Rough start to fastpitch season
Whitefish knew that traveling to the
defending Class A champs for the season-opener was a tall order for
their young softball squad. Polson ran away from the Lady Bulldogs
in Friday’s Northwestern A match up, tallying 25 hits en route to a
46-0 victory.
Whitefish was finally saved in the
fifth by the 10-run mercy rule.
“I don’t have any control over the
schedule,” Whitefish coach Alan Compton said. “We deal with the
cards the best we can. Our first game was against the defending
champs — it is what it is.”
Friday’s game was only the third time
this year Whitefish has played outside of the high school gym. The
girls were raw and nervous, and it showed. Polson scored seven runs
in the first inning without putting a bat to the ball. All of the
runs came on fielding errors, hit batters and walks.
“We have three pitchers who’ve never
faced a batter,” Compton said. “Things are going to happen.”
The Lady Pirates tallied nine more runs
in the second inning and 10 in the third before it all fell apart
in the fourth inning. Polson pushed 20 runs across the plate,
possibly a single-inning record for the Pirates.
Whitefish rebounded emotionally on
Saturday, Compton noted, by keeping Columbia Falls within reach in
a 11-1 conference loss. Notably, the pitchers were more on
target.
“They all did a better job against
Columbia Falls,” Compton said. “I told the pitchers to give the
defense a chance, and they did that.”
The timely hits, though, were nowhere
to be found. Four different times, Whitefish had runners on third
base who failed to cross home.
“That’s a good thing to have runners in
scoring position,” Compton said. “Now we have to move forward and
score those girls. It’ll come around.”
Compton said he’s proud of the team for
keeping their heads up after the Polson game.
“They kept trying, and no one got a bad
attitude,” he said. “That shows a lot of character and that we have
a chance if we keep trying.”
Whitefish travels to Flathead on Friday
and Libby on Saturday.
Whitefish 000 00 - 0 3 7
Pol 79(10) (20)x - 46 25 1
Baylee Tveidt and Kara Morrison;
Shalaina Duford, Martina Marquardt (4) and Kayla Duford. S. Duford
(2-1, 3 hits, 11 strike outs, 2 walks). L - Tveidt.
WHITEFISH - Emma Baldonado 1-3, Andrea
Lamourex 0-3, B. Tveidt 0-2, Madison Tveidt 0-1, Emily Stiver 0-2,
Kaia Morrison 0-1, Haley Hunnewell 0-1, Madison Cross 1-2, Hanna
Lewis 0-1, Jessica Vail 0-1. Jayde Eason 1-1.
POLSON - Kody Woods 5-7, K. Duford 2-4,
Heidi Rausch 3-4, S. Duford 4-6, Sally Sams 3-5, Ashley Johnson
0-1, Kylie Knutson 1-3, Makaliah Wilson 1-3, Marquardt 3-3,
Stephanie Angle 1-2, Colleen Jacobson 2-2, Jordan Evertz 0-0,
Jaylin Kenney 0-2.
2B-Baldonado, Cross; Knutson, S.
Duford, Rausch; RBIs-Woods (4), K. Duford, Rausch (4), S. Duford
(5), Sams, Johnson, Wilson, Marquardt (3), Angle (2).
Whitefish 001 00 - 1 4 0
Col. Falls 421 22 - 11 6 0
Baylee Tveidt and Madison Cross. Shaun
Rowe, Jessica Owens (5) and Erika Nelson. W - Rowe (2-0). L -
Tveidt.
WHITEFISH - Emma Baldonado 0-3, Hanna
Lewis 0-3, Madison Tveidt 1-2, Baylee Tveidt 1-2, Emily Stiver 0-2,
Kara Morrison 0-1, Madison Cross 0-2, Andrea Lamourex 2-2, Jessica
Vail 0-2.
3B - M. Tveidt. RBI - B. Tveidt.
COL. FALLS - Jessica Owens 0-1, Renae
Nelson 1-2, Shaun Rowe 1-2, Niki Birky 2-2, Erika Nelson 1-2,
Madison Sandefer 0-3, Tessa Cowan 1-2, Jordan Lefebvre 1-3,
Katherine Jetty 0-2.
2B - Rowe, Birky, E. Nelson. RBI -Rowe
1, Birky 2, E. Nelson 2, Cowan 1.