Bravettes pick up first softball win

MISSOULA — Mackenzie Brandt hit two home runs, Olivia Nyman socked another and the Flathead Bravettes held off Missoula Hellgate for their first softball win of the season Thursday, 10-6.

Brandt’s two-run shot broke a 1-1 tie in the third inning and gave Flathead (1-7) the lead for good. Brandt hit a leadoff homer and Nyman drilled a two-run shot to left in a three-run seventh inning — important runs, as Hellgate (0-5) answered with three runs in its half of the seventh. 

A two-out two-run single from Quinn Kirschenheiter narrowed the gap to 10-6, before Flathead pitcher Lacie Franklin got a flyout to end it. Franklin went the distance, allowing 14 hits, two walks and three earned runs. She struck out five Knights.