'Kats complete sweep over Loggers
By CARL HENNELL
The Daily Inter Lake
COLUMBIA FALLS - The Columbia Falls High School softball team is running on all cylinders.
Suppose a 45-0 victory last week says enough, but the Wildkats' 6-1 victory Tuesday evening over Western A rival Libby says more.
Pitchers Jeni Johnson and Drew Walter combined to pitch a four-hitter. The Wildkats completed three double plays and stole four bases. And the 'Kats worked all-state pitcher Brooke Hageness for seven hits and five walks.
It resulted in a regular-season sweep over Libby and catapulted the Wildkats over the Loggers in the Western A standings into second place. The 'Kats improved to 4-2 on the season while Libby dropped to 7-3.
"We've never beat Libby twice before," Johnson said. "We are for real. We're here and we are coming strong."
Sophomore catcher Amber James started a three-run first inning with an RBI single and the Wildkats never looked back. They scored three unearned runs and then sophomore center fielder Amanda Milliard capped the game's scoring with a two-run double in the sixth inning.
James and Milliard each went 2-for-3.
"We just hit good pitches," Columbia Falls coach Dave Kehr said. "We looked at good pitches and had a couple of walks mixed in there. That's what we've been talking about all year: Hit good pitches."
On the flip side, Johnson struck out two Loggers in each of the first three innings to keep the early momentum with C-Falls.
"I liked my fastball today," said Johnson, who improved to 3-2. "I usually throw it on the outside of the plate to try and get strikeouts but I was throwing it on the inside of the plate today.
"I felt really calm. Usually I'm pretty nervous when I pitch against Libby because they are such good hitters. But not today. It was exciting."
Libby catcher Shelby Barton broke up Johnson's no-hit bid in the fourth inning with one out. The Loggers ended up getting two hits off her in each of the fourth and fifth innings to start rallies, but the Wildkats had double plays in each of the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to quash them.
"Three double plays? That's unheard of," Kehr said. "That was a great game with a lot of great plays."
Walter, a freshman, relieved Johnson with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning. She ended up pitching to seven batters and getting eight outs to finish the game.
But it wasn't as easy as it sounds.
With the score 4-1 and Libby threatening with the bases loaded, C-Falls all-state third baseman Vanesha Riley made the play of the game against Walter's first batter, Barton. Barton smashed a line drive down the third-base line. But Riley lunged and made the catch. Then she calmly stepped on her bag to end the threat.
"That double play by Vanesha was huge," Kehr said. "Bases loaded and one down? If that thing goes through, they score two maybe three and it would have been a completely different game."
An inning later, the Loggers got their first batter on base but James, the catcher, made a somersault catch going up the first base line to hold onto a pop-foul bunt and then threw out the runner, who was already heading into third base from first base.
"We just didn't get the breaks … We didn't make any breaks," Libby coach Dean Thompson said. "We had some good, hard shots - that nice shot down the third-base line, if that goes through it's a game changer. Then their catcher makes an outstanding catch."
The Loggers' next five games are tough ones: Hamilton, Corvallis, Frenchtown and Polson at this weekend's Frenchtown Tournament and then Class AA Flathead at home on May 3.
"Columbia Falls is playing well," Thompson said. "They are young just like us. We don't have a senior on the team. We are trying to get our girls experience and we are getting better and better. We've got a little ways to go with this team but we are looking to win the state championship every year. We are going to get better and better. We are only halfway through the season."
The Wildkats travel to Polson before the Frenchtown tourney, where two of their opponents will be Corvallis and Missoula Loyola.
"We've got three games that are still going to test us this week," Kehr said.
Libby 000 010 0 - 1 4 2
C. Falls 300 102 x - 6 7 4
Brooke Hageness and Shelby Barton. Jenni Johnson, Drew Walter and Amanda James. W - Johnson (3-2). L - Hageness (4-3).
LIBBY (7-3, 7-3) - Hageness 0-4, Nickole Lapka 0-4, McKenzie Grotjohn 0-3, Laice Dedrick 1-3, Megan Wedel 1-3, Sami Freebury 0-2, Barton 1-3, Christina Shilling 0-1, Holly Cirian 1-3.
COLUMBIA FALLS (4-2, 4-2) - Amanda Milliard 2-3, Amanda Richards 1-3, Vanesha Riley 0-3, James 2-3, Walter 0-3, Kayla Stinger 1-2, Brittany White 0-3, Lindsey Nelson 1-3, Cedar Smith 0-1.
RBIs - Lib. 0, CF 6 (Milliard 2, James, Walter, Stinger, Smith). 2B - Lib. 0, CF 1 (Milliard). SB - Lib. 0, CF 4 (James, Walter, Stinger, Smith). SAC - Lib. 0, CF 1 (Riley).