Polson SB: SOFTBALL SURGE

POLSON — With their early-season struggles in the rearview mirror, the Polson Lady Pirates are starting to look a lot like a team capable of a third-straight state championship.

They proved it last week with five wins in five games over three days.

POLSON — With their early-season struggles in the rearview mirror, the Polson Lady Pirates are starting to look a lot like a team capable of a third-straight state championship.

They proved it last week with five wins in five games over three days.

“We had a super weekend,” head coach Larry Smith said. “The middle of the order was hitting the ball well.”

The Lady Pirates opened the week by doling out a measure of revenge, getting two hits from five different players in a 7-5 victory over Columbia Falls on Thursday, May 10.

Polson avenged a loss from exactly one month ago by recovering from an early deficit to upend the Wildkats.

C-Falls went up 1-0 in the first, but Polson answered with two runs in their half of the inning, three in the fourth and two in the fifth to build a 7-1 lead. Ashley Johnson, Shalaina Duford, Tina Marquardt, Heidi Rausch and Jaylin Kenney all had a pair of base knocks, while Kenney led the way with four RBIs.

Duford kept C-Falls at bay until the final frame, when the Wildkats answered with four runs, but it wasn’t enough to defeat Polson for the second time in three games on the year.

“She had good control, hit her spots and put the ball where she wanted,” Smith said. “She was able to keep them off balance for the most part.”

Rausch, Kenney and Jessica Bagnell all had doubles for the Lady Pirates.

The next day, Polson headed to Butte for the Butte Invitational and went 4-0 over two days. The Lady Pirates’ run began with an 11-2 rout of Lewistown in a shortened five-inning contest.

Bagnell’s three hits led Polson, while four other players notched two hits. Once again, it took the Lady Pirates a few innings to get going. Up 1-0 in the third, they struck for three runs before adding seven in the fourth to ice the win.

“Hitting is something the girls have been working hard on, understanding we have to score runs because there are a lot of great hitters on other teams,” Smith said. “The girls have committed themselves to offense and everyone has been doing great.”

Later in the day, a steady offense paced Polson to an 8-4 win over Belgrade.

The Lady Pirates scored in four of the six innings they hit in and rebounded from a Belgrade rally that cut the lead to 5-4 after five by scoring three in the final inning. Rausch brought the power, bombing two two-run homers, while Bagnell had hits in all four plate appearances as part of a 19-hit effort.

Sarah Rausch got in on the action with an RBI single in her first career varsity at-bat.

“I just smiled at her and told her to be ready on the first pitch,” Smith said. “Sarah is a good, hard hitter with quick hands.”

The next day, the Lady Pirates won two games by the same margin, typically indicative of lower-scoring contests. Not so this time. Sidney and Hardin suffered the same fate against the Lady Pirates, with Polson blowing out both schools 17-0. In the opener against Sidney, both Kenney sisters launched homers, Jaylin’s an inside-the-park job over the right fielder, while Riley, who finished a double shy of the cycle, and Marquardt each had four hits.

Rausch, Makaliah Wilson and Duford also contributed three hits apiece as the Lady Pirates scored 13 runs in the final two innings to put the game out of reach.

In the second 17-0 rout against Hardin, 25 hits set the tone for Polson, led by Jaylin Kenney’s 4-4 performance and Rausch’s ninth homer of the season as part of her five-RBI day. Johnson, Riley Kenney, Duford and Marquardt, the top four hitters in the Lady Pirates’ lineup, all had three hits as Polson led 7-0 after two and 16-0 after three in the contest.

The game wasn’t flawless, however, as starting outfielder Jordyn Evertz was hit by a pitch, fracturing her elbow, and she’ll miss the remainder of the season.

One of the keys to Polson’s recent offensive explosion has been their ability to score multiple runs in an inning.

This week, in 14 of their 28 innings played, the Lady Pirates scored at least two runs.

“Psychologically, that has a huge effect,” Smith said. “Even in the innings where we didn’t score a lot, we had runners on base and eventually would make their pitching or defense make a mistake.”

This week, the Lady Pirates will turn their attention to Whitefish and Libby on Thursday and Friday, respectively, in their final two games before next weekend’s state tournament in Anaconda.

“This is the way we wanted to be going,” Smith said. “We wanted to be stronger at the finish than the start. These two conference games this week are very important to us and we expect to get both wins.”

POLSON 7, C-FALLS 5

C - 100 - 000 - 4 - 5

P - 200 - 320 - x - 7

C-Falls - 6 hits, 1 error. Polson - 12 hits, 1 error

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

2B – Rausch, Bagnell, J. Kenney. RBIs – J. Kenney 4,

Bagnell, Evertz, Johnson. LP Pitching – Duford.

POLSON 11, LEWIS. 2

L - 000 - 11 - 2

P - 103 - 7x - 11

Lewistown - 3 hits, 4 errors. Polson - 14 hits, 1 error

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

POLSON 8, BEL. 4

P - 102 - 023 - 8

B - 100 - 030 - 4

Polson - 19 hits, 1 error. Belgrade - 6 hits, 2 errors

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

POLSON 17, SID. 0

P - 040 - 58 - 17

S - 000 - 00 - 0

Polson - 18 hits, 0 errors. Sidney - 4 hits, 2 errors

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

POLSON 17, HARDIN 0

H - 000 - 00 - 0

P - 259 - 1x - 17

Hardin - 5 hits, 2 errors. Polson - 25 hits, 2 errors

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 3-4, Riley Kenney 3-4, Shalaina Duford 3-4, Tina Marquardt 3-3, Heidi Rausch 2-2, Jaylin Kenney 4-4, Jessica Bagnell 1-3, Makaliah Wilson 2-4, Colleen Jacobson 2-4, Jaelyn Ellenwood 1-1, Jaiden Toth 0-1, Sarah Rausch 0-0. 2B – R. Kenney, H. Rausch. 3B – Marquardt. HR – H. Rausch. RBIs – H. Rausch 5, Marquardt 3, Jacobson 2, Duford 2, Johnson, R. Kenney, J. Kenney, Bagnell, Wilson. LP Pitching – Duford, Bagnell (4).