SOFTBALL: Crosstown twinbill set to close regular season
Today’s doubleheader between the Flathead and Glacier softball teams is the last scheduled meeting between the two teams before the state playoffs begin next week.
That doesn’t mean it’s the last time they’ll see each other.
The Wolfpack (9-2 Western AA, 14-5 overall) is staunchly in second place in the conference heading into today’s games at Kidsports Complex, and will likely have a home series against the last place team in the West in the Class AA play-ins.
Flathead (2-9, 4-12) currently sits in sixth place in the West, but with a win or a loss today could fluctuate between fifth and seventh, depending on other outcomes in the final weekend of play and tiebreakers with Missoula Hellgate and Sentinel.
If things fall right, the rival schools could play again for a spot in the Class AA state tournament, which will be played in Kalispell for the first time since 2012 on May 26-28.
That’s a future problem, however, as each has plenty to deal with in the present.
Glacier dropped its first game in five tries to the Bravettes the last time out, and could have its hands full with a team that seems to have found a groove in the second half of the season.
Flathead has won its last two games and six of its last 10, beginning with that 3-2 win over Glacier in the second half of the home doubleheader at Conrad Complex in late April. The Bravettes are scoring more than eight runs a game during the stretch and seem to have found some confidence.
The Wolfpack has also found some of the championship form it showed last season, with senior pitcher Ali Williams looking as unhittable as ever. In the 10 games since losing to Flathead, Williams has thrown two perfect games, four one-hitters, allowed just two earned runs and has struck out 115 batters to only six walks.
The team also seems to be responding, winning its last seven games and nine of 10 overall, while averaging six runs per game and giving up fewer than two.
The games begin at 3 p.m. today at Kidsports Complex, the second game scheduled to start at 5. Glacier leads the all-time series 26-4.