Whitefish passes test in softball win

WHITEFISH — Plenty of teaching moments.

That’s how the Whitefish Lady Bulldog softball team approached Friday’s game with the Browning Indians.

The Bulldogs (3-2) threw several of their freshman into the varsity fray against nonconference foe Browning.

They picked up an 11-0 victory. The game ended in the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule.

“I used this game to get all my freshmen in and we saw some things, freshmen first-game starters and nerves some of that stuff,” said Whitefish coach Alan Compton.

“You can do things in practice 100 times a day, but until that anxiety of the game is there, it’s not the same.

“(Browning had a) slow pitcher ... which is good. It took them a couple innings to learn to adjust,” he said.

They figured things out nicely — 10 hits, including three doubles — by 10 different batters. Hailey Mortensen, Madisen Cross and Shannon Holmes had the doubles. Hannah Lewis and Jayde Eason had two RBI each.

Defensively, junior Emma Baldonado got compliments from her coach on her pitching performance.

She gave up just two hits, struck out 11 and had no walks.

“Emma did a great job pitching. She hit her spots well — and we’re going to need her down the stretch,” Compton said.

“It’s really easy to play down to the level of your competition. We did a good job of not doing that,” Compton said.

“It took a couple innings to get the speed of the pitcher. But once we got it, we took care of business,” he said.

“Mentally, we had a good game. That’s our focus right now. This is a good game to take into Libby (today).”

Whitefish left the bases loaded in the first inning, but scored four runs on three hits and two Browning errors in the second inning.

The Bulldogs added two more runs in the third, then really broke out the bats in the fourth — five runs on four hits.

“We hit really well that inning,” said Whitefish senior catcher Hailey Mortensen.

“Their pitcher was on. We were getting pitches in the strike zone and we were being aggressive.”

Mortensen’s day was done by then — she hit a double in the third inning and was relaxing in the dugout by the fourth.

“We were expecting a win. We do pretty good against Browning usually,” she said.

Browning    000     00    —    0    2    3

Whitefish    042    5x    —    11    10    2

Ashton Smith and Sarah Horn. Emma Baldonado and Hailey Mortensen, Madisen Cross (4). W — Baldonado (2-0). L — Smith.

Browning — Ashton Smith 0-2, Taylee Kimerly 0-2, Danielle Madden 1-2, Sarah Horn 1-2, Janilee RunningFisher 0-2, Shanaya Michel 0-2, Dusti Boyce 0-2, Kelly Kipp 0-1, Britney Wolftain 0-1, Mariah Arrowtop 0-1, Brianna Smith 0-1.

Whitefish — Kaitlyn Wehrli 1-1, Hannah Lewis 1-2, Madison Tveidt 1-2, Sara Fennelly 0-0, Hailey Mortensen 1-1, Madisen Cross 1-2, Baylee Tveidt 1-3, Shannon Holmes 1-3, Jayde Eason 1-3, Emily Stiver 1-2, Emma Baldonado 1-2.

2B — Mortensen, Cross, Holmes.

RBI — Lewis 2, M. Tveidt 1, Holmes 1, Eason 2.