Softball: Wolfpack tip Eagles again, 6-4

Cazz Rankosky opened the scoring and Ava Grady closed the door, and the Glacier Wolfpack handed Western AA rival Missoula Big Sky another league loss Thursday, 6-4 on Glacier’s home field. 

Rankosky’s two-run home run in the first inning set the tone for the Wolfpack, now 11-2 overall and 7-2 in Western AA games.  

Olivia Gibbons and Karley Allen drove in runs with a single and double in the third inning, putting Glacier up 4-1; Olivia Warren doubled and scored on Allen’s sacrifice fly in the fifth and Gibbons added an RBI single in the sixth. 

The latter made it 6-3. By then Grady, the Pack’s third pitcher, had come on to quell a Big Sky rally in the sixth with two strikeouts. She fanned three more Eagles in the seventh, wrapped around a solo homer from Kyler Latrielle, to seal Glacier’s second win over Big Sky this season. 

Latrielle also had an RBI single in the third inning for the Eagles (10-2, 7-2 in league). Sara Bjornson hit a two-run single in the fifth. 

Nakiah Persinger scored three times for Glacier. Gibbons went 4 2-3 innings in the circle, fanning three. 

Glacier’s next action is Tuesday at Class A power Polson. 

Big Sky    001    002    1    -    4    6    2 

Glacier    202    011    x    -    6    8    1 

Sara Bjornson, Brielle Wilson (3), Kaya Lopez (7) and Hailey Nicolison. Olivia Gibbons, Olivia Warrner (5), Ava Grady (6) and Cazz Rankosky.  

MISSOULA BIG SKY — Kyler Latrielle 2-4, H Weaver 0-3, Sadie McGuinn 0-3, Aubrey Bykari 1-3, Bjornson 2-3, Elise Regan 0-0, Irene Griswold 0-3, Wilson 0-2, Lopez 0-0, Logan Latrielle 0-3, Nicoson 1-3. 

GLACIER — Nakiah Persinger 1-2, Rankosky 1-4, Warriner 1-3, Gibbons 2-4, Aubree Gerber 1-2, Karley Allen 1-3, Taylor Vivian 1-3, Kaydee Walcheck 0-3, Khirsten Terrell 0-3. 

2B — Bykari, Allen, Warriner. HR — K.Latrielle, Rankosky. RBIs — Latrielle 2, Bjornson 2, Rankosky 2, Gibbons 2, Allen 2.