Kats win Western A title
Sydnee Burke,Tayler Lingle and Bella Mann have a lighter moment in the outfield as the Kats beat Polson for the Westrn A title Saturday. (Ethan Vandenbosch photo)
By ETHAN VANDENBOSCH
Hungry Horse News
They left no doubt.
The Columbia Falls girls softball team dropped Polson 9-5 Saturday night to win the Western A divisional crown in Polson.
It was a total team effort, coach Dave Kehr said.
“There was just a lot of good hitting all the way up then down the lineup, one through nine. Maddie (Moultray) pitched really well‚ Just a whole team effort. We needed all of it. We need base runners, you know, the courtesy runners, substitutes, everybody contributed. That’s the best part about this whole thing,” he said after the game.
Moultray went the distance, striking out a whopping 16 batters while giving up just two earned runs in the win.
Moultray was stoked by the win.
“It feels unbelievable to do it for two years in a row, especially since this is just unreal for, like, Columbia Falls softball to go this far,” she said.
The Kats were up 8-0 after two innings, but Polson hung around, scoring three in the third and two in the top of the seventh to make it interesting. At one point the game came to a halt after Polson’s Avery Starr hit a foul ball into a light. Everyone helped clean up the broken glass and the game continued.
The Kats got to the championship by beating Stevensville 12-4 Friday in the opener and then Dillon 6-1 earlier in the day Saturday. Moultray struck out 11 against the Yellowjackets and the Kats put up five runs in the bottom of the third and then four more in the fifth to seal the deal. Moultray also homered in the game.
Against Dillon, Moultray struck out 11 and the Kats scored five runs on six hits in the bottom of the fifth. Onnikka Lawrence and Demye Rensel both had doubles in the inning.
The Wildkats won their first-ever state A championship last season and will look to do it again this year in Billings starting Thursday at 3 p.m.