Falling behind to Frenchtown and expecting to comeback when Morgan Ray is in the circle is a tough task for any team.

Such was the case in the Broncs’ 6-1 Northwestern A softball victory on Friday evening over the Columbia Falls Wildkats.

Frenchtown (6-0 overall, 1-0 Northwest A) opened up the contest with two runs in the top of the first inning and the Wildkats (6-2, 3-1) had to play catch up the rest of the way.

Ray led off the game with a base hit and scored two batters later on Brooke Yarnall’s double. Krista Hebnes made it two consecutive doubles, driving in Yarnall to take a 2-0 advantage.

Frenchtown tacked on one more in the third before the Wildkats finally got to Ray.

Lottie Ellis led off the bottom of the third with a sharply hit opposite-field single. The junior shortstop reached second base on a passed ball and ended up on third after a dropped third strike.

That’s when Kaitlyn Hoerner, batting ninth, ripped a shot right back up the middle into center field for an RBI single.

The Broncs went on to score one run in each of the final three innings while holding the Wildkats scoreless despite their fifth-inning threat.

With runners on second and third, a hit away from cutting the deficit to one, Ray threw three consecutive strikes to end the inning with her eighth strikeout of the game.

“(Ray) had a lot of strike outs, but I thought we got the bat on the ball pretty well. We had some opportunities to score some more runs; we just didn’t get the hits when we needed them,” Columbia Falls coach Dave Kehr said.

“(Frenchtown) is a good team. They have a little more than just pitching. It’s not like they’re just pitchers. They hit the ball pretty well.”

Ray, a future Ohio State Buckeye, stuck out 11 batters in the win, but Wildkats’ starter Ashley Trueblood collected 12.

Trueblood, a senior, struck out the side in the top of the seventh and struck out two batters in the second, fourth and sixth innings each.

“She got behind a little bit. I think she got a little tired, but she looked pretty good tonight,” Kehr said. “She hit her spots pretty well. There’s a few pitches we still need to work on of course, but I thought she pitched well.

“We just need the same focus. You can see they play differently in these big games. We have to be that intense in every game. That’s what we’re taking away from this one. The same intensity we had here, they need to have all the time. They were really focused.”

The Wildkats will need to retain their focus for their upcoming schedule. Columbia Falls will have the week off before traveling to the Frenchtown Tournament on April 24.

Frenchtown 201 011 1 — 6 10 1

Columbia Falls 001 000 0 — 1 3 3

Morgan Ray and Brooke Yarnall. Ashley Trueblood and Samantha Collins. W — Ray. L — Trueblood.

FRENCHTOWN — Ray 2-3, Emma Pyron 1-4, Yarnall 3-4, Krista Hebnes 2-4, Haley Cyr 0-3, Shelby Shrouds 2-3, Laci Willet 0-3, Alli Moe 0-3, Allison Hochhalter 0-3.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Carlee Brown 1-3, Katie Price 0-2, Trueblood 0-3, Breanna Friar 0-3, Alysha Cantu 0-3, Madi Fetters 0-3, Lottie Ellis 1-3, Collins 0-1. Kaitlyn Hoerner 1-3.

2B — Hebnes 2, Yarnall. 3B — Pyron. RBI — Pyron, Yarnall 3, Shrouds, Hoerner.