Lady Pirates win one, drop two to open season

The Polson Lady Pirates softball team experienced both ends of the spectrum in their opening games against Butte Central and Belgrade this weekend at Polson High School.

Lady Pirates’ manager Larry Smith said he felt his team played “Lady Pirates softball” in their 9-2 victory over Butte Central.

“I think this was one where everyone was putting the ball in play and when we got our speedsters on they were able to get around the bases quite fast,” Smith said. “We were able to get off to a fast start in the first two innings.”

Prior to playing Butte Central, the Lady Pirates hosted and fell to Big Sky 9-4 Tuesday afternoon at Polson High School. The Lady Pirates compounded errors, extended innings, and opened the door for a Big Sky hitting barrage in the sixth that caused an insurmountable deficit causing the first loss of the season.

The Lady Pirates outscored the Lady Maroons 7-0 in the first two innings. Smith said he felt hitting is “contagious.”

“When everyone is batting well, it’s like pick your poison,” Smith said. “Who do you want to pitch to? It just really balances out our attack and nothing slows up. When you get everyone in the lineup involved, that is very good.”

In the second game of the afternoon, the Lady Pirates’ exposed some of their early-season weaknesses, according to Smith, in their 9-2 loss to Belgrade Saturday afternoon at Polson High School stadium.

Not only did the Lady Pirates struggle, according to Smith, they also were up against what Smith referred to as a very well balanced attack from Belgrade.

“Everyone on Belgrade can hit from the top to the bottom of their order and those girls really put the bat on the ball,” Smith said. “Belgrade doesn’t have the power they normally have had in the past. It’s a little different because he likes the small ball. We were going into the 7th trailing 2-3 and with their small ball, we just started making errors and had a couple of bad dropped balls from players that don’t normally do that. Hopefully, this is our bad game of the year.”

Smith said the “small ball concept” paid dividends for a team like Belgrade, a team that usually relies on its power.

“We were in it for fast pitch and I thought we did really well for the first six innings,” Smith said. “The Belgrade coach and I have known each other for years. We coached a lot in the summer with teams in that Belgrade area and I knew his style. He’s very good at it and he’s very adamant about a balanced attack. In small ball, bunting is key and they proved it against us. It just goes to show how important bunting is in our game and that can make a big difference. It did against us.”

This week, the Lady Pirates will travel to compete in the Belgrade First Pitch Invitational with the times to be announced for Friday and Saturday.

“We will play four teams from the Eastern and Central part of Montana and these are teams that we don’t get to play during the season,” Smith said. “It is very helpful to see them to see what they expect down the road, what offense they play and how their defense works. Their teams have speed. We like going to these types of tournaments.”

Polson 9, Butte Central 2

Polson (1-1), Butte Central (0-1)

BuCentral 010 000 1 – 2 4 1

Polson 250 200 x – 9 13 *3

Kloie Thatcher, Zoe Doherty (5) and Megan Michelotti. Haley Fyant (6K,2H,2W,HB), Camas Renault (5) Ashley Benson. W – Fyant. L – Thatcher. Sv – Renault (2H,1W)

BUTTE CENTRAL – Thatcher 1-3, Michelotti 0-4, Taylor Wahl 0-3, Mollie Peoples 1-3, Kassidy Criscuolo 0-3, Brook Raiha 0-1, Emma Keeley 1-3, Cassidy Strizic 1-3, Doherty 0-3.

POLSON – Kaelyn Smith 2-3, Laurel Bitterman 3-4, Hannah Fryberger 2-4, Fyant 2-4, Benson 1-3, Quinn Motichka 2-4, Breyland McColl 0-2, Renault 0-1, Natasha Gravelle 1-2, Kaylanna Desjarlais 0-0, Paige Noyes 0-3.

2B – Fryberger 2, Benson. RBIs – Strizic; Fryberger 3, Fyant 2, Benson, Motichka, Renault, DesJarlais. SacF – Renault, DesJarlais. SB – Smith. CS – Bitterman. BB – Thatcher, Wahl, Raiha; Smith, Benson. HB – Raiha. (LP)Runs – Smith 2, Bitterman 2, Fryberger, (cr) Rhiley Big Beaver 2, Benson, Gravelle. (Sa01Apr17)

Belgrade 9, Polson 2

The Lady Pirates stranded a half dozen, four in scoring position. Polson (1-2), Belgrade (2-0)

Belgrade 000 120 6 – 9 10 *1

Polson 100 010 0 – 2 6 *4

Shania Neubauer, Erin Elgas (5) and Katie Hoppe. Haley Fyant (5K,9H,3W), Camas Renault (6) and Ashley Benson. W – Neubauer. L – Fyant (1-2).

BELGRADE – Haylee Curry *1-5 , Khiala Rollins 0-2, Heather Gier 0-1, Neubauer 2-4, Ty Atwood *3-4, Kalista Pachl 2-4, Hoppe 1-4, Lanie Morgan 0-3, Olivia Cook 0-2, Elgas 0-1,Samantha Foley 0-1, Alexa Deming 0-1, Shelby Lee 1-2.

POLSON – Smith *0-3(FC), Bitterman 1-4, Fryberger 1-3, Fyant 0-3, Benson 1-3, McColl 1-3, Gravelle 0-3, Motichka 0-1, Renault 1-1, Noyes 1-3.

2B – Hoppe; Fryberger. 3B – Neubauer. HR – Curry. RBIs – Curry, Neubauer, Atwood, Pachl, Lee; Bitterman, Fryberger. Sac – Smith. BB – Morgan, Rollins, Elgas. HB – Renault. (LP)Runs – Bitterman, Motichka. (Sa01Apr17)

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s): Belgrade version (B11h2e, P5h3e)

T2ab1: Atwood lines sizzler at second base, who partially intercepts with glove, knocking it down but can’t squeeze away with glove. Polson coach rates “too hot to handle” hit, Belgrade coach error, although other Panther dugout statistician scores as hit.

T7ab1: Curry hits high flyer into shallow outfield; outfielder and infielder begin to converge, but fail to communicate, ball drops to turf inbetween. Polson scores infield error. Belgrade scored as hit.

Big Sky 9, Polson 4

Big Sky 002 106 0 – 9 11 3

Polson 001 012 0 – 4 *9 4

Kaylee Rosenbaum, McKenna Bessette (5), Rosenbaum (7) and Chelsea Todd. Haley Fyant, Paige Noyes (6) and Ashley Benson. W – *Rosenbaum. L – Fyant.

Pitching specs: Rosenbaum (5K,5H,4W), Bessette (2IP: 1K,4H,1W); Fyant (5K,10H,5W,2HB), Noyes (1K,1H,1W).

Big Sky – Brylee Meisinger 1-3, Payton Hudson 1-5, Rosenbaum 0-4, Jaime Shaffer 1-2, *Todd 1-3, Bessette *1-5, Shaina Allen 1-3, Alyssa Gentri 2-4, Emily Hermes *3-4.

Polson – Kaelyn Smith 2-4, Laurel Bitterman 2-4, Hannah Fryberger 1-4, Fyant 1-2, Benson 2-3, Quinn Motichka 0-4, Natasha Gravelle 0-2, Rhiley Big Beaver *0-2, Breyland McColl *0-1, Kaylanna Desjarlais 0-0, Noyes *1-4.

2B – Allen, Gentri; *Fyant. RBIs – Bessette, Allen 2, *Gentri, Hermes; *Fyant 2, *Fryberger 2. BB – Meisinger 2, Rosenbaum, Schafer 2, Todd, Allen; Fyant 2, Benson, McColl, DesJarlais 2. HB – Schafer, Todd. SB – Fyant. (Tu28Mar17)