for this."

A loss could have dropped them to a lower seed, which would have resulted in more games to be played in order to reach state.

As it stands now, the Lady Bulldogs need to win one game to advance to state. MAC collected 17 hits as a team against the Lady Bluehawks, and ended the contest in the sixth inning thanks to the 10-run rule.

Things were close until the bottom of the third. The Lady Bulldogs had a 1-0 lead before the heart of their lineup exploded for five runs and continued to score multiple runs in the following frames.

Kinley Pope and Janeal McDonald both went 4-for-4, both also drove in two runs. McDonald had three doubles in the games and Pope knocked around two triples. Leadoff hitter Sara Nerby was elegant at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a triple and two RBIs.

"Everybody came through," Weaselhead said.

Pitcher Kyla Olson held the Bluehawks scoreless in four innings and held them to nine hits to pick up the win.

Florence clinches No. 1 divisional seed with win over MAC

FLORENCE - The Lady Bulldogs couldn't quite adjust their bats to the speed of Courtney Byrne in a 10-3 loss to Florence last Tuesday, May 10 on the road. With the win, Florence finished the season with a 15-0 conference record and an 18-1 overall record which will get them the No. 1 seed for the Western B-C divisional tournament.

"Courtney is left-handed, and she's hitting that outside corner if you're a righthanded batter so you've got to step up to the plate," Weaselhead said.

Bryne worked the corners of the strike zone and six batters from MAC struck out without swinging.

"We needed to make some adjustments to the pitcher at the plate," Weaselhead said.

The Lady Bulldogs were held to six hits, but trailed just 5-2 through three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Florence scored four runs to take a commanding lead. Olson pitched well though, striking out nine. She also went 2-for-2 at the plate with a double and drove in two RBIs.

Now the two teams will be the two top dogs at the divisional tournament, but that doesn't mean a whole lot if they both can't perform.

"You can being playing well you're whole season and then not make state," Weaselhead said.

However, state is definitely the direction the Lady Bulldogs want to go. Their last foray into the state tournament three years ago earned them a fourth-place finish

"It's a goal we've had since the beginning of the year," Weaselhead said.

FLOR. 10, MISSION 3

M - 200 - 001 - 0 - 3

F - 410 - 401 - x - 10

Mission - 6 hits, 2 errors. Florence - 12 hits, 0 errors

Lady Bulldogs batting - - Sara Nerby 1-4, Lauren Erickson 1-3, Kinley Pope 1-4, Janeal McDonald 1-2, Mahalia Hendron 0-0, Kyla Olson 2-2, Serena Long 0-2, Sarena Camacho 1-2, Bryanna Steele 0-1, Alyssa Doty 0-3, Jessica Foust 0-2, Sierra Scott 0-1.

Doubles - Olson, RBIs - Olson 2, McDonald

LB Pitching - Olson gets loss, 9K

MISSION 14, T-FALLS 4

T - 000 - 130 - 4

M - 105 - 332 - 14

T-Falls - 9 hits, 3 errors. Mission - 17 hits, 3 errors

Lady Bulldogs batting - Sara Nerby 4-5, Lauren Erickson 0-4, Kinley Pope 4-4, Janeel McDonald 4-4, Olson 0-3, Serena Long 3-4, Bryanna Steele 0-2, Mahalia Hendren 1-1, Sierra Scott 0-1, Doty 1-4, Jessica Foust 0-3, Connor Smith 0-1.

Doubles - Pope, Hendren, McDonald 3, RBIs - Long, Nerby 2, Pope 2, McDonald 2, Hendren 3

LB Pitching - Olson gets win