Pirates sack the Bitterroot
<p>Hannah Potter rounds the bases after her home run Saturday.</p>
RAVALLI COUNTY — Polson’s softball team knows now what they’d thought up to this point: the Pirates are still elite in Class A.
Coach Larry Smith’s squad began a Saturday doubleheader down south with a resounding 25-0 victory over Corvallis before traveling to play to a highly touted Hamilton team, which the Pirates took care of, 8-3.
Lydia Dupuis led Polson’s effort against Corvallis, going 3-for-3. Jaylin Kenney, Jaiden Toth, Jessica Bagnell, Kyrie Bitterman and Skyla Krantz all added multi-hit games, and Bagnell went the distance for the 2-hit shutout in the circle.
Smith said he was most excited by the production out of the young bats at the bottom of the batting order.
“I was surprised to see at the bottom of the order how many times those kids were on base,” Smith said.
It was the underclassmen that again made noise in the win over Hamilton, as sophomore Hannah Potter belted a solo home run and junior Kaelen Wall hit a triple and drove in two runs.
Kenney and Dupuis each had multi-hit performances for the second time on the day, helping the Pirates out of a slow start. Polson trailed 2-0 through three innings before the bats came alive. They scored in each of the next three frames.
Bagnell was stellar again on the mound, allowing just five hits and striking out 11 Broncs.
“She settled down and really took charge,” said Smith, who couldn’t quite account for the slow start.
“I guess they were just a little too uptight,” he said.
Box Scores
from Saturday, April 5
Polson 25, Corvallis 0, 5 innings
Polson 265 0(12) - 25 16 0
Corvallis 000 00 - 0 2 10
Jessica Bagnell and Jaylin Kenney. Taylor Gagnon, Sabrina Friday (4) and Brenna Bourgeois. W — Bagnell. L — Gagnon.
POLSON - Kenney 2-6, Jaiden Toth 2-5, Bagnell 2-5, Kaelen Wall 1-4, Hannah Potter 1-5, Kyrie Bitterman 2-4, Skyla Krantz 2-3, Sarah Rausch 1-4, Lydia Dupuis 3-3.
CORVALLIS - Kira Doyle 1-2, Taia Tully 0-2, Friday 0-2, Gagnon 1-2, Bourgeois 0-2, Taylor Koskela 0-2, Hannah Brown 0-1, Bobbie Stephen 0-2, Nicole Turner 0-2.
Polson 8, Hamilton 3
Polson 000 124 1 – 8 11 0
Hamilton 200 001 0 – 3 5 3
Jessica Bagnell and Jaylin Kenney. Brie Clifford and Katie Wickham. W – Bagnell. L – Clifford.
POLSON – Kenney 2-4, Jaiden Toth 1-3, Bagnell 1-4, Kaelen Wall 1-4, Hannah Potter 1-4, Kyrie Bitterman 0-3, Skyla Krantz 2-3, Sarah Rausch 1-3, Lydia Dupuis 2-4.
HAMILTON – McKayl Rothie 1-3, Clifford 2-4, Taylor Goligoski 1-3, Tayler Reynolds 0-3, Lauren Dolcater 0-3, Shaylan Mohn 1-2, Wickham 0-1, Sydney Bergren 0-3, Kloie Nye 0-3, Lacey Dolcater 0-0.
2B – Clifford. 3B – Wall. HR – Potter. RBIs – Toth, Bagnell 2, Wall 2, Potter, Rausch, Mohn 2, Wickham.