RONAN — Going up against a Mission Valley rival, MAC softball pitcher Loren Erickson picked a good time to notch her first varsity shutout. Erickson threw just 49 pitches in the Lady Bulldogs’ 11-0 victory over Ronan last Tuesday. While MAC had just five hits in the victory, they ran the bases well and played tremendous defense to improve to 2-0 on the season.

RONAN — Going up against a Mission Valley rival, MAC softball pitcher Loren Erickson picked a good time to notch her first varsity shutout. Erickson threw just 49 pitches in the Lady Bulldogs’ 11-0 victory over Ronan last Tuesday. While MAC had just five hits in the victory, they ran the bases well and played tremendous defense to improve to 2-0 on the season.

“She pitched a pretty darn good game,” Lady Bulldogs’ head coach Susan Weaselhead said. “She would throw one or two pitches before they would swing at them then our defense would get the groundouts and pop flies.”

Backing the pitcher up was right-fielder Emily Gillingham, who had two great catches in the outfield. Gillingham used one of those catches to turn a double play in the third inning. MAC negated another baserunner in the fourth when Lady Bulldogs’ catcher Alyssa Doty caught Ronan stealing thanks to a nice tag by the second baseman Serena Long.

Erickson allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out five. Gillingham finished the game going 1-for-3 with two RBI, while Kinley Pope, Janeal McDonald and Serena Long all picked up hits for the Lady Bulldogs. With the bases loaded in the second inning, Pope stole home and a passed ball allowed McDonald to score to make it 2-0. In the third inning, Sahriha Camacho was hit by a pitch to score a run, then Gillingham hit a two-RBI singles for the 5-0 advantage. MAC added another run in the fourth, thanks to an error.

In the fifth inning, the Lady Bulldogs scored on another error and a passed ball. Then with the bases loaded, McDonald hit a single that allowed two runs to score when the Maidens opted to try and get McDonald out. When MAC blanked Ronan in the bottom of the frame that enforced the 10-run rule.

MAC had nine walks in the game and used their baserunning to get a majority of their scores.

“The girls get on base and make things happen,” Weaselhead said. “They take advantage of things and we definitely have some smart baserunners. They pulled it through with five hits and turned it into 11 runs. We just got to work on our hit game a bit, we’ve got some good strong bats.”

But first they had to get on base first, no easy task against Ronan firethrower Bethany Colman. Colman struck out nine in the game but three Maidens errors proved to be costly. Colman, Amber Quequesah and Payge DeLaurenti picked up hits for Ronan.

“Our girls were pumped and ready for the game,” Weaselhead said. “We play them again at home and I’m sure they’ll make adjustments just like we’ll make adjustments.”

MAC softball will play Missoula Big Sky’s JV on April 13 and then they’ll host Ronan on April 17 for a rematch.

MAC 11, RONAN 0

MAC - 023 - 15 - 11

Ronan - 000 - 00 - 0

MAC - 5 hit, 0 errors. Ronan - 3 hits, 3 errors

Lady Bulldogs batting - Sara Nerby 0-3, Loren Erickson 0-4, Alyssa Doty 1-2, Kinley Pope 1-1, Janeal McDonald 1-4, Serena Long 1-3, Sahriha Camacho 0-2, Connor Smith 0-1, Emily Gillingham 1-3, with 2 RBIs. Doubles - Pope. RBIs - Gillingham (2), Camacho

Maidens batting - Ashliegh Lynch 0-2, Alaina Madsen 0-2, Payge DeLaurenti 1-2, Lindsay Clairmont 0-2, Bethany Colman 1-2, McKenzie Dulmes 0-2, Danielle Richwine 0-2, Amber Quequesah 1-1, Courtney Taylor 0-2.

Pitching - Erickson (5K), Colman (9K)