Glacier swept in AA debut

Wolfpack falls to Great Falls High and CMR in nonconference doubleheader

Glacier made it's Class AA softball debut Saturday with a nonconference doubleheader at Kidsports Complex, and the Wolfpack experienced the thrills and frustrations that likely will typify its inaugural season.

Glacier led Great Falls High late in its opener before the Bison rallied for a 9-5 victory.

The Wolfpack capped the day against defending state champion Great Falls C.M. Russell. The Rustlers routed the Wolfpack 18-2 in five innings, pounding out their frustrations after a season-opening loss to Flathead earlier Saturday.

Glacier (0-3) begins Western AA play on Thursday, visiting Missoula Sentinel and Missoula Big Sky.

Great Falls 9, Glacier 5

After falling behind 10-0 in the first inning of its season opener at Polson last week, Glacier jumped on the Bison early and came within four outs of its first win.

Third baseman Sabrina Kenfield's solid single drove in two runs in the first inning, giving the Wolfpack a 3-1 lead it would carry into the sixth.

Freshman Jesse Compton kept Glacier in control from the circle, racking up 12 strikeouts en route to a complete game. The Bison managed just five hits through five innings, but first baseman JoJo Lartch launched a two-run, opposite-field homer to right with two outs in the sixth, putting Great Falls ahead for good at 4-3.

"She's been awesome these couple games," Glacier coach Joel Bemis said of Compton. "That home run she gave up in the sixth - gosh, it was my fault.

"(Lartch) earlier crushed an outside pitch, and I called an outside pitch, and as soon as I called it, I looked over to (assistant coach Sarah Conner) and said, 'Uh oh.'

"I shouldn't have called it. She pounded that home run, and I look at Jesse and just said, 'That's mine.'

"She threw it right exactly where she was supposed to throw it, and that girl was on it. That's the pitch she likes to hit."

Lartch finished 4-for-5 with 5 RBIs, while right fielder Chea Hollis had a single and a double for Great Falls' only other multi-hit effort.

The Bison added five insurance runs in the seventh inning, keeping Glacier at bay despite its own late rally.

First base baseman Abby Connolly led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left, followed by Compton with a single to right. Connolly scored on a throwing error before catcher Brittany Franklin grounded out to score Compton. Second baseman Lindsey Hoffenbacker ripped a two-out pitch with a runner on third base, but Bison second baseman Brittany Kumm snared the shot to end the game.

"They showed a lot of poise," Bemis said of the Wolfpack. "They played a lot older than their years today, I think.

"It was good playing with the lead, and even when we got down, they came back. That last inning, a couple things go our way and we may even score another run or two and make it an even more competitive game."

Connolly led Glacier with two hits, followed by shortstop Brittney Brown, Franklin, right fielder Taylor Albright and Kenfield with one apiece.

Kenfield, Connolly and left fielder Kristen Storle made sensational defensive plays for Glacier, but the Wolfpack committed four errors, including three in the final four innings.

"One of our key components, our beliefs, is we have to play with discipline, and it takes a lot of discipline to finish games," Bemis said. "It'll come - we just keep preaching that at practice.

"If their effort's fine and their attitudes are good, they'll learn that discipline, and we'll start to do that."

Great Falls 100 003 5 - 9 10 4

Glacier 300 000 2 - 5 7 4

Kacia Taylor and Nicki Banach. Jesse Compton and Brittany Franklin. W - Taylor (1-0). L - Compton (0-2)

GREAT FALLS (1-0) - Marijka Francis 0-2, Brittany Kumm 0-4, Banach 1-4, JoJo Lartch 4-5, Erica Jenkins 0-3, Sarah Schermele 0-5, Chea Hollis 2-4, Beth Secord 1-3, Taylor 2-4.

GLACIER (0-2) - Brittney Brown 1-4, Franklin 1-4, Megan Connolly 0-4, Lindsey Hoffenbacker 0-4, Taylor Albright 1-3, Sabrina Kenfield 1-3, Kristen Storle 0-3, Abby Connolly 2-3, Compton 1-2.

RBIs - GF 8 (Lartch 5, Banach 2, Kumm), Gla. 3 (Kenfield 2, Franklin). HR - GF 1 (Lartch), GF 0. 2B - GF 2 (Lartch, Hollis), Gla. 1 (A. Connolly). SB - GF 3 (Francis 2, Taylor), Gla. 1 (Hoffenbacker). SAC - GF 0, Gla. 0.

CMR 18, Glaicer 2

The Rustlers blasted five home runs and four doubles, scoring at least four runs in each of the first four frames.

"They're the best hitting team in the state," Bemis said. "They had that reputation last year, and we knew it.

"Coming in, we just hoped we could weather the storm, and they just hit the ball. It was tough to play defense because you can't defend home runs."

Glacier answered CMR's four-run first inning with two runs of its own, but the Wolfpack couldn't keep pace with the Rustlers' staggering attack.

Catcher Maghan Yurek and center fielder Jill Zeren launch two big flies apiece, followed by shortstop Becca Frank with one. Yurek drove in five runs, followed by Frank and Zeren with three each. Yurek and Zeren hit back-to-back first-inning bombs, and eleven Rustlers combined for CMR's 15 hits.

CMR trailed Flathead 10-3 after six innings en route to a 10-7 loss in their noon showdown at Conrad Complex.

"I don't think we were ready to play in the first game," CMR coach Roger Spring said. "We were just disappointed, just flat.

"That's probably one of the worst games I've ever been around, personally, and the girls were not very happy with it."

Brown got Glacier's first-inning offense rolling with a clean single up the middle. She scored on a double to left by center fielder Megan Connolly, and Connolly reached home on Hoffenbacker's single to right-center.

The Wolfpack tallied four hits in the first inning, but just one the rest of the way against CMR pitchers Kira Bigler and Brittany Allen.

Megan Connolly singled in the third inning for Glacier's lone two-hit game. Franklin also singled, and the Wolfpack made consistent contact at the plate, finishing with just five strikeouts.

"I think if we're consistent at the plate, we will give ourselves a chance to compete, and that's what we talk to the girls about all the time at practice," Bemis said.

"We just want to learn how to compete, and if we're hitting the ball, we can be competitive with a lot of teams in our league, I think. So, that was really positive."

CMR 454 50 - 18 15 1

Glacier 200 00 - 2 5 3

Zoey Pettit, Jesse Compton (3) and Lindsey Hoffenbacker. Kira Bigler, Brittany Allen (5) and Meghan Yurek. W - Bigler (1-0). L - Pettit (0-1).

CMR (1-1) - Haylee Miller 2-3, Kelsey Lowry 1-3, Ashley Keeler 1-1, Becca Frank 2-4, Yurek 2-4, Jill Zeren 2-3, Brittney Robbins 1-3, Ramick Ramsey 1-3, Bigler 1-3, Allen 1-1, Dani Della Rossa 1-2, Tara Slaughter 0-1.

GLACIER (0-3) - Brittney Brown 1-3, Pettit 0-3, Megan Connolly 2-3, Hoffenbacker 1-2, Brittany Franklin 1-2, Taylor Albright 0-2, Sabrina Kenfield 0-1, Kristen Storle 0-1, Compton 0-1, Abby Connolly 0-2.

RBIs - CMR 16 (Yurek 5, Frank 3, Zeren 3, Lowry 2, Ramsey 2, Miller), Gla. 2 (M. Connolly, Hoffenbacker). HR - CMR 5 (Yurek 2, Zeren 2, Frank), Gla. 0. 2B - CMR 4 (Ramsey, Miller, Bigler, Allen), Gla. 1 (M. Connolly). SB - CMR 2 (Frank, Della Rossa), Gla. 1 (Brown). SAC - CMR 1 (Ramsey), Gla. 0.