Lady Loggers earn win before tough stretch

Hannah England’s seven innings of shutout ball kept the Libby Lady Logger softball team rolling Thursday when they defeated Whitefish at home, 7-0.

England struck out 10 batters while allowing two hits and no walks during seven innings. At the dish, Devon Gallagher blasted a solo homer and a double. Shortstop Mahalah Wedel and right fielder Staci Regh led the Loggers with three hits apiece.

“Hannah pitched well,” Coach Dean Thompson said. “The bats didn’t hit real well, though. We had 14 hits, but we thought we could do better. Whitefish had a couple of real nice catches that took away extra bases.”

The conference win improves Libby to 11-1 overall and 3-1 in conference. While happy with the win, Thompson said his team will face some of their toughest opponents of the season this week.

The gauntlet begins with a pair of Class AA schools. On Tuesday, the Loggers travel to Flathead (2-8, 4-10). On Friday, the Loggers will host Glacier after a miscommunication led to a rescheduling. While Libby had the game marked down for last week, Glacier (6-5, 7-5-1) had the game this week. The game will begin at 3:30 p.m. The Lady Loggers will commemorate the game with their annual Pink Game. The girls will wear black and pink uniforms to promote breast cancer awareness. A pink ball will be thrown out to start the game, and a pink ball will be raffled off during the game. Proceeds will be donated to local cancer organizations.

Libby’s biggest game of the season is Saturday. Any remaining questions on Libby’s place among the best softball teams in the state will be answered when they host the state’s best Class A team, Frenchtown.

“They’re number one and we’re number two,” Thompson said. “The girls are hungry for that game. We’ve seen them play. Hopefully we will be going into that game healthy.”

After starting the season 8-0, Frenchtown (2-0, 8-1) lost Saturday to Class AA Big Sky (11-3).

Whitefish 000 000 0 – 0 2 2

Libby 213 010 x – 7 14 1

WHITEFISH – Malia Morris 0-3, Georgia Donaldson 0-3, Jordan Sletten 0-3, Madi Davis 1-3, Micah McFeely 1-2, Michaela McDowell 0-3, Reading 0-3, Savannah Eisenbarth 0-2, Mickey Dooley 0-2.

LIBBY – England 0-4, Mahalah Wedel 3-4, Kelsey Klin 1-3, Gallagher 2-4, Auria Benefield 2-4, Dayln Germany 1-4, Rachel Rebo 2-3, Staci Regh 3-3, Kyra Lauer 0-2, Brooke Rosling 0-1, Madison Monigold 0-0.