Girls go 1-2 at state softball tourney

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls softball team's season ended last week with a 1-2 showing at the state tournament.

The girls opened with a win against fourth-seeded Sidney Thursday 9-3 behind good hitting and strong pitching from Jenni Johnson and Drew Walter, who came in relief.

Amanda Milliard and Amber James went 3-for-4 in the win and Drew Walter was 2-for-4.

Brittany White had two RBIs.

But later that day the Kats faced top-seeded Hamilton from the Central and lost 12-3. The game was delayed by rain and was actually finished early Friday morning after Hamilton took a 10-2 lead in the sixth.

Hamilton jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first and then stifled the Kats' bats.

The girls then had to turn around and beat Belgrade in the consolation bracket to stay in the running, but lost to the Panthers in a high scoring game, 17-14.

Both teams got the bats on the ball in a big way - the Kats had 22 hits, Belgrade had 23 in what amounted to a slugfest.

The Kats were down 14-8 in the top of the seventh, but scored six runs to tie it. But in the bottom of the seventh, Belgrade's Brittany Markham hit a three-run walk off home run to win the game. Five girls hit homers for Belgrade in the win.

But just making a mark at state was valuable experience for the Kats. It only graduates two seniors in Vanesha Riley and Johnson, and there are a host of talented eighth-graders coming up to high school next year, so the team looks to be as strong, if not stronger than this year.

The Kats had several players named all conference. Johnson was named all conference pitcher, James catcher, Vanesha Riley third base, Milliard short stop and Kayla Stinger, outfield.

C. Falls 9, Sidney, 3

Columbia Falls 130 230 0 - 9 13 1

Sidney 000 300 0 - 3 10 2

Columbia Falls - Amanda Milliard 3-4, Lindsey Nelson 1-4, Vanesha Riley 1-4, James 3-4, Drew Walter 2-4, Kayla Stinger 1-4, Brittany White 1-4, Sami Venezio 1-4, Cedar Smith 0-3.

Sidney - Kayla Fritz 1-3, Amanda Lorenz 1-4, Lexi Buxbaum 2-4, Roth 2-4, Jen Nielson 1-4, Kristy Obergfell 0-2, Shevon Lorenz 0-3, Meghan Feuhlauer 1-2, VanEvery 2-3.

2B-Millard, Riley, James, White; RBIs - Riley, James, Walter, White (2).

Hamilton 12, Columbia Falls, 3

Hamilton 412 212 x - 12 16 1

Columbia Falls 100 002 0 - 3 5 2

Columbia Falls - Amanda Milliard 2-4, Lindsey Nelson 1-4, Vanesha Riley 0-3, Amber James 1-3, Drew Walter 0-2, Kayla Stinger 0-2, Brittany White 1-3, Sam Venezio 0-1, Cedar Smith 0-2.

Hamilton - T. Bryan 1-4, C. Krueger 1-3, J. Huseby 2-3, R. Wood 4-4, S. Callaghan 3-4, N. Koning 1-4, K. Lokken 1-4, A. Hood 3-3, C. Smith 0-3.

2B-Riley, James; Huseby, Wood, Callaghan (2), Koning, Lokken; RBIs-Riley, James; Bryan, Krueger, Wood, Callaghan (4), Koning, Lokken.

Belgrade 17, Columbia Falls, 14

Belgrade 014 504 3 - 17 23 0

Columbia Falls 005 021 6 - 14 22 5

Belgrade - Kelsey Foster 3-5, Lauren Torres 0-1, Megan Bell 3-5, Krista Howard 2-4, Stephanie Livermore 2-5, Brittany Markham 4-5, Carrissa Erickson 2-3, Jillian Gue 3-3, Brittany Larsen 1-4, Amy Langendorf 2-4, Sarah Hultman 1-1.

Columbia Falls - Amanda Milliard 2-5, Lindsey Nelson 2-5, Vanesha Riley 1-5, Amber James 3-5, Drew Walters 2-2, Kayla Stinger 2-3, Brittany White 1-4, Sami Venezio 1-1, Jennie Johnson 4-4, Cedar Smith 3-5.