Bulldogs capture a share of conference championship

When you mention the Mission-Arlee-Charlo team to any of the coaches in the Montana Activities Association Class B-C, their track record almost needs no introduction.

The coaches know the Lady Bulldogs’ reputation and are aware of the tough, hard-nosed image that earned them the distinction of placing third in last year’s MHSA Class B-C.

Lady Bulldogs’ skipper Susan Weaselhead and her coaching staff have developed a top-notch team that no team looks forward to playing. They have headed for the postseason again after splitting the doubleheader with Plains-Hot Springs. They now share a piece of the conference title and have punched their ticket to Districts May 18-19 at Florence High School. They will have more than a shot to punch their ticket to the MHSA Class B-C state tournament May 24-26 at Belgrade High School.

“(The series) was good, and I thought the girls hit the ball well and they changed up the second game and what got us (in the first game against Plains-Hot Springs) was a couple of errors,” Lady Bulldogs’ skipper Susan Weaselhead said. “I am not sure if Jess Thompson (from Plains-Hot Springs) got a hit against us and I was really pleased with all of the girl’s performances and we have five seniors that been starting and I’ve tried to get the girls off the bench a lot of playing time.”

The Lady Bulldogs had one of their toughest tests of the season against a Plains-Hot Springs team and the Trotter’s ended up securing a No. 1 seed after the two teams split the series in their doubleheaderThursday afternoon at Mission High School.

The Lady Bulldogs struggled against the high-octane bats of the Trotters with an 13-8 loss in the first game. Their ace Tomi Brazill struck out two batters and uncharacteristically allowed 10 hits against one of the toughest lineups in Class B-C.

Mission-Arlee-Charlo got of lot of support from their bats in what could be a potential Class B-C State or Divisional match up in the upcoming week.

Lady Bulldogs’ Azia Humphrey unloaded a home run. Other players that were able to have production in the game were Summer DarcAngelo, Tori Olson and Olivia Garland. All contributed with doubles. Umphrey, Frankie Smith and Garland all contributed with RBIs. DarcAngelo and Olsen also had two RBis each.

M-A-C defeated Plains in the first game of the series 7-4. That allowed them to stay in position to own a piece of the conference title.

Umphrey and Crawford each got doubles. Gray finished with two RBIs, Elliot had two RBIs, and DarcAngelo belted in three RBIs to win the contest.

The Bulldogs will enter the Butte Central Invite on May 11-12 to get ready for the tournament atmosphere of Divisionals that will be May 18-19 at Florence High School. M-A-C will play Dillon and Columbus in the invitational that includes multiple classifications.

“Playing in a tournament atmosphere is huge for our girls, they get the tournament feel and the experience it allows them to raise their level of intensity and being able to adjust to different pitchers whether they face are faster or slower pitcher and it helps (moving forward into Divisionals and State) and I am really pleased to be able to play in the Butte Tournament and play a couple of teams we haven’t played this season.”

The M-A-C team will be in the same bracket as the defending Class B-C softball champion Florence when they head into Divisionals May 18-19 at Florence.

Weaselhead said she her team isn’t phased by the challenge of playing the defending champs, as a matter of fact they embrace the challenge of potentially matching up against one of the top-tier pitchers in the state of Montana: Brianna Hoffman,

“(Florence) is tough and (Hoffman) has a great riffle,” Weaselhead said. “We have a lot of discipline at the plate and she has a great ptch and has to come right into it and hit and when (her pitch) rises you have to be able to hit it (at the right time). They have a lot of intensity and Brianna is one tough pitcher to hit off of.”

The Lady Bulldogs that have a lot of talent themselves will be ready, according to Weaselhead.

“I find my girls like that kind of challenge when they play teams that aren’t as team aren’t as intense they tend to play down to their competition level,” Weaselhead said. “Up until the fourth innning the score was still 0-0. We can do (well in divisionals) our girls have really stepped up and continue to work hard at doing what she can for us and they continue to give it our best.”

Deer Lodge 15, M-A-C 14 (gm2)

M-A-C (12-7)

Mission-A-C 221 630 0 – 14 12 8

Deer Lodge 240 330 3 – 15 15 0*

Tomi Brazill, Shyanne Reum, Brazill, Reum and Azia Umphrey. Stacy Tiensvold and Alyssa Lamb. W – Tiensvold. L – Reum.

DEER LODGE – Jordan Senecal *2-2, Riley Gray 3-5, Alyssa Lamb *4-4, Tiensvold 3-4, Emmy Kunesh *2-3, Rachel Nicholson 0-2, Skyler Schimming 0-1, Jessie Gravely 0-3, Kate Simpson 0-4, Morgan Stevenson 0-3, Madison Johnson 1-1.

MISSION-ARLEE-CHARLO – Brazill 2-3, Umphrey 1-2, Frankie Smith 1-3, Olivia Garland 0-1, Summer DarcAngelo 1-3, Ashley Tanner *0-1, Courtney Mitchell 1-2, Kalista Clark 0-1, Tori Olsen 0-2, Kayden Burke 1-2, Haley Crawford 4-4, Reum 0-2, Taylor Olsen *0-2, Sierra Hutchin *1-2.

HR – Senecal. 3B – Brazill. 2B – Umphrey, F.Smith. RBIs – Lamb, Tiensvold 2, Kunesh 7, Stephenson, Senecal; F.Smith 3, Tanner 2, Burke, Crawford. BB – Senecal, Lamb, Kunesh, Nicholson, Gravely; Brazill, Garland, DarcAngelo, Tanner, Mitchell, 9Olsen, Hutchin. HB –Tiensvold; Umphrey, DarcAngelo. D3K – Umphrey, Crawford.

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) where media coverage/venue data differs from visitor specs: DL13H (Lamb 1H, Kunesh 1H); MAC12H (Tanner 1H, Ta.Olsen 1H, Hutchin 0H)

Expanded stat specs courtesy of Deer Lodge coaching staff. Some details may vary from M-A-C data.

M-A-C 12, Deer Lodge 4 (gm1)

M-A-C (12-6)

Deer Lodge 210 001 – 4 8 6

Mission-A-C 213 322 – 12 13 2*

Tomi Brazill and Azia Umphrey. Riley Gray and Alyssa Lamb. W – Brazill. L – Gray.

DEER LODGE – Jordan Senecal 1-4, Riley Gray 2-4, Alyssa Lamb 2-3, Stacey Tiensvold 0-3, Emmy Kunesh 0-1, Rachel Nicholson *2-3, Jessie Gravely 0-2, Jayde Gustafson 0-2, Ruthie Shepard 1-1, Madison Johnson 0-3.

MISSION-ARLEE-CHARLO – Brazill 2-3, Olivia Garland 0-1, Umphrey 3-4, Frankie Smith 2-4, Summer DarcAngelo 0-3, Ashley Tanner 2-2, Kayden Burke 0-0, Tori Olsen 0-1, Kalista Clark 0-2, Haley Crawford 2-3, Shyanne Reum 0-4, Sierra Hutchin 0-2, Taylor Olsen 1-2.

3B – Umphrey, F.Smith. 2B – Senecal; Crawford. RBIs – Gray, Kunesh; Umphrey, Tanner, Crawford, Shyanne Reum, Sierra Hutchin. BB – Lamb, Tiensvold, Kunesh 2, Gravely 2; DarcAngelo, Tanner, Burke, Clark, Crawford.

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variant(s) where media coverage/venue data differs from visitor specs: (Nicholson 1H)

Mission 12, Manhattan 1 (gm2)

M-A-C (11-6)

Manhattan 000 01 – 1 3 4

M-A-C 604 2x – 12 9 2

Daela Didriksen, Romela Miller (4) and Malia Friese. Tomi Brazill, Shyanne Reum (3) and Azia Umphrey. W – Brazill. L – Didriksen.

MANHATTAN – Natalie Scott 0-3, Amy Grevious 0-2, Didriksen 1-2, Friese 2-2, Matilda Dietz 0-1, Maria Holmes 0-2, Casey Elfland 0-1, Abby Gibson 0-1, Audrey Miller 0-2, R. Miller 0-1, Keeley McCausland 0-1.

MISSION-ARLEE-CHARLO – Brazill 1-4, Umphrey 1-1, Frankie Smith 0-1, Olivia Garland 1-1, Summer DarcAngelo 0-1, Ashley Tanner 1-3, Tori Olsen 1-1, Kalista Clark 1-1, Haley Crawford 1-3, Reum 2-3, Sierra Hutchin 0-1, Taylor Olsen 0-1.

3B – Garland. 2B – Umphrey, Clark, Crawford. RBIs – unavailable at presstime. (Th03May18gm2)

Manhattan boxes courtesy of venue coverage by Belgrade-News

Mission 15, Manhattan 0 (gm1)

M-A-C (10-6),

Mission 630 33 - 15 7 0

Manhattan 000 00 - 0 9 6

Tomi Brazill, Shyanne Reum (3) and Azia Umphrey. Shayla Shea, Claire Nolan (3) and Daela Didriksen. W – Brazill. L – Shea.

MISSION-ARLEE-CHARLO – Brazill 0-1, T. Olsen 0-1, Umphrey 1-3, F. Smith 0-0, O. Garland 0-1, S. DarcAngelo 2-3, Ashley Tanner 1-3, Courtney Mitchell 0-1, Tori Olsen 0-1, Kalista Clark 0-1, Haley Crawford 1-3, Reum 1-3, Sierra Hutchin 1-2 (2B), Kayden Burke 0-1.

MANHATTAN - Shea 0-2, Nolan 0-1, Amy Grevious 0-3, Didriksen 3-3, Malia Friese 1-3, Matilda Dietz 2-3 (2B), Natalie Scott 1-3, Maria Holmes 2-2, Lizzie Rasnick 0-2, Audrey Miller 0-0.

HR – Tanner. 2B – Umphrey, DarcAngelo, Reum; Holmes. RBIs – Tanner, remaining RBIs unavailable at presstime. (Th03May18gm1)

Plains-Hot Springs 13, M-A-C 8 (gm2)

M-A-C (9-6), P-HS (11-2)

Mission-A-C 303 101 0 – 8 8 3

Plains-HSpgs 270 400 x – 13 10 6

Tomi Brazill (2K), (3) Shyanne Reum (2K,4H,0W), (6) Brazill (1K) and Azia Umphrey. Kassidy Kinzie (7K) and Natalee Deschamps. W – Kinzie. L – Brazill.

MISSION-ARLEE-CHARLO – Brazill 0-5, Umphrey 2-3, Frankie Smith 2-5, Summer DarcAngelo 1-4, Ashley Tanner 0-2, Courtney Mitchell 0-0, Tori Olsen 1-1, Olivia Garland 1-2, Kayden Burke 0-1, Haley Crawford 1-3, Shyanne Reum 0-3, Sierra Hutchin 0-2, Taylor Olsen 0-1, Kalista Clark 0-0.

PLAINS-HOT SPRINGS – Stacy Gray 0-4, Sydney Jackson 2-5, Mackenzie Elliott 0-3, Kassidy Kinzie 1-3, Deschamps 1-4, Jessica Thompson 1-2, Sage Jackson 1-4, Dakota Butcher 2-3, Kenzie Angle 0-2, (flex) Brooklyn Stafford.

HR – Umphrey. 2B – Smith, DarcAngelo, To.Olsen, Garland; Butcher, Angle 2. RBIs – Umphrey, F.Smith, DarcAngelo 2, To.Olsen 2, Garland; Gray, Sy.Jackson, Deschamps 3, Thompson, Sa.Jackson, Butcher, Angle. SF – Butcher. BB – Umphrey 2, Mitchell, Reum, Clark; Gray, Kinzie, Thompson 2. HB – Umphrey 2, Mitchell, Hutchin; Elliott. SB – Smith, Tanner, Mitchell, Reum. CS – Gray. ROE – Brazill, Umphrey, DarcAngelo, Tanner; Gray 2, Si.Jackson, Elliott, Kinzie, Deschamps. FC – Gray, Elliott, Sa.Jackson. (Tu01May18gm2)

M-A-C 7, Plains-Hot Springs 4 (gm1)

M-A-C (8-6), P-HS (11-1)

Plains 021 100 0 – 4 9 4

M-A-C 203 101 x – 7 11 1

Jessica Thompson (8K) and Natalee Deschamps. Tomi Brazill (3K) and Azia Umphrey. W – Brazill (). L –Thompson.

PLAINS-HOT SPRINGS – Stacy Gray 3-4, Sidney Jackson 0-3, Sage Jackson 1-3, Kassidy Kinzie 1-3, Thompson 0-3, Deschamps 2-2, Mackenzie Elliott *2-4, Dakota Butcher 0-4, Kenzie Angle 0-2, (flex) Kelsey Stafford.

MISSION-ARLEE-CHARLO – Brazil 1-4, Umphrey 3-3, Frankie Smith 3-3, Summer DarcAngelo 0-1, Ashley Tanner 0-3, Olivia Garland 0-1, Tori Olsen 0-2, Kayden Burke 0-2, Haley Crawford 2-3, Shyanne Reum 1-2, Courtney Mitchell 0-1, Sierra Hutchin 1-1, Taylor Olsen 1-2.

2B – Umphrey, Crawford. RBIs – Gray 2, Elliott; Smith 2, DarcAngelo 3, Crawford 2. SF – Smith, DarcAngelo. BB – Kinzie, Thompson, Deschamps, Angle; DarcAngelo. HB – Si.Jackson, Sa.Jackson, Deschamps; Umphrey, DarcAngelo. SB – ROE – Sa.Jackson, Angle; DP – MAC t1 (Tu01May18gm1)