Wildkats playoff hopes ride on this week

The Columbia Falls softball team had a great weekend, going undefeated at the Butte Central Tournament on May 10-11, but they lost 9-6 to conference foe Polson on May 7.

The Wildkats opened tournament play by beating Laurel 4-2 and Stillwater Christian School 13-3. The next day, they beat Billings Central 11-3 and Miles City 8-1, as their bats came alive.

Against Laurel, Courtney Murray went 2 for 3, and the Kats rallied from a 2-1 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to win the game. In the Stillwater game, Alex Pederson went 3 for 4 at the plate and had four RBIs. Murray racked up three RBIs in the blowout, as the Kats scored 11 runs in the bottom of the fifth.

“They hit the ball really well,” coach Dave Kehr said.

Murray has been putting in extra time in practice and it’s starting to pay off, he noted. Ciarra Holm and Kathrin Jetty each had doubles in the Miles City win.

But the key conference game against Polson didn’t go the Kats’ way. The girls took the lead 1-0 in the bottom of the third, but the Pirates answered with nine runs in the last three innings to go up 9-1.

The Kats answered with a rally of their own, scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh. But with two out and two on base in the bottom of the inning, Lady Pirates pitcher Shailana Duford got Catie King out on a called third strike to end the inning.

The Kats’ post-season hopes come down to the final week of the season. They have a key conference game against Libby away on Friday. If they win, they’re in the state tournament. If they lose, they must beat Frenchtown on Saturday at home in their final regular season game of the year for a chance at a state playoff berth.

Kehr has the direct view.

“We might as well beat Libby and Frenchtown and be done with the whole thing,” he said.

That scenario would get them into the state tournament, and if they beat the Lady Broncs by three runs, it would give them sole possession of second place behind Polson.

The girls are now 13-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play. They’ve lost twice to Polson and once to Frenchtown this season, and they’ve beaten Whitefish twice and Libby once. The Frenchtown game has a 1 p.m. start.

Polson 000 023 4 – 9 11 5

Col. Falls 001 000 5 – 6 7 1

Shalaina Duford and Jaylin Kenney. Ashley Trueblood and Courtney Murray. W – Duford. L – Trueblood.

POLSON – Kenney 0-3, Duford 1-4, Jessica Bagnell 2-4, Heidi Rausch 0-3, Martina Marquardt 2-3, Jordyn Evertz 0-2, Kaelen Wall 2-2, Hannah Potter 2-3, Sarah Rausch 0-3, Jaiden Toth 2-4.

COLUMBIA FALLS – Tiffany Hummer 2-4, Carlee Brown 0-4, Trueblood 1-4, Kathrin Jetty 0-4, Ciarra Holm 2-4, Catie King 0-4, Winter Kemppainen 0-1, Murray 0-3, Alex Pederson 1-2, Amanda Morrison 1-1.

2B – Marquardt, Potter, Wall, Holm, Hummer, Trueblood. RBIs – Wall 3, Duford 2, Toth 2, Potter, S. Rausch, Hummer 2, Trueblood, Morrison.