Troy wins twice, qualifies for State B softball
FLORENCE — The Troy Lady Trojans are headed to State.
Brushing off their Thursday loss, comeback-minded Troy beat Plains 12-8 and Three Forks 16-12 on Friday at the Western B Divisional softball tournament.
The wins put the Trojans (17-7) back into the third-place game, where they’ll have another shot at Thompson Falls-Noxon. The Blue Hawks (14-10-1) handed Troy a 7-5 loss to start the tournament.
The top four teams head to the State B tournament next week in Glasgow.
Troy 12, Plains 8
Halle Wallace homered and drove in three runs, and the Lady Trojans rallied after giving up five runs in the first inning to the Trotters.
Ellie Borgmann’s two-run single in the first inning started the comeback; Kirsti Jellesed’s RBI double helped in the second and Wallace’s two-run shot in the third inning put Troy up 6-5.
After two errors helped Plains cut the gap to 8-7 in the sixth inning, Troy answered with four runs. Halle Wallace, Ellah Wallace and Leslie Gravier all hit RBI singles in the sixth.
Addy Fisher scored three times for Troy. Gravier had two hits and also threw a complete-game four-hitter. She allowed six walks and four earned runs, fanning seven.
Aubree Butcher homered and scored twice for Plains (4-17).
Troy 16, Three Forks 12
Once again the Lady Trojans’ opponent scored five first-inning runs, and once again it didn’t matter.
Tana Grant tripled and drove in four runs and the Lady Trojans outslugged a Wolves team coming off a narrow 5-4 semifinal loss to Mission-Arlee-Charlo.
Gravier added a double, a triple, drove in three runs and scored twice; Jellesed had a double and RBI as Troy combined eight hits with eight walks issued by Three Forks pitchers.
Grant’s three-run triple tied the game 5-5, highlighting a six-run inning for the Trojans. She scored on Halle Wallace’s grounder and Troy had its first lead.
Wallace came up big again, hitting an RBI single to break a 7-7 tie in the fifth inning; three batters later Gravier drove in three with her double, putting her team up 12-7.
The gap grew to 15-7 on Grant’s RBI single in the fifth, and 16-7 when Gravier tripled and scored on Fisher’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning, but the Wolves (10-14) weren’t done.
Nova Ervin homered to lead off the seventh, one of five runs in the inning; two walks, an error and a hit by pitch cut the lead to 16-12 before Gravier struck out the final two batters of the game.
Western B Divisional
May 15-17, Florence
(4 teams advance to State)
Thursday
Florence 15, Plains 1
Thompson Falls 7, Troy 5
Three Forks 19, Ennis 11
Mission-Arlee-Charlo 13, Anaconda 2
Friday
Florence 15, Thompson Falls 1, semifinal
MAC 5, Three Forks 4, semifinal
Troy 12, Plains 8, loser out
Anaconda 10, Ennis 5, loser out
Troy 16, Three Forks 12, loser out
Thompson Falls 6, Anaconda 5, loser out
Saturday
On Field 1
Troy (17-7) vs. Thompson Falls (14-10-1), third-fourth, 10 a.m.
Florence (22-2) vs. MAC (19-5), noon, championship