ST. IGNATIUS — Ronan’s bats came alive and Mission-Arlee-Charlo’s gloves went to sleep in the third inning, and that was all the Maidens needed to carry a 16-7 victory Saturday in the first cross-county softball game of the 2014 season.

Scoreless through two innings, Ronan (2-0, 2-0 Western B-C) hung a six-run third inning on the Bulldogs and never looked back.

“I had to do a little screaming and then they woke up, I guess,” Ronan coach Brad Benson joked about his team’s performance.

Alaina Madsen and Kaitlyn Sassaman each went 2-for-6 for Ronan. Jordyn Clairmont added a double and four RBI, and Courtney Taylor smacked a triple for the Maidens.

The Bulldogs’ downfall was defense. They tallied eight errors in Saturday’s game.

“We started out pretty strong … and then we had some errors and just kind of fell apart,” Susan Weaselhead, the MAC coach, said. “We pulled it together and came back and scored [one in the third and five in the fifth], but then we had some more errors, and that was that.”

Defense is also a concern for Ronan, Benson said, though the Maidens only committed two errors in the game.

“A lot of it is they’re just not reacting yet,” he said. “But it will come. It was only the second game.”

Star third baseman Morgan Malatare broke her left thumb in the game but stayed in. Weaselhead said Malatare will trade positions with center fielder Mikaylan Roylance to ease the pressure on defense.

Weaselhead also pulled pitcher Courtney Charlo in the third inning, but she said that was to get some younger arms — Roylance and Jaycee Anderson — some experience in the circle.

“Feeling that pressure is good for the girls, especially this early in the season,” Weaselhead said.

That experience may come in handy this week when the Bulldogs (1-1, 1-1 Western B-C) play three games in two days against Thompson Falls and Whitefish. Weaselhead expects to have first baseman Emilie Charlo, who missed the team’s first two games with a concussion, back for at least a portion of the week’s games.

The road only gets tougher for the Maidens. They take on unbeaten Loyola on Thursday before traveling to defending state champion Florence on Saturday.

“Those next two games are going to be really tough,” Benson said. “If we could split, I’ll be happy, but I’d really like to win both of them.”

Box Score

Ronan 006 322 3 – 16 10 2

MAC 001 051 0 – 7 11 8

Alaina Madsen and Kaitlyn Sassaman. Courtney Charlo, Mikaylan Roylance (3), Jaycee Anderson (6), Charlo (7) and Alyssa Doty. W – Madsen. L – Charlo.

RONAN – Madsen 2-6, Jordyn Clairmont 1-5, Sassaman 2-6, Kenzie Dulmes 1-3, Kendra Starkel 1-5, Danielle Richwine 1-4, Jazmine Bocksnick 1-4, Amanda Morency 0-4, Courtney Taylor 1-2.

MAC – Roylance 3-4, Jordyn Eichert 2-3, Connor Smith 1-3, Doty 2-4, Morgan Malatare 0-3, Charlo 0-4, Shania Dubois 1-3, Anderson 2-3, Kenzie Couture 0-1, Alyssa Sorrell 0-1, RanDee Charlo 0-1.

2B – Madsen, Clairmont, Eichert. 3B – Taylor. HR – Doty. RBIs – Madsen 2, Clairmont 4, Sassaman, Starkel, Richwine, Morency, Roylance, Eichert, Smith, Doty, Dubois 2, Sorrell.

from Thursday, April 3

MAC 8, Deer Lodge 7

Alyssa Doty blooped a single into short center field that scored Jordyn Eichert for the Bulldogs walk-off win. Doty had three hits and two RBI for MAC in the contest.

MAC also got multi-hit performances from Mikaylan Roylance, Jordyn Eichert, Morgan Malatare and Shania Dubois.

The loss was Deer Lodge’s second walk-off loss in three days, as Ronan took the Wardens down in extra innings last Tuesday.

D. Lodge 005 000 2 – 7 4 3

MAC 012 004 1 – 8 12 1

Kelsie Gray and Dani Walker. Courtney Charlo and Alyssa Doty. W –Charlo. L – Gray.

DEER LODGE – Natalie Padovich 1-3, Gray 0-2, Walker 3-4, Michele Christnacht 0-2, Courtney Goff 0-4, Elena Carroll 0-3, Sara Forbes 0-2, McKenna Stefalo 0-3.

MAC – Mikaylan Roylance 2-4, Jordyn Eichert 2-5, Connor Smith 1-4, Doty 3-5, Morgan Malatare 2-4, Charlo 1-4, Shania Dubois 2-4, Jaycee Anderson 0-3, Kenzie Couture 0-1, RanDee Charlo 0-1, Alyssa Sorrell 0-1.

2B – Walker. 3B – Roylance. RBIs – Walker 3, Padovich, Christnacht, Eichert, Malatare, Dubois, Doty 2.