Polson wins state softball championship

FRENCHTOWN — Heidi Rausch had a two-run home run, Jessica Bagnell had a two-run double and Polson made the most of three Belgrade errors as the Pirates downed the Panthers 8-3 on Monday in the Class A state championship softball game.

It’s the third straight championship for the Pirates — and their seventh since 2001.

“We’ve not three-peated before. This is fantastic. This shows the success of our program. It just keeps going right along,” said Pirate coach Larry Smith.

The Pirates had a big of a wobbly start as Belgrade had two hits and scored two runs in the first inning.

Smith admitted he was a little concerned when Polson’s leadoff batter got put out to start the Pirate half of the first.

“(Belgrade) is a good team. But Riley Kenney put me at rest right away,” he smiled.

Tournament MVP Kenney stepped up with a single and was aboard when Rausch hit her line drive to straightaway center field.

“She hit it hard and we tied it up. I thought, ‘we’re in good shape,’”Smith said.

From there, pitcher “(Shalaina Duford) settled down and kept the ball down where we wanted her to. She pitched a very good game,” the coach said.

She gave up just four hits the rest of the way.

Interestingly, neither team had a strikeout.

“Both pitchers had very good control. We had to earn everything. They made us earn everything,” Smith said.

A tense, exciting game loosened up considerably in the sixth inning.

It all started with Makaliah Wilson’s leadoff walk. She scored on Ashley Johnson’s single.

At that point, the floodgates opened. The Pirates batted around, plus one in that inning. They scored six runs on five hits — including the two-run double by Bagnell — in that inning.

They finished the day with 11 hits.

“We played what I call Lady Pirate softball. Aggressive baserunning. That’s where our reputation has been for the past few years. We are very aggressive, we force (opponents) to throw the ball around, make mistakes — and we benefit from that.We want them to try to throw us out and throw the ball around,” he said.

“We got (Belgrade) throwing the ball around.”

Belgrade came back in the seventh, loading the bases and scoring one final run, but Polson got the final out on a ground ball to shortstop.

Having the championship in Frenchtown was a surprise Monday morning.

“We were on the bus getting ready to leave for Anaconda,” Smith said. They got a phone call to hold on — it was raining hard there.

Polson athletic director Scott Wilson started making phone calls — and the coach of the Frenchtown Broncs said he could have his field ready in an hour.

“We could have had our fields ready, too, but the MHSA wanted a neutral site,” Smith said.

“Frenchtown worked out perfect and we owe them a big thank you,” he added.

Smith also complimented Riley Kenney on her efforts for the weekend.

“She had a great tournament, very big key hits for us, RBIs, and sensational baserunning, too,” he said.

Belgrade 200 000 1 — 3 6 3

Polson 200 006 x — 8 11 2

Justine Taylor and Morgan Wandler. Shalaina Duford and Jaylin Kenney

Belgrade — Taylor 1-3, Kristina West 2-4, Wandler 1-4, Taylor Johnson 1-1, Taylor Hill 1-4, Annie Prickett 0-3, Allison Alstrom 0-3, Joey Severson 0-3, Autumn Rollins 0-2.

RBI — Johnson 1, T. Hill 2.

Polson — Ashley Johnson 1-3, Riley Kenney 2-4, Shalaina Duford 1-3, Heidi Rausch 2-2, Jessica Bagnell 2-4, Jaylin Kenney 2-4, Martina Marquardt 1-4, Makaliah Wilson 0-3, Sarah Rausch 0-2, Jaiden Toth 0-1.

HR — H. Rausch. 2B — Bagnell. RBI — Hausch 2, Bagnell 2, Ashley Johnson 1, Marquardt 1.