Glacier falls to West at AA softball
GREAT FALLS — The bats weren’t there for the Glacier Wolfpack Thursday, and neither were the gloves.
Billings West pitcher Tatum Bush threw a six-inning six-hitter and the Lady Bears took advantage of eight Glacier errors to win prevail 14-3 at the State AA softball tournament.
Billings West (14-6) advanced to a 10 a.m. Friday game against Belgrade; the Panthers beat Missoula Sentinel 8-2 Friday.
The Wolfpack’s loss was part of an Eastern AA sweep of the first round: Gallatin rapped out 12 hits and beat Helena and ace Faith Howard 8-5; Billings Senior handled Missoula Big Sky 15-5.
Glacier (16-4) will play Sentinel in loser-out action at noon Friday.
Mielle Kavran’s two-run double put West up in the first inning and three Lady Bears had RBI singles in the second as gap grew to 7-0.
It was 8-0 before Glacier (16-4) got on the board, with Karley Allen’s RBI grounder in the fourth inning. Cazz Rankosky added an RBI single in the fifth inning and Ava Grady’s sacrifice fly brought home the Pack’s third run in the sixth.
That inning ended with West up 11, and the game stopped under the mercy rule.
Grady was one of four Glacier pitchers; she fanned four in 3 1-3 innings but gave up Kylee King’s three-run home run in the sixth. Chloe Farrell came on and gave up three unearned runs.
B.West 250 106 - 14 12 1
Glacier 000 111 - 3 6 8
Tatum Bush and Georgia Egge. Olivia Gibbons, Olivia Warriner (2), Ava Grady (2), Chloe Farrell (6) and Cazz Rankosky.
BILLINGS WEST — Ryane Viker 1-5, Tayten Abrams 2-5, Quinn Freitag 2-5, Bush 2-4, Mielle Kavran 3-4, Kylee King 1-4, Alise Steinmetz 0-2, Egge 1-2, Rylie Watt 0-4, Madelyn Murphy 0-0, Skylie Solberg 0-0.
GLACIER — Nakiah Persinger 0-3, Rankosky 1-3, Warriner 0-2, Gibbons 1-3, Farrell 0-0, Taylor Vivian 1-3, Karley Allen 2-3, Aubree Gerber 0-1, Grady 0=1, Kaydee Walcheck 1-3, Khirsten Terrell 0-2.
2B — Kavran. HR — King. RBIs — Freitag 3, Kavran 3, King 3, Abrams 2, Bush, Rankosky, Allen, Grady.
State AA
May 22-24, Great Falls
Thursday
Belgrade 8, Missoula Sentinel 2
Billings West 14, Glacier 3
Gallatin 8, Helena 5
Billings Senior 15, Missoula Big Sky 5
Friday
Game 5: Belgrade (15-4-1) vs. Billings West (14-6), 10 a.m.
Game 6: Gallatin (14-5) vs. Billings Senior (14-5), 10 a.m.
Game 7: Glacier (16-4) vs. Sentinel (12-11), noon, loser out
Game 8: Helena (17-3) vs. Big Sky (16-5), noon, loser out
Game 9: Winner 7 vs. Loser 6, Field 2, 2 p.m., lo
Game 10: Winner 8 vs. Loser 5, Field 4, 2 p.m., lo
Game 11: Winner 5 vs. Winner 6, Field 4, 5 p.m., semifinal
Game 12: Winner 9 vs. Winner 10, Field 2, 5 p.m., loser fourth
Saturday
Game 13: Winner 12 vs. Loser 11, Field 2, 10 a.m., loser third
Game 14: Winner 11 vs. Winner 13, Field 4, noon, championship
Game 15: If necessary, Field 4