Lady Pirates gear up for post season

Polson softball coach Larry Smith tries to deintensify his team’s practices as they begin to prep for a postseason run with the hope of being able to dethrone powerhouse and rival Frenchtown from winning its fifth consecutive Class-A state softball championship.

Smith said he knows the season is “long” and because of this fact, he wants his players to perform at an optimal level. He said he felt he can only achieve this if his team relaxes.

“I tried to make practices less intense because I think it takes the tension away from them and I try to let them be loose when they get to the state tournament,” Smith said. “I don’t want them to be uptight and make one mistake that snowballs on the team. I want them to be rather loose and having fun and be able to rebound quickly (from mistakes).”

This week, the Lady Pirates were tested against two top-ranked teams in Class AA Glacier and their conference rival Frenchtown.

Glacier High’s current pitcher was a former Pirates’ pitcher and according to Smith, this amplified the intensity of the game between his pitcher Haley Fyant and Glacier’s pitcher.

“The Glacier pitcher had a really solid game against us,” Smith said. “I expected us to have a really solid game defensively and offensively because they are a very talented team.”

Smith said he felt the Glacier pitcher usually does well against the Lady Pirates.

“She seems to always do well against her former teammates,” Smith said. “She and Haley were both pitchers back in the day for Polson and I thought there was a little dueling between Fyant and the Glacier pitcher back and forth.”

The Lady Pirates were able to manufacture runs against Glacier holding a 2-0 lead in the third inning.

Glacier came back when their player Emma Shaw blasted a three-run homer off Haley Fyant.

Fyant answered Shaw with a two-run shot of her own to give Polson a 5-3 advantage.

Fyant was 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs.

“I thought Haley had a fantastic game both pitching and hitting,” Smith said. “She really hung in there and got beat up pretty good. She was hit by a line drive in one shin and hit by a pitch in the other shin.”

Hannah Fryberger went 2-for-4, blasting two doubles and three RBIs.

Lady Pirates still trying to catch Frenchtown

Since 2013 Frenchtown has held the dubious designation of being the defending Class-A softball champions.

Prior to this, the Lady Pirates held the title the Lady Broncs’ now have had for five years.

The program’s success has only added to the rivalry.

Despite trying to overhaul their conference rival, the Lady Pirates fell short in a 6-5 loss.

“I told them, especially after that Frenchtown game, that once again we shot ourselves in the foot there,” Smith said. “We made too many mistakes and we are not getting that good key hit.”

Smith said he is hoping his team will start showing more clutch hitting moving forward.

“When it comes to winning the game, we had a couple of key at-bats that went away from us,” Smith said. “I wasn’t dissatisfied because we were right there. We just have to play a clean game like we did against Glacier.”

The Lady Pirates will travel to Butte Central Friday and Saturday, and they will get to play several teams from the east prior to the state tournament.

The Lady Pirates will play against Hardin, Havre, Conrad and Lewistown in the four-game tournament.

“We do like to play in that particular tournament shortly before we play in the state tournament,” Smith said. “We like to get our players adapting to playing away from home, sleeping in a strange bed, and just getting that tournament atmosphere because it’s a whole different world once you get to state.”