FRENCHTOWN — The Polson Lady Pirates headed to the Frenchtown Invitational knowing the quality of the other teams there would challenge the reigning Class A state champions and that was evident when Polson went 2-2 over the weekend. Despite splitting the weekend, however, the Lady Pirates did have plenty of bright spots to draw upon.

FRENCHTOWN — The Polson Lady Pirates headed to the Frenchtown Invitational knowing the quality of the other teams there would challenge the reigning Class A state champions and that was evident when Polson went 2-2 over the weekend. Despite splitting the weekend, however, the Lady Pirates did have plenty of bright spots to draw upon.

Polson opened Friday with an emphatic 16-2 drubbing of Anaconda behind three-hit games for Ashley Johnson and Heidi Rausch.

While Johnson set the tone for the offense with a pair of doubles, Rausch did the heavy lifting, bashing two home runs in the rout.

“She was more comfortable and less tense at the plate,” head coach Larry Smith said. “She’s got a beautiful swing.”

The Lady Pirates raced out to a 4-0 lead after one and never looked back, scoring in each inning except the fifth. Polson got two-hit efforts from Shalaina Duford, Tina Marquardt and Jessica Bagnell and had 15 as a team on the afternoon.

Later in the day, one rough inning did Polson in, as Florence upended the Lady Pirates 6-2.

“It was just a beautifully executed game by Florence,” Smith said. “They had 10 total hits and seven of them were bunts. I was very impressed.”

Polson jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to Marquardt’s RBI, but the Lady Falcons put a six-spot on the board in the second to take a commanding 6-1 lead.

Bagnell knocked a run in during the fourth inning, but the Lady Pirates wouldn’t get any closer, falling for the third time on the year.

On Saturday, Smith looked to Bagnell on the mound and she responded, making an early five-run lead stand up in a 10-7 victory over Hamilton.

“We started Jessica and knew we wanted a quick start with it being her first varsity start,” Smith said. “That helped her to have a big lead. She settled in quickly.”

Polson scored five in the first and while the Lady Broncs would challenge Bagnell, she kept them at bay. While the Lady Pirates had only eight hits, they took advantage of six Hamilton errors to plate runs throughout the game. Jaylin Kenney sparked the offense, going 3-4 with a triple and two RBIs as part of a huge weekend.

“Jaylin did a fantastic job, going 7-13 with a triple and a double,” Smith said. “She did a great job for us.”

Up 5-4 in the fourth, Polson plated an insurance run to give them a twoscore edge. Hamilton got it back in the top of the sixth to make it a one-run game, but the Lady Pirates answered with four in their half of the frame to put the game in the bag.

After defeating Hamilton, Polson faced a stiff test when they took on Belgrade. The see-saw battle tilted ever-so slightly in Belgrade’s favor as they edged the Lady Pirates 4-3 to conclude the invitational.

“They’re a quality team right up there with C-Falls and Frenchtown,” Smith said. “Defensively, we made nice plays and if we keep the ball in the park, we’re tough to beat.”

Despite the score, the game displayed the power each team possesses. All four runs scored by Belgrade came courtesy of solo homers, while Riley Kenney and Rausch added bombs of their own to account for two of Polson’s three runs.

The Lady Pirates scored once in the bottom of the seventh and threatened to tie it, but couldn’t quite get the tying run across, falling to 6-4 on the season.

“We were in position in the bottom of the seventh to win it, we just didn’t execute,” Smith said.

As they enter the final month of the season, Polson will look to string together a winning streak. If they aim to do it, however, they’ll need to go through undefeated Frenchtown and three other opponents this week.

“This is a huge week for us where we’ll find out where we’re at,” Smith said. “We’ve got Glacier coming down and Frenchtown on Thursday, as well as Hamilton and Corvallis. We need to come out with three or four of those four games.”

The Lady Pirates started their week off right, destroying visiting Glacier 15-0 in a game that invoked the mercy rule. The box score from that game, however, was not available at press time.

POLSON 16, ANAC. 2

P - 422 102 5 - 16

A - 002 000 0 - 2

Polson - 15 hits, 0 errors. Anaconda - 5 hits, 1 error.

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 3-5, Riley Kenney 1-4, Shalaina Duford 2-5, Tina Marquardt 2-2, Heidi Rausch 3-5, Makaliah Wilson 1-5, Jaylin Kenney 1-4, Jessica Bagnell 2-5, Jordyn Evertz 0-2, Colleen Jacobson 0-1

2B - Johnson 2, R. Kenney, 3B - Bagnell, HRRausch

2 LP Battery - Duford and J. Kenney

FLOR. 6, POLSON 2

P - 100 100 00 - 2

F - 060 000 0x - 6

Polson - 9 hits, 3 errors. Florence - 10 hits, 1 error.

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 0-4, Riley Kenney 2-4, Shalaina Duford 2-4, Tina Marquardt 2-4, Heidi Rausch 1-4, Makaliah Wilson 0-3, Jaylin Kenney 2-3, Jessica Bagnell 0-2, Jordyn Evertz 0-2, Colleen Jacobson 0-1

2B - R. Kenney, RBIs - Marquardt, Bagnell

LP Battery - Duford and J. Kenney

POLSON 10, HAM. 7

H - 022 001 2 - 7

P - 500 104 x - 10

Hamilton - 11 hits, 6 errors. Polson - 8 hits, 0 errors.

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 1-4, Riley

Kenney 0-3, Shalaina Duford 1-3, Tina Marquardt 0-3, Heidi Rausch 1-4, Makaliah Wilson 0-3, Jaylin Kenney 3-4, Jessica Bagnell 1-3, Colleen Jacobson 1-3, Jaelyn Ellenwood 0-0 2B - Rausch, 3B - J. Kenney RBIs - J. Kenney 2, Wilson, Jacobson

LP Battery - Bagnell and J. Kenney

BELG. 4, POLSON 3

B - 010 102 0 - 4

P - 100 100 1 - 3

Belgrade - 7 hits, 0 errors. Polson - 8 hits, 1 error.

Lady Pirates batting - Ashley Johnson 1-4, Riley Kenney 2-3, Shalaina Duford 1-3, Tina Marquardt 0-3, Heidi Rausch 2-3, Jaylin Kenney 1-2, Jessica Bagnell 0-3, Makaliah Wilson 1-3, Colleen Jacobson 0-3 2B - J. Kenney, HR - R. Kenney, Rausch, RBIs - R. Kenney, Rausch, Wilson

LP Battery - Duford and J. Kenney