Bravettes suffer defeats

The positives continue to outweigh the negatives and that’s what pleases Flathead softball coach Tim Severson the most right now.

Flathead saw its record slip to 0-8 in Western AA and 1-10 overall on a damp and dreary Thursday at Kidsports Complex with a 14-2 loss to Missoula Sentinel and a 7-2 setback at the hands of Missoula Big Sky. But three home runs on the day and some outstanding defensive plays by the Bravettes’ right fielder in the finale had the coach smiling and looking forward to his team’s next games.

“I was real pleased,” he said.

“In the last two years, we’ve only had one home run. Today we had two at the varsity level and one at the JV level.

“And Taylor Twitchel had two spectacular plays, running balls down in the gap,” he said.

The negatives — defensive lapses. They continue to plague Flathead at inopportune times.

“Once again, we are not taking care of the defense in some areas,” he said.

Flathead had three errors in the Sentinel outing and five versus Big Sky.

Sentinel put the game away early, scoring nine runs in the first inning. Jamie Jo Kallis had the big blow, a two-out grand slam.

Kallis went 4-for-4 and drove in five runs.

Alisha Lingle homered for Flathead in that contest, a solo blast over the left field fence to lead off the fourth inning. It was the first Bravette hit of the game.

“I didn’t swing very hard at all,” she said of her first career round-tripper.

“I hit the sweet spot and it went out.”

When did she know her blast had cleared the fence?

“When I got to second base,” she said.

Lingle’s hit gave the Bravettes some spark.

Ariel Samuels-Williams singled later in the inning, Casey Roylston doubled to the warning track in left, which drove in a run in the fifth. Christyne Hanson and Jessie Erickson singled in the sixth.

“Once a person gets a hit, it’s usually contagious,” Lingle said.

“Then everyone start hitting, everyone starts lighting it up. Even if you are down by a lot.”

Lingle said a disappointing loss to Big Sky to start the day carried over to the Sentinel outing.

“We were down from the first game,” she said.

“It took us a few inning to get use to her (Sentinel pitcher Lexi Miller).”

Lingle said it was disheartening to fall behind Sentinel 11-0 after two innings.

“You can’t do anything but smile,” she said.

“You just have to go out and have fun.”

The score could have been more onesided, but the Bravettes battled and stayed focused.

Pitcher Sidney Alberts fanned two straight batters to end the third inning after Sentinel loaded the bases with one out.

Sentinel had runners at second and third in the fifth inning with one out, but Alberts got out of that jam with a strikeout and an pop foul pulled in by catcher Alexa Mrgich.

Sentinel did close with three runs in the sixth to end the game on the 10-run rule. Amber Amaya slammed a home run for the Spartans in that inning.

 Against Big Sky, the Eagles scored five runs in the final four innings to pull away. Big Sky pushed three runs across the plate in the fifth.

Mrgich homered for Flathead in that contest, but was called out when she passed a runner doubling back to retouch a base.

Flathead’s other homerun was turned in by Meghan Bourassa in JV play.

“We also had people hit a couple doubles today,” Severson said.

“Our power is starting to come around. It was nice to see a little bit of a spark.

“We’re definitely seeing some positive things,” he continued.

“It would be nice if we could put it together and win some games.”

That could happen on Saturday with a trip to Helena to face Helena High and Helena Capital.

NOTE: Flathead was scheduled to play Sentinel twice on Thursday, the second game being a nonconference contest. But weather and a late start canceled that one.

Missoula Sentinel 14, Flathead 2

Missoula Sentinel    920    003    —    14    15    0

Flathead    000    110    —    2    5    3

Lexi Miller and Riley Cullip; Sidney Alberts and Alexa Mrgich. W — Miller. L — Alberts.

MISSOULA SENTINEL — Ramsie Burnington 2-5, Jamie Jo Kallis 4-4, Katie Focher 2-4, Riley Cullip 1-2, Nikki Anderson 2-4, Miller 2-4, Mandy Jackson 0-1, Whitney Rauckhorst 0-1, Amber Amaya 1-4, Katie Kostelecky 0-3, Kaitlin Hintz 1-1.

FLATHEAD — Kassi Martin 0-2, Casey Roylston 1-3, Alisha Lingle 1-3, Mrgich 0-3, Christyne Hanson 1-3, Cherise Stivers 0-2, Ariel Samuels-Williams 1-2, Jessie Erickson 1-2, Taylor Twitchel 0-2.

2B—Kallis; Roylston; HRs—Kallis, Amaya; Lingle; RBIs—Burnington, Kallis (5), Miller (2), Amaya; Roylston, Lingle.

—————

Missoula Big Sky 7, Flathead 2

Big Sky    020    130    1    —    7    8    5

Flathead    010    100    0    —    2    5    5

Katelyn Kropp and Kelsey LaVaute and Sidney Alberts and Alexa Mrgich. W — Kropp. L — Alberts.

MISSOULA BIG SKY — Kropp 1-5, Baylie Frost 0-5, Kirsten Wagener 1-4, LaVaute 0-4, Jesse Schafer 3-4, Rachel White 2-2, Kelsey Lucostic 1-1, Kayla Weishaar 0-2, Shannon O’Reilly 0-2.

FLATHEAD — Kassi Martin 1-3, Casey Roylston 1-3, Alisha Lingle 0-3, Karlee Stacy 0-3, Christyne Hanson 1-3, Alberts 0-3, Mrgich 1-2; Jessie Erickson 0-3, Cherise Stivers 1-3.

2B—White, Lucostic; Roylston, Stivers;RBIs—Kropp, Lucostic; Mrgich, Stivers.