Pirates start season 2-0

POLSON — For the first time in a long time, pitching was the big question for the Polson softball program heading into Saturday’s season opener.

With the departure of four-year starter Shalaina Duford and likely heir-to-the-circle Jessica Bagnell fresh off of elbow surgery last spring, Polson skipper Larry Smith was nervous at the very least.

But Bagnell answered the call, tossing all 14 innings for the Pirates as they disposed of Butte Central, 6-1, and Anaconda, 9-1, to start 2014 looking as dominant as Polson ever has.

“I was very pleased,” Smith said. “I was really concerned about [Bagnell’s] stamina, too, and she was really good in the second game. She was just as strong in the seventh inning as she was in the first.”

Bagnell, a senior, helped herself at the plate as well. She had a 4-7 day over the two-game set, legging out a triple in the nightcap and driving in a run in each contest.

She wasn’t the only Pirate with a big day, either. Center fielder Jaiden Toth also posted a 4-7 start to the season. The junior collected four RBI on the day, as did senior catcher Jaylin Kenney, who smacked a double in each game.

While it’s a little early to be casting predictions, Smith said this team exhibits the same characteristics of his teams that have reached the Class A state title game each of the past four seasons and won that crown thrice.

“I think the road ahead is looking pretty bright,” Smith said. “[Winning has] been our tradition here and the girls really understand it and want to be part of it.”

Smith extended special thanks to a group of parents that served as his grounds crew, working to overcome the prior days’ rain to make the field conditions playable for eight contests (the JV teams played, and Libby also took on the two other visiting teams in Polson).

The Pirates travel to Corvallis and Hamilton this Saturday for another pair of contests. The Broncs will be especially tough, Smith guessed, saying that game “will tell us if we’re still up there as part of the elite group in the state.”

Box Scores

Butte C. 000 010 0 - 1 5 3

Polson 100 131 x - 6 12 0

Teresa Piazzola and Kate Ossello. Jessica Bagnell and Jaylin Kenney. W - Bagnell. L - Piazzola.

BUTTE CENTRAL - Shawnee Hjelt 1-3, Ossello 0-3, Emily St. John 0-3, Taylor Wahl 0-3, Rylee Green 1-3, Mikayla Boggs 1-3, Piazzola 0-2, Shelby Paffhausen 0-3, Mollie Peoples 2-3.

POLSON – Kenney 1-2, Jaiden Toth 1-3, Bagnell 3-4, Kaelen Wall 0-4, Hannah Potter 2-2, Skyla Krantz 1-2, Sarah Rausch 1-1, Taylor Brackey 0-4, Kyrie Bitterman 2-2, Lydia Dupuis 1-3.

2B - Hjelt; Kenney, Dupuis. 3B - Bitterman. RBI - Peoples; Kenney, Toth, Bagnell, Rausch, Bitterman, Dupuis.

Anaconda 001 000 0-1 5 2

Polson 150 201 x - 9 10 3

Kristy Hayden and Courtney Moodry. Bagnell and Kenney. W - Bagnell. L - Hayden.

ANACONDA - C. Moodry 2-4, L. Moodry 0-3, D. Chapman 0-3, S. Schaefer 1-3, J. Peterson 0-3, K Flores 1-3, C. Worl 0-3, K Hayden 0-2, A Mavrinec 0-1, H. Schaefer 1-3.

POLSON - Kenney 2-3, Toth 3-4, Bagnell 1-3, Wall 1-4, Potter 1-3, Krantz 1-2, Bitterman 0-2, Rausch 0-3, Dupius 1-2, Brackey 1-1.

2B - S. Schaefer, H. Schaefer; Kenney, Brackey. 3B - Bagnell. RBI - S. Schaefer; Kenney 3, Toth 3, Bagnell, Wall.