Big inning sparks Glacier’s crosstown win

Take away that crooked number and the last crosstown softball game of the season might still be going.

As it was — as it often has been — Flathead was victimized by a big inning in a 10-5 loss to Glacier on the Wolfpack’s home diamond Thursday.

A 5-run third inning did most of the damage, with the Pack sending 10 players to the plate against pitcher Karissa Comer and six of them delivering hits.

The biggest was an opposite-field double by Glacier catcher Halle Schroeder, driving in Kenna Vanorny, who’d singled, and Kynzie Mohl, who’d walked.

By the end, after Emma Cooke’s RBI single, it was 7-2 and Glacier had enough runs to keep a stubborn Flathead squad at bay. The Bravettes may have dropped to 5-14 overall and 4-10 in the Western AA, but it was a tough-as-ever matchup.

“Yet it is, because we’re playing people we know,” said Schroeder, whose club is now 17-2, 10-2 in league. “It’s always a little more competition because you want to do well against them.”

Schroeder did well; so did Vanorny, who went 4-for-4 and scored three times. Mohl, who went the distance on the mound, helped Glacier draw even after giving up two runs in the first by doubling in Vanorny, then scoring on a wild pitch.

But Schroeder had the most magic.

“I’m a right-side hitter, pretty much,” the senior said. “ Almost every time. I barely hit to this (left) side. It’s always surprising when I do.”

In the sixth, after Flathead closed to 9-3, she hit one foul to right field before sending a line drive through the middle — an RBI single to score Kenadie Goudette, who’d doubled.

“She is super disciplined as a batter and if she’s not getting the pitches she can really drive, she doesn’t go for them,” Glacier coach Abby Connolly said. “ A lot of times she’ll take that pitch to right field, which is what we needed at a couple key moments today. And she did a good job behind the plate today, too.”

Flathead struck for two runs in the seventh, with Alyssa Poe-Hatten, Macy Craver and Laynee Vesser hitting singles with one out.

Craver, Flathead’s center fielder, scored on a wild pitch. Craver also did her part to keep Flathead in the game in the fourth, first flying over to snare a Mohl shot to right-center, and then tracking down Goudette’s drive up the gap in left. Glacier settled for two runs and a 9-2 lead.

Flathead has some players.

“She’s as good as anybody I’ve seen, defensively,” Foster said of Craver. “She makes everything look so easy. She’s really smooth.”

Foster hoped this year’s progress would happen a year ago, when nobody was able to play softball because of the pandemic. The Bravettes, missing that year of seasoning, had a lopsided doubleheader loss at the hands of Butte on Tuesday.

“We played much better,” Foster said after Flathead’s 18th straight loss in this series. “And you know Karissa pitched really well. Just that one inning — the third — they never really hit the ball hard, they just put them in the right places. They’re a good team. They hit the ball well. But I thought she did a great job.”

Comer also hit an RBI double off the wall in the sixth.

Mohl was the winner, scattering five hits, a walk and three hit batters. Only two of her five runs allowed were earned. She struck out four.

“She’s really worked on her offspeed and she’s really worked on moving the ball in the rise and drop areas,” Connolly said. “Which keeps batters on their toes and makes her much more effective.”

Flathead will have the No. 6 seed into next week’s Western AA Divisional tournament in Helena, and will likely play Helena Capital in the first round.

Glacier has the same number of losses as Missoula Sentinel but owns the tie-breaker. If the Wolfpack can sweep Butte Friday — a double header with the visiting Bulldogs begins at 2 p.m. — they’ll have the No. 1 seed. Butte is 6-6 in league, 7-11 overall.

“It all depends on tomorrow,” Connolly said.

Flathead 200 001 2 - 5 5 3

Glacier 205 201 x - 10 14 5

Karissa Comer and Laynee Vesser. Kynzie Mohl and Halle Schroeder.

FLATHEAD — Macy Craver 1-3, Vesser 1-4, Alyssa Cadwalader 0-3, Ilyssa Centner 1-3, Brianna Morales 0-4, Comer 1-3, Kaidyn Lake 1-3, Kyrah Farrington 0-2, Eve 0-1, Alyssa Poe-Hatten 0-2.

GLACIER — Kenna Vanorny 4-4, Mohl 1-3, Sammie Labrum 1-3, Kenadie Goudette 2-4, Ella Farrell 1-4, Schroeder 2-4, Emma Cooke 1-4, Teagan Powell 1-2, Brooklyn Imperato 0-1, Alli Kernan 1-2, Avalon Viau 0-0, Avery Anderson 0-0.

2B — Comer, Farrell, Schroeder, Goudette, Mohl. 3B — Vanorny. RBI — VVesser, Centner, Comer, Schoreder 3, Mohl, Labrum, Goudette, Farrell, Cooke.