Wolfpack crushes Helena for softball title

HELENA — Helena pitcher Faith Howard threw a heck of a game at the Glacier Wolfpack Saturday, in the first championship game of the State AA softball tournament.

It was the Wolfpack that owned the encore.

Glacier hit five home runs to win the if-necessary game over the Bengals 19-7, and the program’s second state championship, and first since 2015. Pitcher Ella Farrell, outdueled by Howard in a 2-0 loss at Batch Fields, won the second game with six innings of solid relief.

The Pack ended up 20-3, rallying past a formidable foe — Helena led the second game 5-3 — one final time.

“We talked all week about how we could win the hard ones, because that’s what we did all season,” Glacier coach Abby Snipes said. “That pattern, that tradition, continued.”

It was tough, early. Glacier, the visiting team for the second game, scored three times in the first only to see Kalley May hit a 3-run homer for the Bengals (20-5) in their half of the inning.

Helena jumped ahead in the second when leadoff hitter Kylee Gardipee hit a homer that had Glacier center fielder Brooklyn Imperato cartwheeling over the 250-foot fence. It also chased starting pitcher Morgan Vivian from the circle.

Given that the Pack put up crooked numbers in the next five innings, Vivian, a senior, was probably OK. At any rate she wasn’t done: She hit an RBI single that put the Pack up 7-5 in the fourth inning, one of her three hits.

By then Howard, so strong in the first game, was running out of gas. She threw 92 pitches in her win with five strikeouts; in three innings in the second game she threw another 76 pitches, allowing six walks and an Emma Cooke solo home run. She fanned one.

Howard gave way to Rylie Schlepp, and the hits kept coming for the Pack: An RBI single from Imperato that put Glacier up 8-5; a Cooke RBI single to make it 9-7.

Imperato led off the fifth with a solo homer that made it 12-7 and hit a 3-run bomb in the seventh inning for an 18-7 lead. Those were her first two homers of the season.

“Oh my gosh, Brooklyn went crazy,” Farrell said. “She was on that thing. I knew one was going out. And then two!”

In between, Cooke ranked out a three-run shot in the sixth inning. That made it 15-7. Cazz Rankosky, who scored four times, belted a solo homer in the seventh for the game’s final run.

Farrell, who allowed four hits, two walks and fanned 10 in the first game, gave up two earned runs and fanned four in the clincher.

Those runs came in the fourth, after she walked the first hitters and both scored. She then reeled off three scoreless innings, ending with a flyball fittingly hit to Imperato.

“That’s a credit to her time spent in the offseason,” Snipes said of Farrell, who went 4-1 at State and finished 12-2 for the season. “I mean, she put in hours in the wrestling room, throwing. That paid off today.”

Glacier’s powerful offense hadn’t been shut out before Saturday. The Pack obviously regrouped.

“It’s really like a mental reset,” Farrell said. “Think about what you’ve done and improve on it. I think that the team showed up there was the team that we really were.”

Second game

Glacier 303 234 4 - 19 18 2

Helena 320 200 0 - 7 4 3

Morgan Vivian, Ella Farrell (2) and Cazz Rankosky. Faith Howard, Rylie Schlepp (4) and Kendal. Klemp.

GLACIER — Kenadie Goudette 1-3, Daytona Schuman 0-1, Nakiah Persinger 0-4, Rankosky 2-4, Emma Cooke 4-6, FArrell 3-4, Paishance Haller 1-3, Zoey Allen 0-1, Vivian 3-4, K Walcheck 0-0, Avery Anderson 1-3, Brooklyn Imperato 3-4, Karly Allen 0-0.

HELENA HIGH — Maloree English, Ashley Koenig 1-4, Ke.Klemp 0-3, Brooke Richardson 1-3, Kalley May 1-4, Makenna Campbell 0-3, Kylee Gardipee 1-2, KamrynKlemp 0-2, Howard 0-1, Schlepp 0-0, Keira Campbell 0-0.

2B — Goudette. HR — Cooke 2, Imperato 2, Rankosky, May, Gardipee. RBIs — Imperato 5, Cooke 5, Farrell 2, Persinger, Rankosky, Haller, Vivian, Anderson, May 3, Koenig, English, Gardipee.

First game

Helena 000 101 0 - 2 4 1

Glacier 000 000 0 - 0 5 2

Howard and Ke.Klemp. Farrell and Rankosky.

HELENA — English 1-4, Koenig 1-4, Ke.Klemp 0-3, Richardson 1-3, May 1-3, M.Campbell 0-3, Gardipee 0-2, Lamping 0-2, Ka.Klemp 0-1, Howard 0-2, K.Campbell 0-0.

GLACIER — Goudette 1-3, Persinger 0-3, Rankosky 1-3, Cooke 0-2, Farrell 1-3, Z.Allen 0-2, Haller 0-2, Vivian 2-3, Schuman 0-0, Anderson 0-1, K.Allen 0-0, Olivia Gibbons 0-1, Imperato 0-3, Bella Hodous 0-0.

2B — May. HR — Richardson. RBIs — Richardson, May.