Lake County softball teams excel, fall just short of championship

POLSON - One lousy inning.

That is what stood between the 16U Polson Purple Rain and the Polson Splash Tournament title. That is what caused the Purple Rain to fall in a 10-5 loss to the Fury Fastpitch in the championship game.

After earning the No. 1 seed through pool play and defeating the Ronan Outlaws 11-3 to go to the championship game, it looked as if the Purple Rain were destined for the first-place trophy. Most of the team was comprised of the Polson varsity softball team that brought home the state championship just a few weeks ago.

However, an eight-run blowup in the bottom of the third inning saw the Purple Rain fall behind 10-1. It was a margin that they couldn't overcome.

Head coach Larry Smith thought that the state championship put a heavy load on the shoulders of his players coming into this tournament.

"It applied a lot of pressure to them, especially playing their first tournament games in the ASA at home in front of the home folks here," Smith said. "They felt they really had to have a dominant performance and I could see that especially in the young ones."

The game started out promising enough with Polson taking the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Sallie Sams bunted home Kodi Woods. The Fury then responded with a two runs in the bottom of the first. That's how it would stay until the wheels fell off in the third.

Purple Rain pitcher Shay Duford struck out two in the inning, but several errors combined with a wild pitch and a passed ball gave the Fury Fastpitch the chance they needed. They quickly established a 10-1 lead in the game, much to the shock of the home crowd.

But Polson wasn't done just yet.

"Anytime you have anything go bad, whether it's an error or a strikeout, it's how you react to the very next play, that's the most important thing to me," Smith said.

The Purple Rain answered the next inning, as Heidi Rausch scored on a passed ball, a fielding error led to Kinley Pope crossing home plate and Woods doubled to drive in Duford.

Then in the fifth, Polson continued to chip away at the lead. Rausch was once again involved in the scoring as she collected an RBI double to make it 10-5.

"It makes you feel good. That's the way we are, we're battlers," Smith said. "You're going to have to beat us, we're not going to give it to you."

After that, their bats went quiet and the Fury got them to ground out twice and hit a pop fly to second base in the top of the seventh to seal the deal.

"I know they're used to winning and winning is what they want, as you can see the second place trophy is still sitting here [in the dugout]," Smith said.

However, it's only the first tournament of the year and there were more than a few distractions going on this weekend.

"We had three or four of the kids taking the ACT tests yesterday," Smith said. "That was a rush for them."

The 16U Purple Rain will play this weekend in Great Falls.

16U Ronan Raptors take third

Just 45 minutes before game time on Thursday, the Ronan Raptors were scrambling to fill their roster. Since they didn't have the whole team ready, head coach Tom Peterson had to suit up four players from Missoula.

"We were in the middle of plays figuring out who covers bases," Peterson said.

Despite these roster issues, the team was able to overcome it and come away with something to put in the trophy case.

After losing to the Polson Purple Rain 11-1 in their opening game of pool play, the Raptors were able to bounce back with a 4-3 win over the Kootenai Krushers behind the pitching of Leyna Downey.

They suffered a 7-4 setback in the final game on Saturday to give them the four-seed going into the bracket play on Sunday morning. The Raptors were matched up against the Kootenai Krushers again and once again came out victorious with a 5-1 final. Bethany Coleman owned the mound for the Raptors as they advanced to face the Polson Purple Rain in the semifinals.

The Purple Rain opened up a 7-1 lead over the Raptors and then the four players from Missoula had to leave for a basketball tournament. In the end, the team lost to the Purple Rain 11-3 and moved to the consolation game against the Montana Smash.

The bats came alive for the Raptors in that game as they secured the third-place trophy with a 13-1 victory over the Smash.

"I liked how we hit the ball," Peterson said. "If we do stay together [referring to the players that filled in this weekend], we could be a pretty tough team."

Peterson said he was also very impressed with catcher Lindsay Clairmont, third baseman Janeal McDonald and pitchers Colman and Downey. He felt that all it will take for this brand new team to be successful is more practice to become acclimated with one another.

12U Polson Purple Wave takes third

The 12U Polson Purple Wave capped a very promising tournament with an 8-0 victory over the Fury Fastpitch team. If it weren't for a close 2-1 loss to the Bitteroot Sparks in the semi-finals, the Purple Wave may have been hoisting the first-place trophy above their heads.

After a 10-2 loss to the Glacier Emeralds to start the tournament, the Purple Wave rolled for two big wins. First a 25-6 drubbing of the Lil' Monsters and then a 10-0 shutout of the Fury Fastpitch.

On Sunday, they continued to dominate with a victory over the Anaconda Cyclones and then found themselves locked in a battle with the Bitteroot Sparks to get into the championship game.

"We played great, the girls did everything right defensively," Purple Wave head coach Kirk Murphy said.

The Purple Wave's Kylie Murphy pitched five innings and struck out ten in the 2-1 loss. The girls did have a chance to tie the game up in the later innings with a runner at third base and third baseman Marlee Congdon at the plate with two outs.

"She hit a shot to right field but the other team was playing short and just got her out at first," Murphy said.

The Purple Wave took out their frustrations in the consolation game, where they dominated on the field. Murphy had 10 strikeouts in five innings and twice Fury runners were gunned down by catcher Sarah Rausch. The result was the 8-0 victory and the third-place trophy.

"The bats are starting to come around, we're all very happy, they're settling in their spots," Murphy said.

The Purple Wave will now continue their season next weekend in Great Falls.

10U Lil Lakers take fourth

What is the next bext thing to being the No. 1 seed in a tournament? Knocking out that No. 1 seed in the tournament.

After starting the tournament going 0-3 in pool play, the U10 Lil' Lakers drew the best team in their bracket in form of the Capital City Thunder. They then surpassed all expectations with a 4-2 victory over the Thunder to move within one victory of the championship game.

For the tournament, Lil' Lakers head coach Renault credited the success of the team to the pitching of Haley Fyant, and timely hitting by Camas Renault and Lauren Lefthand. Despite just having three experienced players, Lil' Lakers responded well to the big crowds and adjusted to adversity.

"They we're playing in positions they were unfamiliar with and not sure where the ball should go," Renault said.

In their next game, the Lakers found themselves tied with the Glacier Emeralds 1-1 before giving up five runs in the fourth inning

"We had a little bit of pitching woes, and we just made some throwing errors," Renault said.

The Lil' Lakers fell 8-2 and went into the consolation game against the Fury Fastpitch.

What followed was a back-and-fourth battle that showed a team overcoming their inexperience. Their bats roared to life, jumping to a 4-0 lead in the first only to have the Fury come back to tie it in the same inning.

"Once the girls started to swing, we got some offense," Renault said. "That was a big thing with them, getting them to do that."

The Lakers would go up one run in the second and then fall behind 5-7 in the bottom of the stanza. Then in the third, they scored three runs to once against take the lead at 8-7.

However, the Fury were able to answer once again, this time going up 11-8 and coming away with the victory. However, the Lil' Lakers weren't discourage and the coaching staff was very pleased with how their team performed.

"That gives them a big boost for their next tournament," Renault said.

The Lil' Lakers next action on the field will be the Fourth of July Classic in Kalispell.