Lady Loggers fall to Columbia Falls; Polson ends their season
<p>Hannah England fires a pitch toward the plate during the Columbia Falls game on Thursday</p>
<p>Freshman first baseman Daylin Germany catches the third out in the top of the sixth on a throw from Hannah England on Thursday.</p>
<p>Freshman Devon Gallagher smacks a base hit in the bottom of the 3rd with no outs vs. Columbia Falls</p>
The Libby Lady Loggers softball team had a chance to forge an indisputable path into the playoffs Thursday had they posted a conference victory over Columbia Falls. However, that was not the case as they dropped a 6-2 contest to the Wildkats at Remp Field.
The next night, on Friday, Libby had a second chance to make the playoffs against Polson, but the Ladies’ season came to an end in a 6-3 loss to the Lady Pirates.
On Thursday, against the Wildkats, the Lady Loggers battled to a scoreless tie through the early going before Columbia Falls broke out on top 2-0 in the top of the third off Libby left-hander Hannah England.
“Their pitcher threw a good ballgame,” said Wildkat coach Dave Kehr. “The fact she’s just a freshman is impressive. We just had the benefit of some timely hitting tonight.”
And put the bat on the ball is what the Wildkats did.
It was a contest in which when Libby needed the clutch hits, they did not come. However, for Columbia Falls it did.
In that third inning when Columbia Falls scored first, two Wildkat runners advanced in tough at-bats in which they reached on walks. Then with two outs, Columbia Falls’ Niki Birky bounced a hot shot to Libby shortstop Mahalah Wedel but the low throw eluded Daylin Germany. With both runners going on the pitch, they scored to give the Wildkats a 2-0 lead, an edge they never relinquished.
“We just didn’t get the bat on the ball when we needed to,” said Libby coach Dean Thompson. “They got some good hits when they needed to and that was the difference.”
The Wildkats padded their lead with a bases-loaded, round-tripper in the bottom of the fifth inning as Libby right-fielder Devon Gallagher dived for the ball, which got past her. Then it was a foot race as Madison Sandefer sprinted around the bases for the grand slam.
“You can’t fault her (Gallagher) for that,” Thompson said of his left-fielder’s attempt at the diving reception. “If she catches it, the inning is over. If she lets it bounce two runs score, and we still lose by two, (4-2). We just didn’t hit. We had our chances.”
The Lady Loggers did have their chances.
In the fourth, Gallagher reached on a single and then Alexis Hageness advanced on a walk. With runners on first and second, the Lady Loggers went down consecutively, as Keley Klin flied out to center and then both Germany and Rebecca Kyriss stuck out to end the Libby threat.
In the fifth, Kim Tangen singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third, but the threat ended with her stranded at third with three consecutive groundouts.
In the sixth, Gallagher led off by reaching on an error on a hot shot to third and ultimately scored for Libby’s first run.
Hageness’ double to left-center field set the table for a big Logger inning, but a fly out to center field by Klin was caught and cut off by the Wildkats’ pitcher. The Wildkats’ pitcher then fired to second base to catch Hageness off the base. While all this was going on, Tangen easily scored from third, but the 8-1-4 double play took the wind out of the Lady Loggers’ sails in what could have been a big inning.
Libby picked up its final run in the seventh as Tangen reached again on a one-out walk, advanced to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a fielder’s choice for the second out and then scored on Alyssa Walker’s two-out RBI single to left field.