Grady, Warriner and Holt lead Pack over Spartans

MISSOULA — Ava Grady homered and combined with Olivia Warriner on a six-hitter, Taelor Holt had three hits and Glacier powered past Missoula Sentinel 8-3 in a key Western AA softball matchup Thursday.

Grady’s two-run home run in the third inning gave the Wolfpack a 5-1 lead, and Glacier went on to solidify its spot atop the Western AA standings at 12-1 in league games (16-3 overall).  

Warriner allowed all six hits in four-plus innings of work, including a solo home run by Hailey Papp that cut Sentinel’s deficit to 5-2. Grady came in with two on and none out in the fifth and retired nine of 10 batters from there, seven by strikeout. 

In the sixth inning Joslyn Crofts hit an RBI single to move Glacier’s lead to 6-3; the Pack got an RBI single from Emma Smith and a run scoring groundout from Sophia Frederick — Holt scored her third run on the play —  in the seventh. 

Piper Whitman went the distance in the circle for Sentinel (17-3, 10-3 in league), striking out one and walking one. She also hit a double. 

Glacier    302    001    2    -    8    9    2 

Sentinel    100    110    0    -    3    6    4

Olivia Warriner, Ava Grady (5) and Emma Smith. Piper Whitman and Hailey Papp. 

GLACIER — Karley Allen 1-4, Warriner 1-3, Taelor Holt 3-4, Grady 2-4, Smith 1-4, Sophia Frederick 0-4, Tensley Conner 0-4, Addy Cunningham 1-3, Lanee Anderson 0-2, Joslyn Crofts 1-1, Avery Bailey 0-0. 

MISSOULA SENTINEL — Hayden Slater 0-3, Whitman 1-4, Alyssa Hanninen 2-3, Makenna Straub 0-4, Papp 1-3, Gigi Nimlos 0-3, Payton Taylor 1-3, E Wingo 1-3, Isabel Schwartz 0-2, Milla Smith 0-0. 

2B — Whitman. HR — Grady, Papp. RBIs — Grady 3, Smith 2, Frederick, Crofts, Hanninen, Papp. 

Western AA Standings 

    Conf.    Overall

Glacier    12-1    16-3 

Big Sky    10-3    15-5 

Sentinel    10-3    17-3 

Butte    8-5    9-7 

Flathead    5-8    7-12 

Capital    4-9    6-123 

Helena    3-10    6-13 

Hellgate    0-13    0-16