Wildkats go 3-1 for the week

The Columbia Falls High School softball team went 3-1 for the week as they started to find a groove with their bats.

The Wildkats dropped Class B Ronan at home April 25 by 11-1 and then went on the road April 26-27 at the Frenchtown tournament. The Kats opened with a loss to Hamilton on Friday, 5-2, but came back to beat Loyola Sacred Heart, 11-7. The next day, they blanked Corvallis, 12-0.

Against Ronan, the Kats were up 1-0 after three innings when they broke it open in the bottom of the fourth with three runs. Winter Kemppainen led the squad, going 3-for-3.

Kathrin Jetty hit her first home run of the season. She was way out in front on her first two at-bats against Ronan’s Alaina Madsen, but she showed more patience as she clocked a dinger that sailed over both fences and bounced off the windshield of a car in the parking lot past left field.

The girls added six more runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game on the 10-run rule. The girls hit the ball well, as Catie King, Ciarra Holm and Kemppainen all had doubles.

Holm didn’t play the field, as she is battling an injury. Kempainnen played first, while Lauren Fields started at second. Ashley Trueblood threw a two hitter.

In Frenchtown, the Kats had a tough time getting runs across the plate against the Lady Bronc’s Kaytlyn Menk, but they hit the ball well against Sacred Heart — King and Madi Fetters had two RBIs apiece.

Against Corvallis, the girls racked up 10 hits, and pitchers Trueblood and Alex Pederson combined for a one-hitter against the Blue Devils. Trueblood also went 2-for-3 from the plate, with a double.

The key match-up came after presstime as the girls were scheduled to play Libby in a makeup game Tuesday.

They will face Whitefish on Friday away and Frenchtown on the road Saturday. A sweep of the three would go a long way to solidifying the team’s playoff hopes. The top three squads in the conference will advance to the state playoffs.