Weather shuffles schedule at state softball tournaments
<p><strong>Carson Gulick,</strong> 9, takes shelter from the hail underneath a bench while watching Glacier High School at the Montana Class AA Softball Championships at the Conrad Complex on Thursday afternoon. The game had to be postponed. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
The first day of play Thursday in the Class AA and Class B-C state softball tournaments was abruptly interrupted by spring weather.
Midway through afternoon play in games involving Glacier in Class AA and Ronan in Class B-C at the Conrad Complex in Kalispell, a downpour of rain and hail stopped the games.
Glacier led Billings West 1-0 in the bottom of the third inning when play was halted. The Wolfpack scored its only run on an Anna Schrade solo home run.
Ronan, meanwhile, led its first round Class B-C game, 3-2 over Huntley Project in the bottom of the second inning. The Maidens scored three first inning runs on just two hits to take the lead.
Thursday's opening games, originally slated to begin at 2 p.m., were pushed back almost an hour before first pitches were thrown. After approximately 30 minutes of sunshine, the skies opened again forcing the postponements. Those in-progress games will be resumed Thursday at 6 p.m. at Kidsports Complex, weather permitting.
The entire remainder of the state Class AA and B-C softball tournaments has been moved to Kidsports.
Games scheduled to be played Thursday at 4 p.m. have already been rescheduled for Friday at 8 a.m. The remainder of the tournament schedule has thus far not been impacted.