Lady Hawks softball improves to 8-3

Apr. 26—The Lady Hawks softball team started this past week by breaking the hearts of the Heart Breakers. Twice.

They then traveled to Missoula where they ran into some tough tournament competition and dropped a pair of close games before rebounding and coming back home following a comfortable win over Three Forks.

All-in-all a good week that boosted their season mark to 8-3 as they continued their solid hitting, fielding and pitching.

They opened the week last Monday with a double-header against the Loyola Sacred Heart Breakers, who came to town with the minimum nine players needed to play. They left, presumably, broken hearted.

T Falls jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening game of the twinbill at Pirk's Place field in Thompson Falls. They were never threatened the rest of the game, adding two runs in the bottom of the second, then seven more runs in the third and fourth innings of a game that was eventually called after four and a half innings due to the Mercy rule.

Taylor Saner had a big day at the plate in game one, belting a home run and a double while going two for four at the plate. Teammate Cella VanHuss was two for three with four RBIs, while Liv McCormick was four-for-four, scored four runs and batted in two as the Lady Hawks pounded away at Loyola pitching.

Meanwhile T Falls starting pitcher Olivia Fitchette pitched four innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and two walks in shutting down the Breakers offense. Sarah Koskela worked the fifth inning in relief and gave up one earned run on a double and triple.

After a brief respite following game one, the two teams squared off again. This time the Breakers put three on the board in the top of the first inning, only to see the Lady Hawks cross home plate four times in the bottom of the first.

Loyola added three more runs in the top of the second to take a brief 6-4 lead. T Falls roared back with eight runs in the bottom of inning number two behind the hot bat of Liv McCormick, who had a home run and a triple while going two for four from the plate and driving in three runs.

Cheyla Irvine was three for three for the Hawks, with three runs batted in while she crossed the plate three times for three runs. Fitchett went two for three with three RBIs as T Falls built a 16-6 lead and wrapped up the victory after five innings.

Fitchett threw four innings of one-hit softball in the second game while striking out five Breaker batters to record the win.

Friday it was off to Missoula for a six-team tournament where the Lady Hawks met up with Ennis in their first game. The Hawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead at the conclusion of the top of the first inning, but Ennis came back with a pair of runs to cut the lead to 3-2.

Neither team scored in the second. Thompson falls then added a pair of runs in the top of the third and six runs in the top of the fourth to take an 11-5 lead after Ennis added three runs to their total in the bottom of the third.

The Lady Hawks tacked on another run in the top of the fifth inning to build a 12-5 lead.

Then the wheels fell off as Ennis pushed across five runs in the bottom of the fifth to go with the 10 runs they scored in the bottom of the sixth on their way to a 20-14 win. T Falls shaved two points off the lead in the top of the seventh but by then the damage had been done.

Olivia Ornett drove in three runs on a 2-5 at bat stint, while MacKenzie Robinson also drove in three.

Later Friday afternoon, T Falls met up with Manhattan in what began as a pitcher's dual, with Manhattan in front 3-1 at the end of the third. The Lady Hawks cut one run off that lead the next inning but Manhattan broke through for four runs in the top of the fifth and four more in the top of the sixth. The Hawks rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth but could not quite overtake the Lady Tigers lead.

Saturday morning, with rain threatening an early end to the tournament, Thompson Falls took on Three Forks. The Lady Hawks scored a lone run in the top of the first, then added seven more tallies in the top inning number two to build an 8-1 lead after two innings of play.

Three Forks added single runs in the bottom of the second, third and fourth innings but T Falls' pitching held up while their offense banged out 13 hits for the game. VanHuss, Harnett and Gabriel Hannum had two hits each for the Lady Hawks in what was a 10-4 victory.

Thompson Falls plays Troy at home tonight (April 25 at 3 pm) then travels to Anaconda for a games with Deer Lodge and Anaconda this weekend. They travel to Plains Monday, May 1, to play their Sanders County rival the Trotters at Plains High.

photo

Thompson Falls' Taylor Saner (25) goes into third base standing up during the Lady Hawks 19-1 rout of Loyola last Monday at Pirk's Place in Thompson Falls. (Chuck Bandel/VP-MI)

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