Keeping Score: Crosstown tennis clashes and Bravette breakthroughs

Welcome everybody to the Keeping Score podcast presented by Corwin Motors, I am your host, Josh Amick. 

Last week, the Kalispell AA Lakers kicked off the start of their season, the Flathead Bravettes picked up their first win this year, another chapter of crosstown took place in tennis and a lot more events to get you up to speed on, so without further ado let’s get into last week’s highlights.  

We are going to switch things up this week and jump right into tennis with a crosstown matchup between Flathead and Glacier with the Glacier boys tennis team reaching a milestone of 100 dual wins and on the same day the girls reached win No. 90. 

One of the best matches of the day came at the girls No. 1 doubles spot between Glacier’s Miley Fritz and Claire Ennis and Flathead’s Nina Parris and Sarah Loran. After splitting the first two sets Parris and Loran pulled away, winning the final two games to take the third set 6-3.   

Leading the way to the victory for the boys was a sweep of the doubles matches with No. 1 pairing Sam Engellant and Carl Bitney earning a 6-0, 6-0 victory in their match. Micah Klippenstein and AJ Zlogar also nabbed a victory without dropping a game.   

In singles Leilani Lennarz outdueled Flathead’s Elle Westover in the No. 1 matchup, taking the victory in straight sets.   

Flathead earned a pair of wins from No. 1 and 2 singles Rowan Alexander and Holden Askvig. Alexander outlasted Creed Norick in three sets, while Askvig did not drop a game en route to his win.   

Also on Thursday, Whitefish picked up a 7-0 sweep of Libby led by Maggie Mercer and Camry Kelch.  

Liesl Brust downed Maggie Fantozzi 6-1, 6-2 to start the day and fellow singles players Linsley Grubb, Emy Hansen and Allie Shors tallied victories as well.  

In doubles, Mercer and Kelch picked up a 6-1, 6-1 decision over Bella Meyer and Aubrey Davis.  The Bulldog boys took a 5-2 victory over the Loggers with all three Whitefish doubles teams getting wins.  

Elsewhere in tennis, Sienna Blanchard earned a pair of victories Saturday, one in singles and another in doubles as Flathead tennis split their duals with the Great Falls schools.  

Blanchard and doubles partner Ava Malmin took a 6-3, 6-1 victory against the Bison pair of Breyana Washington and Flora Alt. Blanchard then took the lone Bravettes victory against the Rustlers in singles.  

On the boys side Michael Plamer scored a pair of points for Flathead with a forfeit win over the Bison and a 6-0, 6-1 victory against CMR’s Lawrence Hoven. Both Flathead teams defeated Great Falls and fell to CMR. 

Moving on to my game of the week was also on jampacked Thursday on the diamond between Eureka and Bigfork. The game went back-and-forth for seven innings and needed extras to decide a winner, with the Lions scoring the winning run in the eighth inning for a 4-3 victory. 

Tyce Van Orden started the rally for the Lions, lacing a leadoff double in the eighth inning. The next batter Hunter Grieve, grounded out to the pitcher and Van Orden was able to score from second on an error.  

Eureka jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, as three of the first four batters hit a single with Emmet McKim’s knock scoring a run. Rowan Burow followed with a sacrifice fly to score Grieve. 

Eureka loaded the bases in the fifth and retook the lead on Logan Cuffe’s hit by pitch.  

The Vikings responded in the next inning when Hayden Mayer hit a 1-out double and scored on a Mason Lewis single. The tying run for Bigfork reached base in the eighth inning but never moved into scoring position.   

Bigfork also picked up a lopsided win on Saturday 31-1 over Browning as they scored 28 runs in the second inning alone. Liam Benson finished the game with six RBIs on one hit and three walks, he scored three runs also. The Vikings (4-2) sent 33 batters to the plate in the second inning.   

Whitefish picked up a win on Thursday 15-5 over Noxon-Thompson Falls after plating nine runs in the third inning, added four more in the fourth, highlighted by Tait Orme’s home run.   

In the third inning, six-straight batters reached base before the Red Devils were able to record an out. The Bulldogs (3-0) then followed with the next five batters reaching base, highlighted by Drew Queen’s double.  All nine starters recorded a hit for the Bulldogs, with Queen leading the way, going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. 

The Kalispell AA lakers made their season debut on Saturday, Oscar Kallis’ two-out single plated two runs in the seventh inning, and the Kalispell AA Lakers beat Missoula 4-3 to salvage a split in their American Legion baseball doubleheader. 

The Lakers opened their season with a 12-5 loss to the Mavericks at Lindborg-Cregg Field but rallied nicely behind pitchers Jackson Heino and Hunter Fann in the second game.  Kalispell rallied with two outs in the seventh. Fann and Luke Nikunen singled, and both came around when Kallis’ single up the middle got past the center fielder for an error.   

The Lakers were swept on Sunday against Missoula, losing 8-7 and 8-5. Kalispell had a chance to tie it, but Carter Taylor struck out Cale Brink and Missoula downed Kalispell 8-7 for a comeback win. 

Bryce Buckmaster started for the Lakers and threw five innings, allowing just two runs on three hits. He fanned seven. In the first game, Missoula jumped in front with five runs over the first three innings.  

Kalispell again had a chance with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, but after a walk to Brink, Jackson Heino popped out to end the game. Luke Nikunen took the mound for Kalispell in game one, he fanned four in four innings of work. Cale Brink threw three innings in relief, allowing one run and not surrendering a hit.   

Moving on to softball, 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. 

For the Wolfpack their rally came up just short in a game against Sentinel. Down 6-1 after four innings they were able to cut the lead to 8-7. Cazz Rankosky had two hits and two runs batted in for the Wolfpack, including an RBI single to put her team up 1-0 in the first.   

After Olivia Gibbons’ fly was misplayed for an error, it left two runners on with nobody out, but Piper Whitman retired the next three Glacier hitters to complete the win.   

For track and field, Ethan Anderson swept the hurdles, Breanna Barnes won twice the Glacier dominated its track and field dual with Butte on its home track Friday.  

Anderson cruised to victory in both hurdles races, winning the 110s in 14.98 seconds, as the Wolfpack piled up 98.67 points to 48.33 for the Butte boys. Barnes won the 300 hurdles and the pole vault — clearing 10 feet, 6 inches in the latter — as the Glacier girls scored 102 points to 43 for the Lady Bulldogs. 

The Pack’s Rylee Bigelow hit her PR in the discus, winning with a throw of 122-8. The sophomore now sits No. 2 in Class AA and No. 4 for all classes. Allie Krueger (36-0) won the shot; Jaidyn Pevey won the high jump, Addison Brisendine won the long jump and Rachel Brannan (35-8, a PR and top mark in AA) took the triple for Glacier. 

At the MCPS invitational, Flathead’s boys had plenty of highlights, including Ben Bliven winning the 100 meters in 10.89 seconds and the 200 in 22.02 — with teammate William Hollensteiner second at 22.07, a personal record. Bliven leads the state in both sprints going to Saturday, in all classes.   

Kasen Kastner hit his PR in the 800, 1:53.97, which is Montana’s top time. He beat a talented field that included Whitefish’s Simon Douglas, who was second at 1:54.43, his best and the best in Class A. Kastner was also third in the 1,600.   

Lane Chivers ran the state’s fast 300-meter hurdles so far, winning with a PR of 39.03, and the Braves also swept the relays — making up most of a 7.5-point deficit during the 4-by-400.  Columbia Falls’ Jack Phelps took the 400 in 50.68, and his teammate Lane Voermans threw 167-8 to beat a deep discus field 

On the girls’ side, Flathead’s Alivia Rinehart ran a PR and all-class best time of 25.26 to win the 200 and took the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.85. Whitefish freshman Ginger Bergland ran 46.23 to win the 300 hurdles and set the early standard in the event for all classes.    

That is going to wrap up this week’s episode of the Keeping Score podcast presented by Corwin Motors, as always full recaps of games and meets can be found on the Daily Inter Lake page or athletic.net I want to thank you all for tuning in and we will see you all next week on the Keeping Score podcast. Take care.  

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