Cats have a rough go against Glacier on the road, beat Bigfork at home

The Columbia Falls baseball team had a tough time against AA Glacier last week, losing 10-3.

The Wildcats were up 2-0 after two innings, but Glacier put up six in the bottom of the fourth. Then added three more in the bottom of the sixth.

Zeke Dunn got the start and went 4 1/3 innings, giving up three hits and eight runs while striking out seven. The Cats had four errors in the loss. Dunn had just three earned runs.

Nico Young pitched 1 2/3 innings of relief and gave up two runs.

Columbia Falls had forged a 2-0 lead behind Jett Pitts’ RBI single in the third inning and a fourth-inning balk that brought in Jaxson Caldwell.  Pitts also doubled in a run in the seventh for the Cats.

The game of the week, a showdown scheduled against Whitefish last Tuesday was postponed as there was water on the Bulldogs’ field.

 After falling behind in the first inning, Columbia Falls erupted for 12 runs across three innings, rolling to a 15-4 win in a clash between Northwest A foes on Tuesday evening.

Bigfork (4-1) set the tone early. Rye Rodriguez worked a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Max Schara’s RBI single. A dropped third strike allowed another run to cross, giving the Vikings a quick 2-0 edge. 

It didn’t last. 

Columbia Falls (4-2) responded immediately, loading the bases in the bottom half before Tristan Victor lined a two-run single to tie it. Jaxson Cadwell followed with an RBI hit, and just like that the Wildcats were in front 3-2. 

The Wildcats broke it open in the second, stringing together quality at-bats and taking advantage of mistakes to plate seven runs. Jory Hill and Nico Young each drove in runs to start the surge. Pitts doubled to bring two home, and Wyatt Dodson capped the inning with a two-run double that stretched the lead to 10-2.

Bigfork answered briefly in the third, scoring twice with the help of an error. Grady Campbell provided the highlight, swiping home to cut the deficit to 10-4. 

But Columbia Falls didn’t let the momentum linger. 

Pitts led off the bottom half with a double and later scored on a wild pitch. Cadwell tripled and came home the same way, pushing the lead further out of reach. 

The Wildcats closed it out in the fourth. Pitts delivered a sacrifice fly, Victor added an RBI on an infield single, and Cadwell drove in his third run of the day to seal the 15-4 mercy rule finish.  

Victor and Cadwell led the way with three RBIs apiece, while Jett Pitts impacted the game all over — collecting two hits, driving in two runs and striking out eight over 2 2/3 innings to earn the win. Tayvin Beach handled the rest in relief.