Bravettes battle hard, but fall short

Let's put it this way … nobody left.

The Flathead Bravettes gave Western AA-leading Hellgate about all it could handle Saturday afternoon at the Conrad Complex.

Hellgate prevailed in the end, 4-0 and 10-7, but not before the upstart Bravettes made themselves known.

"I thought we definitely turned the corner today. Hellgate being the No. 1 team in the West, I was really proud of the way we played today. We made a lot of strides," said Flathead coach Tim Severson.

The first game was a pitcher's dual for the first several innings.

"We stayed with them toe for toe," Severson said.

Hellgate pitcher DJ Johnson struck out 11 batters. Not to be outdone, Flathead senior Meagan Hash struck out 12 Knights.

"Meagan Hash sure pitched well. She was really on her game, hitting her spots. I thought she had a real dominating performance," Severson said.

"DJ being one of the best pitchers in the state, and (Hash) matched punches with her all game," he said.

A Flathead error in the fourth inning and a couple of timely hits in the fifth gave Hellgate just enough separation in that game.

Offensively, the Bravettes just weren't able to get much going against Johnson. They had just two hits - by Alisha Lingle and Kassi Martin.

The second game was a back-and-forth affair.

The teams traded the lead throughout - Hellgate led 5-4 midway through the sixth, but Flathead bounced back to tie the game going into the seventh.

And then the wheels momentarily came off for the Bravettes.

Senior Larissa Adamson sent a 1-1 pitch over the fence in center field.

"That girl hit a nice ball," Severson said.

Suddenly, every Knight batter seemed to connect. By the time it was over, Hellgate had a 10-5 advantage.

But Flathead still didn't back down.

With two outs and Christyne Hanson aboard, junior Emily Jones connected to right field for an inside-the-park home run.

Hanson scampered home easily and Jones wasn't far behind.

"We had a couple bright spots. Emily Jones hit that one and then Megan Olszewski was 2-for-4.

"It was just good to get out there and compete," the coach said.

"We finally cleaned up our defense quite a bit. I thought we really competed today. I was really pleased with our performance. We've been climbing that hill all year and we are finally where we need to be. I'm looking forward to starting the second half of the conference schedule," he said.

Hellgate 000 120 1 - 4 3 0

Flathead 000 000 0 - 0 2 4

DJ Johnson and Jessa Ouellette. Meagan Hash and Megan Olszewski. W - Johnson. L - Hash.

Hellgate -Bonni Shaffer 0-3, Jordan Nelson 1-3, Mary Yoder 0-3, Danni Johnston 0-4, Ouellette 0-3, DJ Johnson 0-3, Kaitlyn Horner 0-3, Sarah Hendricks 1-2, Beth McNeil 1-3.

Flathead - Meagan Hash 0-2, Megan Olszewski 0-2, Alisha Lingle 1-3, Kendra Bennett 0-3, Kassi Martin 1-3, Christyne Hanson 0-2, Emily Jones 0-2, Brenna Palmer 0-2, Cherise Stivers 0-2.

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Hellgate 021 002 5 - 10 10 1

Flathead 210 101 2 - 7 7 3

Leyna Downey and Bonni Shaffer; Alisha Lingle and Megan Olszewski. W - Downey. L - Lingle

Hellgate - Shaffer 1-3, Nelson 2-5, Yoder 0-4, Leyna Downey 1-3, Johnston 2-4, Larissa Adamson 1-1, Lynea Adamson 0-3, Cara Gudarian 1-3, Lacey Zinke 1-3, Jessa Ouellette 1-1.

HR - Larissa Adamson

3B - Shaffer.

RBIs - Larissa Adamson 1, Lynea Adamson 1, Johnston 1, Nelson 1, Oeullette 1.

Flathead - Hash 1-3, Olszewski 2-4, Lingle 0-3, Bennett 0-2, Martin 1-4, Casey Roylston 1-4, Hanson 1-2, Stacy 0-2, Jones 1-2, Palmer 0-1.

HR - Jones.

RBIs - Olszewski 3, Martin 1, Jones 2.