ANACONDA - The Polson Purple Wave continues to roll in the 12U

classification of ASA softball. Last weekend at the Smack the Stack

Tournament, the Wave didn't lose a game and took down some

powerhouse teams.

12U Wave continues to dominate the competition

ANACONDA - The Polson Purple Wave continues to roll in the 12U classification of ASA softball. Last weekend at the Smack the Stack Tournament, the Wave didn't lose a game and took down some powerhouse teams.

They defeated the Missoula Osprey Blue 13-5 in the championship game and once again celebrated. Two weeks ago in Polson they celebrated a Splash tournament championship in exciting fashion, but this time the eight-run mercy rule threw a curveball at them.

"The girls didn't realize they had won," head coach Bonnie Klein said with a laugh. "Then the umpire said ‘that's it!'"

Polson started off the tournament by tying the Glacier Emeralds, the same team they faced in the Polson Splash championship, 7-7 on Friday evening.

From then on the Wave cruised, defeating the Magic City Havoc, the Belgrade Wolfpack on Saturday and then the Montana Warriors and Capitol City Thunder on Sunday.

In the semi-finals of bracket play Polson was matched up against the No. 1 seed in the Missoula Osprey Black team.

The Osprey hadn't allowed a run in the entire tournament but that didn't phase the Purple Rain at all, and they picked up the 6-5 win to advance to the championship game.

The championship for Polson was particularly impressive considering the team was without their shortstop and No. 4 batter because of sicknesss.

"They really stepped it up," Klein said.

The coach added that both her pitchers really stepped up, splitting time on the mound and in the unfamiliar position at shortstop.

"Haley [Fyant] pitched really well and she had come in at shortstop along with Marlee Congdon," Klein said. "Everybody made plays they hadn't made before."

16U Purple Rain make run to second place

The Polson Purple Rain shook off nerves and slow bats on the first day of the Anaconda tournament and went on to place second.

They were downed in their first game against Anaconda, 10-7 because of seven errors.

"We made all those errors and we were still in the game," Smith said.

Polson struggled offensively in pool play but came away with a 2-1 win over Calgary and then a 4-1 victory over Butte.

That built some momentum going into bracket play and the Purple Rain found a way to get the bats going on the second day.

"We just weren't hitting the ball at all," head coach Larry Smith said.

In their first round game, Polson beat Anaconda 7-1.

"They really turned it around against Anaconda," Smith said.

The Purple Rain then downed Calgary 9-1 in the semi-final to advance to the championship game against the Bitterroot Sparks.

In that game, Polson jumped out to the 5-0 lead in the second, but the Sparks pulled to within 5-4 in the fourth. The Purple Rain added an insurance run to make it 6-5 in the sixth but Bitterroot tied it up 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh.

The game went into international tiebreaker rules and Bitterroot was able to plate the winning run for the Smack the Stack 16U championship.

"I feel very good about the team, this weekend was just an extreme improvement, we put ourselves in a position to win," Smith said.

Shalaina Duford pitched a great game in the championship but errors caused problems for Polson.

"When there's no errors it's a drastic improvement," Smith said. "It's an immediate change."

Hitting well for the Purple Rain was Heidi Rausch, whose hot bat helped lead the team. Going 9-for-14 on the weekend, Rausch busted out of a slump to go 3-for-3 against Anaconda, 3-for-3 against Calgary and 2-for-4 against the Sparks on the second day.

"Boy she came on fire that Sunday," Smith said. "She had a good weekend."

Ashley Johnson, who seemed like she was always on-base for the Polson Lady Pirates during the high school softball season, went 10-for-20 and also showed a lot of promise in the dugout as well.

"She really stepped up and showed leadership," Smith said. "She's very positive and very encouraging and was coaxing her teammates a lot."

Ronan 14U Avalanche takes fourth place

The Ronan Avalanche traveled to Helena this weekend and faced a group of teams they wouldn't have otherwise seen this season at the Electric City Heat Tournament in Great Falls.

Ronan opened up on Friday with a 4-2 victory over the Billings Force, but fell to the eventual tournament champion Great Falls Selects 8-3 on Saturday.

The Avalanche bounced back, though, with a 10-4 win over the Helena Titans. That put them in fifth place going into championship play on Sunday.

They beat the Electric City Heat 11-0 and moved into the semi-finals to face the Great Fall Selects.

Ronan jumped out to a 7-3 lead during the game. The Selects would battle back, however and take the 9-8 advantage.

In the final frame, the Avalanche had their chances with the team's two fastest runners on base, but Ronan couldn't quite convert to advance to the championship.

The Avalanche took fourth, but showed marked improvement in the consolation game. They faced the Calgary Kaizen, who had 10-run ruled Ronan earlier in the season. Calgary would win 9-5 against a Ronan team that was also banged up by injuries.

All signs show that the Avalanche will continue to roll through the season.

Rim Rocks take fourth, play marathon game

Seriously, how can you not root for the Ronan Rim Rocks?

The energetic team wowed the crowd at the Polson Splash tournament two weekends ago and they provided one heck of an encore last weekend at the Electric City Heat Tournament in Great Falls.

The Rim Rocks had to play four games on Saturday and shut down the Billings Force en route to a third place finish in the pool play seeding.

An injury late on Saturday left one player unable to play during Sunday's championship play. So, the Rim Rocks geared up for bracket play with just nine players and nobody on the bench.

During championship play they battled the host Great Falls Heat in a game that resulted in triple overtime and lasted two hours and 25 minutes.

"It was definitely the best feeling a coach can have to know their team is doing exactly what you taught them and that they were having fun doing it," coach Ambree Blixt said. "They really pulled together on this one."

The game was to determine who was going to the championship game and Blixt said that everybody in the four-plex at the tournament had gathered around the field to root the girls on.

"Even all the ASA umps had gathered around and were discussing the intensity of the game," Blixt said.

In the end, the Rim Rocks took fourth place in the tournament and received the Best Team Sportsmanship Award.

Next weekend, the Rim Rocks will head to the Captial City Classic in Helena.