Lady Pirates win three

by Dylan Kitzan & Leader Reporter
| May 10, 2012 11:00 AM

POLSON — While the Polson Lady Pirates couldn’t quite dish out revenge against the undefeated Frenchtown Broncs Thursday, they had a very successful week, winning three of their four softball contests against quality competition.

“I’m very satisfied, but we’re not completely satisfied,” Polson head coach Larry Smith said. “We need to keep working, but we had quite a week.”

The Lady Pirates opened their slate on Tuesday, May 1 with a 15-0 whitewash of Kalispell Glacier.

“I was kind of surprised we were able to handle them that easily,” Smith said. “They were coming off wins against two top AA teams and we expected a tough go of it.”

That never materialized, however, as Polson came to play, not looking ahead to the Broncs. The Lady Pirates bolted out to a 4-0 lead after the opening inning and tripled that to 12-0 after two. With ace Shalaina Duford shutting down Glacier’s lineup, holding them to just a pair of hits, the visitors never threatened.

The outburst started at the top of the lineup, thanks to three-hit efforts from Ashley Johnson and Riley Kenney. One of Kenney’s base knocks left the yard, as part of her three-RBI performance, while third baseman Tina Marquardt added two homers and four RBIs, Johnson and Makaliah Wilson added a pair of runs knocked in and Jessica Bagnell added a pair of hits and an RBI.

In the much-anticipated rematch two days later, Frenchtown overcame an early Heidi Rausch home run to upend Polson for the second time this year, 8-3.

“I thought we hit them as well as they hit us,” Smith said. “They have a great pitcher, but we can put the bat on the ball with anyone. We had opportunities, but it was a matter of execution. We had some nice swings and just hit it right at their fielders.”

Rausch’s second-inning blast gave Polson a 1-0 lead, but the Broncs answered immediately. A single, double and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out. Duford came up with a key strikeout, but walked in a run to tie the game at one. She didn’t let the base on balls faze her, though, and started a key 1-2-3 double play to escape trouble.

“She did what I asked her to do, which was to keep us in it and give us a chance,” Smith said. “We had opportunities and we let them get away. Shay is a very tenacious competitor.”

The score remained the same until the fifth, when Frenchtown’s leadoff hitter homered to center to give them a 2-1 lead. Duford got out of the inning though, thanks to a slick 6-4-3 double play turned masterfully by second baseman Riley Kenney.

Unfortunately, Frenchtown would score four times in the top of the sixth, thanks to back-to-back homers with two out. Polson got one back in the bottom half of the inning on a bizarre play.

With runners on first and second and nobody out, Rausch lifted a deep fly ball to right field for an out. Marquardt had made her way to second and while the ball made its way back to the infield and eventually to first for a double play, Duford had tagged up from second and come all the way around to score and cut Frenchtown’s lead to 6-2.

The Broncs scored two more in the seventh to take an 8-2 lead, but Jaylin Kenney’s cannon behind the plate picked off a runner at third to end that threat and give the Lady Pirates one last chance.

It was a chance they started to capitalize on when Bagnell and Wilson each singled to start the inning. Jordyn Evertz then grounded a ball to shortstop, but Bagnell was called out for interference. Johnson bunted to load the bases and

Riley Kenney knocked in a run with a fielder’s choice, but Polson wouldn’t get any closer.

The Lady Pirates rebounded in emphatic fashion on Saturday when they traveled to Hamilton and Corvallis for two games and knocked them off 15-1 and 12-2, respectively. Against Hamilton, everything was clicking for Polson. Duford outhit the team she was pitching against 3-2, five different players had extra-base hits and Evertz turned in possibly the defensive play of the season.

A ball was lifted into the gap in right-center, which Evertz sprinted after and caught while laying out completely.

“I wish someone had a picture of that,” Smith said. “It was an outfielder’s dream catch.”

With the defense and offense rolling, Duford shut down Hamilton, yielding only a first-inning run in the rout.

“Shay did a great job pitching,” Smith said. “Defensively, we made some nice plays.”

Marquardt homered, Bagnell tripled twice, Rausch once and Duford and Riley Kenney (twice) doubled for Polson. Johnson, Rausch, Bagnell, Evertz and Jaylin Kenney each had two hits in the win.

To wrap up the week, the Lady Pirates raced out to an 8-0 lead after two innings and never looked back in a 12-2 win against Corvallis. Johnson, Rausch, Bagnell and Evertz all had three hits in the victory, with Evertz’s coming on savvy swings.

“With her speed, she’s just got to put the ball in play,” Smith said. “She’s very fast and athletic.”

She did that, working over the Corvallis infield to get on, while Marquardt kept her power surge going with a fourth home run of the week. Rausch also homered, while Riley Kenney added a triple.

In the circle, Duford scattered eight hits, but didn’t allow any runs until Polson had already built an 11-0 lead.

This week, revenge will still be on the Lady Pirates’ mind as they hope to avenge a loss at Columbia Falls in April when they face the Wildkats on Thursday, May 10.

“We’re keying on C-Falls,” Smith said. “We can’t afford to lose another conference game. Hopefully we can get them.”

This weekend, Polson will take part in the Butte Invitational, giving them a chance to see some of the top teams from the east side of the state.

POLSON 15, GLACIER 0

G - 000 - 00 - 0

P - 480 - 3x - 15

Glacier - 2 hits, 2 errors. Polson - 14 hits, 1 error

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 3-4, Riley Kenney 3-3, Shalaina Duford 1-3, Tina Marquardt 2-4, Heidi Rausch 1-2, Jaylin Kenney 1-3, Jessica Bagnell 2-3, Makaliah Wilson 1-2, Jordyn Evertz 0-3.

HR - R. Kenney, Marquardt 2. RBIs - Marquardt 4, R. Kenney 3, Johnson 2, Wilson 2, Duford, Bagnell.

LP Pitching - Duford.

F-TOWN 8, POLSON 3

F - 001 - 104 - 2 - 8

P - 010 - 001 - 1 - 3

Frenchtown - 9 hits, 0 errors. Polson - 8 hits, 3 errors

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 2-4, Riley Kenney 1-4, Shalaina Duford 1-3, Tina Marquardt 0-2, Heidi Rausch 1-3, Jaylin Kenney 1-3, Jessica Bagnell 1-3, Makaliah Wilson 1-3, Colleen Jacobson 0-1, Jordyn Evertz 0-1. HR - Rausch. RBIs - Rausch, R. Kenney.

LP Pitching - Duford.

POLSON 15, HAM. 1

P - 103 - 56 - 15

H - 100 - 00 - 1

Polson - 14 hits, 0 errors. Hamilton - 2 hits, 6 errors

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 2-5, Riley Kenney 3-4, Shalaina Duford 3-5, Tina Marquardt 1-3, Heidi Rausch 2-3, Jaylin Kenney 2-4, Jessica Bagnell 2-3, Makaliah Wilson 1-2, Colleen Jacobson 0-2, Jordyn Evertz 2-2. 2B - R. Kenney 2, Duford. 3B - Rausch, Bagnell 2. HR - Marquardt. RBIs - Marquardt 4, Bagnell 3, Johnson, Duford, Rausch, J. Kenney. LP Pitching - Duford.

POLSON 12, CORV. 2

P - 261 - 021 - 12

C - 000 - 020 - 2

Polson - 16 hits, 0 errors. Corvallis - 8 hits, 1 error

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 3-4, Riley Kenney 1-5, Shalaina Duford 2-3, Tina Marquardt 1-4, Heidi Rausch 3-4, Jaylin Kenney 0-3, Jessica Bagnell 3-3, Makaliah Wilson 0-2, Jordyn Evertz 3-4.

2B - Johnson, Duford, Rausch 2. 3B - R. Kenney. HR - Marquardt, Rausch. RBIs - Marquardt 2, Rausch 2, R.

Kenney. LP Pitching - Duford.