PLAINS – Every Western B-C game is going to be a fight, a fight to the finish.

Fighting their way through two tough toe-to-toe softball contests with Western B-C foes last week, the battle-tested Plains Trotters split home games, falling 14-13 to Troy Friday and coming back strong with a nine-run sixth inning to knock off Eureka 13-11 Saturday.

Coach Jon Zigler and his Trotters were to have hosted Thompson Falls in another important Western B-C slugfest Monday, but Plains will then not play again until April 23 against MAC in Mission.

Zigler was good with his Trotters’ efforts in both tough contests last week, outside of a little defensive inconsistency at times.

“Our offense is really clicking,” he said pointing to the 13 hits and 13 runs Plains produced. “Karissa French, Montana Taylor, Randi Kilgore and Taylor Saner are all swinging a hot bat right now.”

Trotter bats really heated up in the bottom of the sixth inning against Eureka with Plains trailing 11-4, when the Trotters came up with their biggest inning of the season, plating nine runs before it was over to take a 13-11 lead into the top of the seventh inning.

Freshman pitcher Bri Kulawinski closed out the Lions from there to give Plains its first win of the season. Zigler credited French for a bases-clearing, three-run double as being the key hit in the sixth inning uprising, adding Kulawinski’s efforts were also key. “Bri pitched very well for us in both games,” Zigler said.

French hit a similar, bases-clearing, three-run double in the game with Troy Friday to give the Trotters a 13-12 lead in the bottom of the sixth of that game, but the Trojans answered with Hailey Dungan crashing a two-run home run in the top of the seventh to allow Troy to retake the lead at 14-13.

The Trotters couldn’t answer again in their half of the inning and Troy managed to hold on and steal the road win.

Zigler expects more softball battles like these in the coming weeks. “Western B-C teams seem to be real well matched,” he said. “Thompson Falls is young like us, but have a lot of raw talent. I expect that to be a very competitive game.”

Catching capably on the defensive side for Plains last week, French finished the game against Eureka with a double, a single, four runs batted in and two runs scored to lead the Trotter offense.

Kulawinski added a base hit, an RBI and three runs scored, Taylor three hits, a run and an RBI, and Saner a hit, a run and a run batted in.

Emery Josephson had a hit and scored two runs, Randi Kilgore rapped out two hits and drove in a run, Cooper Spurr scored two runs, Claire Lakko added a hit, a run and an RBI, and Taryn Meredith two hits, a run and another RBI.

French hit the bases-emptying double, drove in a total of four runs and scored one against Troy, Saner smacked a first-inning, opposite field home run and ended up scoring two runs and driving in two, Taylor was two for three with a run scored and two RBI, Lakko three for four with a run scored, Spurr two for four with three runs batted in, and Emery Josephson one for three with another run scored.

Meredith and Kinsley Josephson also scored runs against Troy.

    GOING, GOING, GONE – Troy catcher Ellah Wallace, the home plate umpire and Trotter hitter Taylor Saner watch the ball sail towards the rightfield fence and out of the park after Saner hit a first inning, opposite field home run against the Trojans at PHS Friday. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)