The Polson softball team continues to respond well when they jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings in their recent game against Corvallis Thursday night at Polson High School.

“It always seems that we start out with an error and at the bottom of the third, we made a bad mistake,” Smith said. “It was a mental mistake and that was the wrong place to get out in that error. That is how we started off.”

Lady Pirates’ pitcher Haley Fyant finished with 12 strikeouts in the game after Polson allowed Corvallis to creep back into the contest when they manufactured a 5-run inning.

The Lady Pirates responded with a 12-run inning to win the game and quickly end the competitive phase as they won 23-6.

“We jumped out to a real early lead and after two innings, they got within in one,” Smith said. “I told the girls I was really pleased. What was most pleasing was how they responded at the near-bottom half of that inning with a 12-run inning.”

Smith said he felt like the 12-run inning solidified his team’s momentum they were able to carry the rest of the game.

“That really took the wind out of their sails and that was a big inning,” Smith said. “We were able to take all of the momentum away from them with their two errors and hit batters. The momentum just grew and our team grabbed it. That was the most satisfying thing is that we were able to take the wind out of their sails.”

After giving up five runs, Smith said he thought his pitcher Fyant was able to “settle down.”

“After that she struck out the side,” Smith said. “She had three strikeouts in a row that inning and struck out one in the fourth.”