Lady Bulldogs SB take third place at state

ANACONDA — Nothing intimidates the Mission-Arlee-Charlo Softball team.

Not fearsome weather, not a team that had won four of the last five state championships and not a team that had defeated them in the divisional tournament two weeks ago. MAC took home the third place trophy at the Class B/C Montana state tournament last weekend in Anaconda by playing the type of games that helped them finish the regular season with the best record in program history.

ANACONDA — Nothing intimidates the Mission-Arlee-Charlo Softball team.

Not fearsome weather, not a team that had won four of the last five state championships and not a team that had defeated them in the divisional tournament two weeks ago. MAC took home the third place trophy at the Class B/C Montana state tournament last weekend in Anaconda by playing the type of games that helped them finish the regular season with the best record in program history.

“All the time it was just positive attitudes,” MAC coach Susan Weaselhead said. “Through all the weather conditions they were able to keep on going. They’re just an awesome group of girls.”

Despite rain, hail and snow, MAC won three games at the tournament and was just a win away from playing in the championship game.

“They played a really good all-around tournament in such awful conditions,” Weaselhead said. “They just fought through it. It was so cold that the ball would hit your mitt and want to bounce out. The girls persevered and they’re still probably warming up now from the weekend.”

The Lady Bulldogs started things on Thursday with defending state champion Stillwater. The team had won titles in 2007, 2008, 2009 but couldn’t overcome an early Lady Bulldog rally and fell 9-4.

“That was pretty awesome,” Weaselhead said. “We played them last year in the state tournament and they had beat us out. That was definitely a huge confidence booster, it was a very nice win with the reputation than that team has.”

Mission scored six runs in the top of the third to take a 7-0 lead. While Stillwater would answer back with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, pitcher Loren Erickson shut them down for the next two innings and MAC cruised to the 9-4 victory.

The Lady Bulldogs finished with 11 hits, including multiple-hit games by Erickson, Serena Long and Emilie Charlo. Meanwhile Stillwater could muster just five hits against Erickson and committed three errors.

“Loren and catcher Alyssa Doty did an awesome job,” Weaselhead said. “Loren pitched every game we had at the state tournament and it really showed her ability to keep it going out on the mound. You can’t pitch with a coat on. It was a tough deal and I’m really proud of the girls.”

Weaselhead was also impressed with how Long came up big for the Lady Bulldogs in important spots during the tournament. That put MAC in a quarterfinal matchup against divisional rival Florence, which finished first at the Western B Divisionals two weeks ago. The game was a close contest before Florence used a four-run fifth inning to pull away for the 7-2 victory.

Florence took the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first but MAC scored a run in the top of the fourth. Florence’s four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth and another score in the sixth put the pressure on MAC, which scored a run in the top of seventh but couldn’t quite get a comeback going.

MAC had four errors and three hits in the game, with Doty notching two hits for the Lady Bulldogs.

“Alyssa was in a tough spot catching in that cold weather but she did an excellent job behind and at the plate,” Weaselhead said.

That put MAC into a loser-out matchup against Ronan. The Maidens had defeated the Lady Bulldogs last weekend in the semifinals of the divisional tournament in a slugfest. The same held true in their state tournament matchup, but MAC came through, using a seven-run fourth inning to win 14-10.

“My girls stepped up to the plate and they just pulled it through,” Weaselhead said.

It was a back-and-forth affair with MAC taking an early 2-0 lead in the second inning before Ronan scored three in the bottom of third to take the lead. After the Lady Bulldogs took the 9-3 lead in the fourth, the Maidens scored the next three runs to make it 9-6 going into the top of the sixth.

MAC scored three in the top of the sixth and two in the seventh but Ronan wasn’t done just yet. They notched four runs in the bottom of the frame but their comeback came up just short.

Due to snow, the MHSA had to cancel games for the rest of the day, and MAC had to wake up for an 8 a.m. matchup on Saturday. It wasn’t any warmer than the day before but that didn’t slow down the Lady Bulldogs. They knocked off Conrad 11-8 in the fourth-place game and moved on in the bracket.

“Conrad is a good team,” Weaselhead said. “They had some good hitters and their coach has been there a long time and is very experienced at state.”

Conrad took an early 3-0 lead before MAC scored four in the bottom of the first. Conrad scored two more in the next frame but the Lady Bulldogs plated a run in the bottom of the third to tie it up 5-5. MAC scored two more to lead 7-5 before Conrad tied it up again in the top of the fifth. MAC then exploded for four runs in the bottom of the frame and held on for the victory.

“It was really neat getting that spark,” Weaselhead said. “Everybody just stepped up and made things happen. We were able to hit to the gaps and score runs.”

Sara Nerby went 3-for-4 in the game, while Doty, Kinley Pope and Janeal McDonald had multi-hit games.

“Sara played in the outfield and was just always there to make the catch,” Weaselhead said. “She did some excellent base running for us — just an awesome player.”

MAC finished the game with 13 hits and moved into the third place game against Florence on Saturday. Florence, which eventually went on to win the state championship, scored all its runs in the first three innings as MAC had some costly errors that hurt them in a 6-2 loss.

Despite a multi-hit game for Erickson and Emyli Gillingham, the Lady Bulldogs scored two runs in the top of the seventh keyed by Trinda Foust but eventually fell. MAC actually outhit Florence 8-7.

“The second time we played Florence we had a bad inning where we had a few errors,” Weaselhead said. “I think if we would have cleaned it up we could have had a tie game and things could have ended differently.”

While the loss ended the Lady Bulldogs season, they still had the best finish in team history and should be strong next year as well.

“It’s amazing how all of the girls from different towns get along,” Weaselhead said. “They’re all a family. We will miss our seniors Kinley, Serena and Janeal but we also have some up and coming girls from all three schools. It just says a lot for their spirit and how they all came together.”

Pope and Erickson were named to the all-state team, and they along with Doty and McDonald, also received all conference honors.

“I’d just like thank the MAC parents and the scorers,” Weaselhead said. “They did a great job this season.”

MAC 9, STILLWATER 4

M - 016 - 020 - 0 - 9

S - 000 - 400 - 0 - 4

MAC - 11 hits, 0 errors. Stillwater - 5 hits, 3 errors

Lady Bulldogs batting - Sara Nerby 1-4, Loren Erickson 2-5, Alyssa Doty 1-4, Kinley Pope 1-5, Janeal McDonald 1-3, Serena Long 2-3, Sahriha Camacho 0-4, Connor Smith 0-1, Emilie Charlo 2-3, Emyli Gillingham 1-2.

LB Pitching - Loren Erickson

FLOR. 7, MAC 2

M - 000 - 100 - 1 - 2

F - 200 - 041 - x - 7

MV - 3 hits, 4 errors. Florence - 7 hits, 1 error

Lady Bulldogs batting - Sara Nerby 0-3, Loren Erickson 0-3, Alyssa Doty 2-3, Kinley Pope 0-2, Janeal McDonald 0-3, Serena Long 1-3, Sahriha Camacho 0-3, Trinda Foust 0-2, Emyli Gillingham 0-2.

LB Pitching - Loren Erickson

MAC 14, RONAN 10

M - 020 - 703 - 2 - 14

R - 003 - 120 - 4 - 10

Lady Bulldogs batting - Hitting statistics illegible in

official game book due to storm.

LB Pitching - Loren Erickson

MAC 11, CONRAD 8

C - 320 - 021 - 0 - 8

M - 401 - 240 - x - 11

Conrad - 4 hits, 3 errors. MAC - 13 hits, 2 errors

Lady Bulldogs batting - Sara Nerby 3-4, Erickson 1-5, Alyssa Doty 2-4, Kinley Pope 3-3, Janeal McDonald 2-2, Serena Long 1-4, Sahriha Camacho 0-4, Connor Smith 0-3, Emyli Gillingham 1-4.

LB Pitching - Loren Erickson

FLOR. 6, MAC 2

M - 000 - 000 - 2 - 2

F - 231 - 000 - x - 6

MAC - 8 hits, 3 errors. Florence - 7 hits, 1 error

Lady Bulldogs batting - Sara Nerby 1-3, Loren Erickson 2-4, Alyssa Doty 1-4, Kinley Pope 1-3, Janeal McDonald 1-2, Serena Long 0-1, Sahriha Camacho 0-3, Connor Smith 0-2, Emyli Gillingham 2-2.

LB Pitching - Loren Erickson