Kats softball maintains hold on first place with pair of wins

The Wildkats softball team used a pair of wins to solidify its hold on the top spot in the Northwest A Conference last week, taking down Flathead 20-4 in a non-conference Tuesday game before besting Ronan 10-7 Thursday.

The Kats needed only five innings to get past the Bravettes in Kalispell Tuesday, scoring nine in the fourth and 10 in the fifth to win by 16 runs.

Isabell Johnson and Chloe Kienas both homered for the Kats in the victory while catcher Graceanne Sevesind was perfect at the plate, going 4 for 4 with four RBIs. Johnson and Kienas also drove in four runs each while Savvy Ellis brought home two and Kaylee Ashe, Alyssa Blankenship and Abbie Darsow each drove in one.

The Kats had 17 hits in the win while holding Flathead to just four.

Ellis picked up the win in the pitching circle.

The Kats trailed 5-0 after two and a half innings in Ronan Thursday, but rallied with four runs in both the bottom of the third and fourth innings en route to a 10-7 victory.

Ashe was a double short of hitting for the cycle in the win with a solo home run, a single and a triple. Trista Cowan also homered and drove in three runs while going 3 for 4 at the plate. Ashe and Blankenship also went 3 for 4 while Ellis drove in two runs, as did Ryley Kehr. Blankenship and Kehr both had doubles as the Kats outhit the Maidens 14-10.

Ellis again got the win in the pitching circle.

With the wins, the Kats improve to 8-8 overall this season and 4-1 in conference play.

The Kats were on the road Tuesday at Browning and will be in Butte for a tournament Friday and Saturday before hosting Frenchtown May 14 at 4 p.m.