16U and 14U teams top at Capital City Classic

HELENA - The 16U Polson Purple Rain played small ball and came through in a big way.

At the Capital City Classic in Helena last weekend, the Purple Wave went undefeated and captured the tournament crown while beating teams from bigger schools along the way.

"This was the most talented tournament we've played in team wise," head coach Larry Smith said. "The girls did a great job."

Polson started the tournament off with a bang, defeating Glasgow by a score of 32-0 that was called after three innings.

"They only had nine batters in the whole game and seven of them struck out," Smith said.

The Purple Rain, on the other hand, collected 32 hits thanks to the batting of Ashley Johnson and Jaylin Kenney. Johnson went 2-for-3 and Kenney went 3-for-3 in the game.

"Those two really got it started," Smith said. Johnson ended the weekend having gone 17-for-24 overall.

Smith said that he was shocked with the results as the ASA games are usually much closer. He added that he couldn't remember a time when his ASA team collected 32 hits in a game.

The Purple Rain then turned their reign of terror towards a team from Calahoo, Alberta. Polson shook off a post-blowout game hangover that saw them down to Calahoo 3-1 after the first inning.

"From then on we shut them down," Smith said.

The Purple Wave scored two in the third inning, one in the fourth and two in the fifth for the 6-3 victory. Pitcher Shalaina Duford put in a Nolan Ryan-esque performance, striking out 10.

"They were a good team and they have a very good pitcher," Smith said of Calahoo.

In their final game of pool play, Polson played Butte and again found themselves down early, 4-1 after the first.

"It took a while for the girls to get going and for us to tighten our defense," Smith said.

The Rain scored three in the second, one in the third and one again in the sixth to win the game 6-4.

"I think it made for a better game," Smith said. "When they can score almost every inning offensively and come back and do well on defense that builds a lot of confidence."

In the second day of the tournament that had the Purple Rain in bracket play, the bats of Polson apparently had an on switch with some sort of turbo boosting capability.

"We really turned those bats on," Smith said. "Hits-wise the girls came alive up and down the order."

Again the Purple Rain did it with small ball and the opposing defenses just didn't know what to do. In their first game of bracket play, Polson faced a Bozeman team but didn't cower away from the bigger school.

They scored four in the first, four in the fourth inning and third in the fifth for the 11-1 victory. Duford had five strikeouts in the victory.

"We always feel good about that," Smith said about beating a team from a bigger school. "The girls like proving a point. The bigger the school is, it seems the more up for the game they are."

Winning that game put them against the Bitterroot Sparks in the semi-finals, a team that had beaten them a tournament championship game last week. This time, the Purple Rain got the last laugh in a big way. Johnson went 3-for-5 and Kenney went 3-for-3 to key the offense and get on base, while Jessica Bagnell and Tina Marquardt drove in the runs going 2-for-4 and 3-for-4 respectively. Polson thumped the Sparks 25-4.

"The girls felt really good about that," Smith said.

In the championship match, the Purple Rain faced the Great Falls Selects, again a much bigger school to draw kids from.

"This was a hitting machine," Smith said of the Selects. "Those girls can hit the ball hard."

Both teams hit the ball in the championship game, collecting 18 hits apiece in the contest.

"Our small ball game got it going and forced Great Falls to make mistakes," Smith said.

Polson ended up winning 17-13 in the slugfest, after a gutsy performance from Bagnell.

"She had a bad lower back injury," Smith said. "She was in terrific pain."

Originally Smith had kept Bagnell out of the contest but when Great Falls started to make a run, he put her in and she responded with two hits and two RBIs to finish the game 3-for-4. Bagnell finished the entire weekend 13-for-19.

It's the Purple Rains first tournament championship of the year after finishing second the previous two weekends.

They'll head to Spokane this week to play in the big Firecracker holiday tournament.

Hard-hitting, hard pitching Lakers capture 14U title

It was business as usual for the 14U Polson Lakers at the Capital City Classic last weekend in Helena. The bats were on hitting and Kylie Murphy was delivering the heat in the circle.

"This tournament was pretty reflective with how we've been playing," head coach Don Toth, who's team's record is now 16-3 on the season, said. "In the games we've won this year and even the game's we've lost, we've out hit our opponents considerably."

Toth added that the team has also been doubling the hit total of their opponents on a regular basis.

In poll play, Polson defeated the Helena Titans 13-2 behind 11 hits. Murphy pitched a no-hitter in that matchup and also went 3-for-3 with a triple. Backing her up was Sara Rausch and Jaiden Toth. All three girls went 3-for-3 and scored three runs in the contest.

"Kylie is our ace," Toth said. "She's been doing an outstanding job hitting her sports and keeping teams off balance."

Polson then downed the Frenchtown Furty 6-2 in five innings after the game was called because of time. Toth went 3-for-3 in the game and Rausche went 2-for-2 to help lead the Lakers tovictory. As a team, Polson had seven hits and Murphy continued her great pitching by holding the Fury to just one hit.

Against the Butte Edge in their second game, Polson was able to do a little "edging" themselves, coming away with the 7-4 victory behind four hits. Butte was held to just two hits and committed three errors.

Rausch drove in a run with a triple and Murphy plated two runs in the game to lead the team.

Polson than started pool play off with a 12-5 victory over the Missoula Lady Osprey. The Lakers collected 12 hits in the game while Murphy held the Osprey to just three hits.

The Lakers were an offensive powerhouse. Shelby Mallon led the team with 3 RBIs while going 2-for-2 along the way. Kaylun Wall also plated three runs behind 3-for-4 hitting. Murphy went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Skyla Krantz was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

That put the Lakes in a semi-finals rematch with the Frenchtown Fury.

"It was a defensive battle," Toth said.

Polson was able to come through with the 1-0 victory after Jaiden Toth knocked in a run in the first inning.

The defense held strong again the Fury, as Murphy allowed just two hits. Polson had eight hits in the contest. In the championship game against the Emeralds, the Lakers exploded for 14 hits en route to an 11-5 victory. It was an error-filled contest as the Emeralds committed 5 errors and Polson committed four but Toth said that it was probably due to nerves with what was on the line.

"It was nerve-racking," he said.

Rausch went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the team. Taylor Brackey drove in a run and Murphy got on base four times while going 2-for-5 in the game. Wall had a double and Mallon was 1-for-5 with a key hit that drove in two runs for the Lakers.

"Our offense if working really well," Toth said. "We get production from different girls each game."

Now the Lakers will head up to Kalispell next weekend.

12U Purple Wave goes undefeated in pool play

The Polson 12U Purple Wave were just a win away from playing in the championship game at the Capital City Classic.

After going undefeated in pool play, Polson was faced up against the Electric City Heat in the first round of bracket play on Sunday morning and downed them 5-3.

Hannah Potter was instrumental on in that game at short stop for Polson.

"She played a great game," head coach Bonnie Klein said. "She pretty much put a stop to their offense."

That put them in the semi-finals where they faced an old nemesis, the Emeralds, who they had defeated to win the Polson Splash Tournament earlier in the season. While the Purple Wave had been victorious against them before, the Emeralds finally broke through with a win.

"They finally got us," Klein said. "The Emeralds just had a great game."

The Purple Wave did win the sportsmanship award at the tournament and got to see a bunch of new competition.

"We saw three teams that we hadn't played before," Klein said. "That was fun to see the new teams."

Polson has won two tournament championships already this summer and look to get everything geared up before the state tournament.

"I think they have great potential," Klein said. "We have a lot of great players."

14U Ronan Avalanche takes second

One thing is for sure, McKenzie Dulmes is one tough cookie. The Ronan short stop took a hard grounder to the face during pool play on Saturday and had to go to

the hospital for an MRI and stiches.

However, she was right back on the field on Sunday playing for her team in bracket play.

The Ronan Avalanche defeated the Electric Heat, 6-1, and the Capital City Thunder, 11-7 on Sunday to advance to

the championship game where they just fell 9-6 to place second.

In their game against the Thunder, Capital City his two home runs in the top of the first but Ronan followed with two home runs of its own. The Avalanche would get another home run later in the game to ice the deal as well. Amanda Morency got two and Jordy Eichert had another dinger.

Injuries in the championship game slowed Ronan and there were only three players out on the field that were used to playing the position they were in.

However, the Avalanche came of so close and placed second in the "B" Pool at the Captial City Classic.