Whitefish wins Cat-Dog baseball game

WHITEFISH — Whitefish used a combination of small-ball offensively and strong pitching on the mound to take home an 8-0 victory over Columbia Falls at Memorial Field on Friday.

Whitefish starter Ty Schwaiger pitched five scoreless innings while striking out 12 and Jacob Polumbus fired two shutout innings to close things out for the Bulldogs.

“Ty and Jacob just shoved it on the mound, it was a whole lot of fun,” Whitefish coach Kyler Blades said.

Mack McLaughlin set the tone early for the Bulldogs with a leadoff single to right field. McLaughlin stole second and third then came around to score when Columbia Falls catcher Dayne Tu tried to throw out a stealing Schwaiger which allowed McLaughlin to burst home and slide safely under the tag to make things 1-0.

“Mack Mclaughlin got us going, got us charged up as our lead off hitter,” Blades said.

The Bulldogs tacked on another run in the third of Columbia Falls starter Reggie Sapa walked the bases loaded and Schwaiger helped his own cause with a sacrifice fly to left field.

At this point Schwaiger was in a groove on the mound and after a 1-2-3 fourth inning the Bulldogs offense came alive with a four-run-inning.

Clayton Godsey walked to lead things off and after stealing second he advanced to third on a passed ball. Godsey would come around to score when Jacob Polumbus roped a double to left field to make things 3-0. McLaughlin then hit a ground ball back to the pitcher for the second out of the inning but it drove in Josiah Ruther who reached base on a walk to make it 4-0.

Jake McIntyre followed that up with an RBI double to center when a sky-high pop-fly found the outfield grass in shallow center. Schwaiger then walked with the bases loaded to make things 6-0.

“Our hitting is just at the tip of the iceberg, we need to come around and get some more hits overall but we’re happy with this win for sure,” Blades said.

The Wildcats rallied in the top of the fifth with a leadoff single by Trey Rice and a one out walk by Dominick Young but Schwaiger struck out the next two batters he faced to get out of the potential jam.

Whitefish did the rest of their damage offensively in the bottom of the sixth, adding two more runs after Maddox Muller singled with one out and Wildcats reliever Kellen Kroger put three straight Bulldogs batters on base via hit by pitch.

The first ever Cat-Dog baseball game took place after a tribute and moment of silence for the late Columbia Falls baseball coach Bill Sapa who unexpectedly passed away last week. Blades praised Columbia Falls for their willingness to compete during a challenging time.

“Shoutout to Columbia Falls, Reggie Sapa starting on the mound, he threw really well,” said Blades. “It was cool to see them playing this great game cause that’s what Billy would have wanted. He would have wanted us to be playing, so we appreciate them and best of luck to them the rest of the season.”

Columbia Falls 000 000 0 – 0

Whitefish 101 402 X – 8

Reggie Sapa and Dayne Tu. Ty Schwaiger and Fynn Ridgeway.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Sapa 0-3, Kellen Kroger 0-2, Cody Schweikert 1-3. Dayne Tu 0-2, Alihn Anderson 0-3, Treysen Murphy 0-3, Trey Rice 1-2, Mark Robison 0-3, Dominick Young 0-2.

WHITEFISH —Mack McLaughlin 1-4, Maddox Muller 1-2, Jake McIntyre 1-2, Schwaiger 0-0, Fynn Ridgeway 0-3, Clayton Godsey 0-2, Logan Kunz 0-4, Josiah Ruther 0-2, Josiah Polumbus 1-2.

2B -– McIntyre. RBI — McLaughlin, McIntyre, Ridgeway, Polumbus, Schwaiger.