Lady Pirates hope to make a championship run headed to state

When Polson High School softball coach Larry Smith glanced at his team’s final record after the Lady Pirates defeated Columbia Falls 6-0 in the season finale Thursday afternoon, he said he was subtly reminded of previous championship teams.

Polson finished the season with a record of 16-4 and Smith said he was “pleased” with the final results.

“It does remind me back on in our hey day (when looking at the final record) when we were on a roll and pushing the 20-win mark at the regular season and through the tournaments,” Smith said. “We won 20 games pretty consistently for a ten-year stretch.”

The Polson Lady Pirates’ bid for State was a collective effort: the pitcher, the infield and the outfield have become a cohesive unit that played well enough to secure a first-round bye headed into the Class A State softball tournament May 25-26 at Frenchtown High School.

The Lady Pirates, who secured a first-round bye, won’t have an easy road to the state championship, according to Smith. Smith said he anticipates the Lady Pirates will play Frenchtown in their first game of the tournament. Behind what Smith called Vanessa Kent’s best pitching performance of the year, Polson defeated Frenchtown 5-0 earlier in the season.

The Lady Pirates will face the winner of Frenchtown-Lewistown and Smith said Polson has the “toughest bracket.”

“(Our bracket) is a tough one and hands down, one of the toughest parts of our bracket is that we will have to play the winner of Frenchtown-Lewistown,” Smith said. “Then after that, we will most likely have to play Belgrade and I am sure they’ll advance. We will probably have to play what I consider the two best teams (in the tournament) right off the bat.”

Polson could build a lot of momentum in the hypothetical scenario they were able to win their first two games of the tournament.

“If we were to knock both of them off, it would be a huge momentum boost going in as a winner and coming out of the other bracket,” Smith said. “No matter what, you have to beat them so it doesn’t make a difference when or how you beat them. I usually like to ease into it and play a warm-up game first but we will be dumped into the fire immediately.”

One of Smith’s philosophical approaches to softball is to not take it one game at a time; he wants his Lady Pirates to take it one pitch at a time in the competitive atmosphere.

In other words, Smith doesn’t like his team to get ahead of themselves.

“We can’t overlook anyone in the tournament,” Smith said. “These are the best 12 teams in the state and they all have the same goal, no matter what.”

Smith, who is now in his 31st year as the Lady Pirates’ skipper, has noticed a trend in some of his past championship teams. One commonality his previous teams that won it all had was chemistry, Smith said.

“There are a lot of psychological components that have to come together to make a winning team and one of them is camaraderie,” Smith said. “The girls are really enjoying each other (this season). They are having fun playing the game. (This group) doesn’t get too down or too up during a game and they usually play very loose. They remind me of a couple of my championship teams in the past. They have that same flavor about them and if they give them enough innings, they are going to get you.”

Though Smith has praised the play of his star pitcher Vanessa Kent, he doesn’t want to put the game solely on her shoulders. An infield that has a mixture of youth and experience, an ingredient that has allowed Kent to pitch with confidence, protects whoever is on the mound.

“We have such good leadership in our infield and the camaraderie begins with our seniors,” Smith said. “It’s just a huge, huge factor and the group of seniors understands and remembers how they were treated as freshmen. They show the sophomores respect and everyone is appreciated on the team.”

Smith credited his outfield, which consists of Marina Mayorga, Lisa Costilla and Laurel Bitterman, for also preventing some runs.

“We have faced some really good hitting teams this year and our outfield has been spectacular in my mind,” Smith said. “There are a couple of people that have the speed and really close the gaps early. They always have that first correct steps to get a good read on the ball. (Everyone) has wheels and I have a lot of confidence that our team will do really well. I don’t see our group (of outfielders) ever slacking or jogging. They sprint for everything.”

Smith expressed confidence in his team moving forward as they prepare to try to capture their first MHSA Class A State title since 2012.

“They’ve built that confidence in me,” Smith said. “The way they’ve been playing with each other and playing well together every game, hopefully that will continue through the State tournament.”