Kats on a roll heading into state tourney

The Columbia Falls girls softball team will roll into the state tournament this week on a high note after beating a pair of conference foes last week.

The Wildkats came from behind to beat Polson last Tuesday at home 6-5 and then hammered Frenchtown 14-1 in a stunner on the road last Thursday.

The girls ended up 4-2 in the Northwest A conference, good enough for second place and will face Corvallis in the opener at 2 p.m. Thursday in Belgrade.

If they win that game, they’ll face Belgrade/Manhattan-Christian at 6 p.m. Belgrade is the top seed from the Central.

The Kats turned their fortunes around last week in a matter of innings. Against Polson they were down 5-0 after two innings after committing three errors. But the Kats clawed back with two runs in the third, a run in the fourth and three in the sixth after Samantha Collins hit an RBI single for the go-ahead run with the bases loaded.

The last out in the game was an interesting one. Kat pitcher KJ Schweikert threw an inside pitch that the Polson batter ducked under. It hit her bat, went up in the air about a foot and Collins caught the ball for the final out.

The girls ended the regular season at 17-5 overall.

Coach Dave Kehr said the girls are swinging the bats well and Schweikert has an earned run average of 3.6 — really good considering she’s faced the best teams in the state this season.

He said the Frenchtown game was played under the lights and despite it being senior night for the Broncs, the Kats just hammered the ball. The Kats have never beaten the Broncs by that wide a margin, he noted.