Bravettes lose grip on top

Drop Western AA game to Big Sky, but split doubleheader

Ouch.

The Flathead High School softball team let Western AA's No. 1 seed slip out of reach Thursday afternoon on Senior Day by losing to Missoula Big Sky, 10-2, at the Conrad Complex.

The Bravettes made good on the doubleheader, though, by scoring 14 runs in the fifth inning of the second game for a mercy-rule shortened 14-4 non-conference victory. It was their regular-season finale.

"Our team does crazy stuff like that (14-run inning)," said senior right fielder Leslie Quay, who highlighted the inning with a grand slam. "We, as a team, stick together real well. We just have to keep our heads up no matter what happens and if we get that first loss we know that there will be a brand new game, brand new pitch, brand new inning waiting for us and we've got to do what needs to be done."

The split puts the Bravettes at 9-3 in the Western AA and 14-5 overall. Although nothing is official, the Bravettes will probably drop to the conference's No. 3 seed and host a playoff game against the winner of the Nos. 6 versus 7 playoff - which will probably be Missoula Sentinel against Missoula Hellgate. Both Helena Capital and Butte have two conference losses and both have conference games left in the regular season.

The Eagles are now 6-7 in conference and 8-9 overall.

Big Sky 10, Flathead 2

Trailing 1-0, Big Sky led off the fourth inning with four straight hits and mixed two more hits, a walk and two Flathead errors together to bat around the order and score seven runs.

Sophomore Shelby Quamme hit her first varsity home run as the third batter of the inning to supply the eventual game-winning RBIs. Junior Briggett Plenger capped the inning with a three-run homer. It was her third of the season.

"We brought (Quamme) up from junior varsity today for a designated hitter," Big Sky coach Dennis Staves said.

"We're trying to use the flex more and get a few more bats in the lineup and she made us look pretty smart today."

Flathead pitcher Brianna Compton said the umpire wasn't calling strikes on the corners of the plate so she had to pitch everything down the middle. She had just two strikeouts with three walks in absorbing her third loss of the season.

The Eagles had six of their 10 hits in that inning.

The Bravettes' defense didn't supply much help in the following inning. They committed three errors in the fifth inning alone to allow two more Big Sky runs. The Eagles plated another unearned run in the sixth.

"We just didn't have it together," Quay said. "We had a lot of errors and everybody's heads were down and we couldn't come back. There were a lot of emotions running because it was our Senior Day and we started off not in a very good spot."

All told, Flathead committed five errors and combined for five passed balls and wild pitches.

Christy Selway earned the victory for Big Sky. She allowed eight hits and one walk while striking out nine.

"We just didn't hit the ball," Flathead coach Dale Beerman said. "Maybe there was too much hype with Senior Day along with the big game."

Big Sky 000 721 0 - 10 10 1

Flathead 010 000 1 - 2 8 5

Christy Selway and Sarah Horst. Brianna Compton and Alanna Handford. W - Selway (8-8). L - Compton (9-3).

BIG SKY (6-7, 8-8) - Ashley O'Reilly 2-3, Shelby Zentner 1-4, Briggett Plenger 1-2, Horst 2-4, Sarah Lustgraaf 2-4, Selway 2-4, Shelby Quamme 1-2, Kaila Wagener 0-2, Murray Taylor 1-1, Katelyn Kropp 0-3.

FLATHEAD (9-3 ,13-5) - Heather Haegele 2-4, Kalin Lingle 0-3, Compton 0-3, Lindsay Ingram 0-3, Christina Zorn 2-3, Hannah Vanek 2-3, Leslie Quay 0-1, Courtney Sverdrup 2-3, Handford 0-3.

RBIs - BS 8 (Plenger 3, Quamme 2, Zentner, O'Reilly, Selway), Flt. 2 (Sverdrup, Haegele). HR - BS 2 (Quamme, Plenger), Flt. 0. 3B - BS 0, Flt. 1 (Sverdrup). 2B - BS 1 (O'Reilly), Flt. 0. SB - BS 1 (O'Reilly), Flt. 3 (Lingle, Compton, Vanek). SAC - BS 4 (Quamme 2, Zentner, Kropp), Flt. 1 (Lingle).

Flathead 14,

Big Sky 4 (5)

It was looking like Big Sky was going to sweep Flathead until the final at bats.

Trailing 4-0 with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bravettes' offense came to life in a big way. They strung four doubles, a triple and a home run together with eight singles and a walk to score 14 runs in a span of one out.

"I told them in the huddle that a lady named Aretha Franklin sung a song called R.E.S.P.E.C.T. … And we got that back," Beerman said.

The Bravettes were one batter away from batting through the order twice when Lindsay Ingram hit a walk-off RBI single.

Sophomore shortstop Catie Costa had two run-scoring doubles in the inning. She finished with three RBIs. Compton also had three RBIs in the inning with a double and single. Kalin Lingle had a two-run single. Julie Graham had an RBI triple. But it was Quay who stole the show. She led off the inning with a double and then crushed an opposite field grand slam with her second at bat.

"I'd been in a really bad, bad slump - I was either striking out or blooping up," she said. "But I was really relaxed when I went up to the plate. I went to Tilt (Beerman) and he said all I needed was a base hit to score some runs. The pitch, I didn't think anything, I just hit it and once I saw it, I knew it was gone. But it actually took me getting to home plate before I realized the bases were loaded."

Quay broke out of her slump with a 3-for-3 performance. Costa, Graham, Heather Haegele, Lingle and Compton each had two hits in the game.

The Bravettes scored so many runs so quick that the scoreboard operators couldn't keep up.

"I've never seen anybody score 14 runs in an inning, ever," Staves said.

"I've never seen that," Beerman said.

All the runs made a winner of Sverdrup in the circle. She allowed seven hits and a walk over five innings while striking out three in improving to 4-2 on the season.

Big Sky 004 00 - 4 7 0

Flathead 000 0(14) - 14 16 0

Selway and Horst. Sverdrup and Handford. W - Sverdrup (4-2). L - Selway (8-9).

BIG SKY (8-9) - O'Reilly 0-3, Zentner 1-2, Plenger 2-3, Horst 3-3, Lustgraaf 1-3, Selway 0-2, Quamme 0-2, Ember Hanson 0-2, Taylor 0-2.

FLATHEAD (14-5) - Haegele 2-4, Lingle 2-4, Compton 2-4, Vanek 1-2, Ingram 1-2, Zorn 1-3, Quay 3-3, Sverdrup 0-2, Julie Graham 2-3, Catie Costa 2-3.

RBIs - BS 4 (Lustgraaf 3, Plenger), Flt. 14 (Quay 4, Costa 3, Compton 3, Lingle 2, Graham, Ingram). HR - BS 1 (Lustgraaf), Flt. 1 (Quay). 3B - BS 0, Flt. 1 (Graham). 2B - BS 0, Flt. 4 (Costa 2, Quay, Compton). SB - BS 0, Flt. 1 (Graham). SAC - none.