Rensel drives in 5 in delayed game; C-Falls wins league
POLSON — A nine-run third inning — which was interrupted for a day by rain — carried Columbia Falls over Polson 13-3 Wednesday in a Northwest A softball showdown.
Demye Rensel homered and drove in five runs for the Wildkats, who clinched a top seed for the Western A Divisional tournament that begins Friday in Frenchtown. Sydney Mann had two hits and three RBIs as Columbia Falls improved to 17-3, and 9-1 in the Northwest A.
Polson led 3-0 in the first inning on an RBI single by McKenna Hanson and a 2-run homer from Carli Maley.
Rensel tied it with a 3-run homer in the second inning, and the Wildkats untied it with a huge third inning thanks in part to five walks, two Polson errors and a hit by pitch.
Mann drew a bases-loaded walk to give Columbia Falls the lead for good, 4-3; Rensel hit a two-run single to make it 9-3.
It was 10-3 and the bases were loaded when lightning and rain suspended the game until 4 p.m. Tuesday. On Wednesday the gap grew to 12-3 on Mann’s two-run, two-out single in the same inning.
On the hill, Maddie Moultray scattered four hits and two walks in six innings. She fanned six Pirates before the game ended early under the 10-run rule.
Polson didn’t pitch ace Samantha Rensvold until the third inning: She allowed four hits, two walks and two earned runs in four innings of work. She struck out two.
Aspen Dawson, Kyrah Trenkle and Mann all scored twice for the Wildkats, who have a bye in the first round of the Western A tournament, and will play either Whitefish or Butte at 1 p.m. Friday.
Polson will play Dillon at 11 a.m. the same day.
C-Falls 039 001 - 13 7 3
Polson 300 000 - 3 4 4
Maddie Moultray and Demye Rensel. Avery Starr, Nikki Kendall (3), Samantha Rensvold (3) and Carli Maley.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Tayler Lingle 0-4, Aspen Dawson 0-3, Moultry 1-1, Haden Peterson 0-4, Sydney Mann 2-3, Maddy Collins 0-4, Sophie Robbins 1-3, Kyrah Trenkle 1-2, S Burke 0-0, Rensel 2-3.
POLSON — Kendall 1-3, Mckenna Hanson 2-3, Maley 1-3, Rensvold 0-3, Starr 0-1, Kailey Smith 0-3, Ansley Nordberg 0-3, Caitlyn Ward 0-2, Tyneesha Brown 0-2.
2B — Trenkle, Kendal. HR — Rensel, Maley. RBIs — Rensel 5, Mann 3, Trenkle 2, Collins 2, Dawson, Maley 2, Hanson.