SB: A SEASON TO REMEMBER FOR RONAN

by Dylan Kitzan & Leader Reporter
| May 31, 2012 10:00 AM

ANACONDA — The Ronan Maidens battled their way through the divisional tournament two weeks ago to earn second place and made their state tournament count with a win and two nailbiters against top Class B competition in Anaconda last week.

In their first contest of the tourney on Thursday, May 24, the Maidens got three hits from Payge DeLaurenti and two from Kenzie Dulmes, but Conrad escaped with a 7-5 win.

“We just had a few too many errors,” Ronan head coach Tom Peterson said. “The ball got lost in the sun at one point and two runs scored.”

Despite battling Mother Nature, the Maidens hung tough throughout. Freshman Samantha Colman scattered eight hits in seven innings in the back and forth game.

“I thought she did an awesome job,” Peterson said. “There was a lot of pressure there and she handled it very well. In the opening game, she threw about 70 percent of her pitches for strikes, which is more than enough.”

Conrad took a 1-0 first-inning lead, but Ronan tied it in the bottom half of the frame. The Maidens added one in the second to take a 2-1 lead, but Conrad responded in the fourth to retake a 3-2 edge.

Ronan came back strong with three in their half of the inning to build a 5-3 margin, but Conrad tied it up in their next at-bat. Unfortunately, the Maidens’ offense stalled from there and Conrad was able to put up a pair of runs in the top of the sixth and use that to win.

Ronan met up with Eureka in a loser-out game on Friday and had no intention of going home early, scoring nine runs in the first two innings en route to a 12-2 win that enforced the mercy rule after the top of the fifth.

“It was huge to get out to a big lead early,” Peterson said. “The longer (Eureka’s) in the game, the more of a chance they’ll think they have, so it’s important to get ahead early.”

Eight hitters had a base hit for the Maidens, who were led by three from Ashleigh Lynch and two from Bethany Colman, Lindsey Clairmont and Alaina Madsen.

Ronan added three in the fourth for a 12-0 lead, then held off Eureka’s charge to force a sixth inning by limiting them to just two runs. Again, Samantha Colman was terrific in the circle, yielding just six hits. Later on Friday, the Maidens had a meeting with their rivals from down the road, the MAC Bulldogs.

The teams lit up the scoreboard in the divisional tournament, with Ronan coming out on top, but MAC returned the favor, winning a slugfest and ending the Maidens’ great season, 14-10.

“We’re familiar with them and knew what to expect,” Peterson said. “We made a few mistakes and it cost us some runs.”

Ronan took a little while to get on the scoreboard, but broke through for three runs in the third to take a 3-2 lead. The Lady Bulldogs came back with a vengeance in the top of the fourth, scoring seven times to seemingly put the game out of reach.

The Maiden lineup didn’t go down quietly, however, scoring once in the fourth and twice in the fifth to make it a 9-6 game. MAC scored five runs in their next two trips to the dish and, despite a four-run rally in the seventh, Ronan couldn’t force extra innings.

The loss to the Lady Bulldogs ended a season that saw the Maidens make great strides and rack up a bunch of wins along the way.

“State was a little disappointing, but we had a good season,” Peterson said. “We won a lot of games and got progressively better. I’m really proud of the effort of our girls. They worked really hard, didn’t panic early in the year and their hard work paid off. We accomplished a lot of good things.”

The tournament had bright spots throughout, though a few players caught Peterson’s eye.

“Ashleigh and Kenzie stood out offensively and Samantha did a good job all tournament,” Peterson said.

The trip to Anaconda and an unfortunate injury to Bethany Colman gave her sister Samantha a chance to gain experience in her first high school season and Peterson thought she did very well, which will help her down the road.

“The more you can pitch in big games, the better off you’ll be and she had a great season as a freshman,” Peterson said.

Ronan finished the year with 18 wins, but will take with them many more memories of a terrific season.

CONRAD 7, RONAN 5

C - 100 - 222 - 0 - 7

R - 110 - 300 - 0 - 5

Conrad - 8 hits, 2 errors. Ronan - 8 hits, 4 errors

Maidens batting - Ashleigh Lynch 1-4, Bethany Colman 1-4, Payge DeLaurenti 3-4, Kenzie Dulmes 2-4, Lindsey Clairmont 0-4, Alaina Madsen 0-3, Amber Quequesah 0-3, Kendra Starkel 1-4, Samantha Colman 0-2.

M Pitching - Sam Colman

RONAN 12, EUREKA 2

E - 000 - 02 - 2

R - 360 - 3x - 12

Eureka - 6 hits, 0 errors. Ronan - 12 hits, 1 error

Maidens batting - Ashleigh Lynch 3-4, Bethany Colman 2-3, Payge DeLaurenti 1-3, Kenzie Dulmes 1-2, Lindsey Clairmont 2-3, Alaina Madsen 2-3, Amber Quequesah 1-3, Jasmine Bocksnick 1-2, Samantha Colman 0-3.

M Pitching - Sam Colman

MAC 14, RONAN 10

M - 020 - 703 - 2 - 14

R - 003 - 120 - 4 - 10

Stats unavaliable due to the weather making the

scorebook illegible.