Lady Loggers slide past Frenchtown, 1-0

In the bottom of the ninth inning with two out against Frenchtown, Logger Devon Gallagher took a healthy lead off of third base. Both teams had put runners in position to score throughout the game, but stout defense and amazing pitching thwarted all attempts and the score was knotted at 0-0.

Dayln Germany was at the plate when the pitch from Broncs ace pitcher Morgan Ray got away from the catcher.

“Thompson was telling me I needed to score on a passed ball and I knew she couldn’t see it so I just went for it,” Gallagher said. “It was just awesome.”

Gallagher safely slid home and the lone score allowed the Loggers to hand Frenchtown and all-star pitcher Morgan Ray their first loss of the year, earning them a 1-0 win.

In the ninth, Gallagher reached base on an error and moved to third on another fielding snafu.

Libby’s Hannah England matched Ray’s performance with each pitcher throwing an exceptional game. England struck out 13 and walked one while Ray fanned 12 with one walk as well.

“I took every inning out there seriously,” said England. “It was a good focus game for me, sometimes I lose my cool towards the end so it was really good for me. It was a long game, but I had a lot of adrenaline pushing me through those extra innings.”

England’s grit was visible in the extra frames. In the eighth inning with two outs she stepped off the mound for a moment, pounded the ball into her glove a few times, then licked her fingers and delivered a strike to end the inning.

In the ninth, three Frenchtown batters stepped to the plate and all of them returned to the dugout without a hit.

Assistant coach Ruth Fenn said the Loggers have been a different team the last couple of weeks. To prepare the girls for Ray’s pitching, she said the team turned the pitching machine up to 65 mph. 

“That’s a big win for us,” Libby head coach Dean Thompson said. “It sets up for getting into the state tournament with a couple more wins in the conference. But we still have to get better every week.”

Thompson said the team’s hitting is improving since they have now faced pitchers whose styles differ.

“The girls have put in the extra time and they’re working hard. They’re not done yet, their goal is to get better and better every week.”

Frenchtown (3-1 in Northwestern A, 13-1 overall) had five hits -- two from Haley Cyr -- to Libby’s (3-2, 11-3) three.

F-town 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0 5 3

Libby   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1  1 3 2

Morgan Ray and Brooke Yarnall. Hannah England and Devon Gallagher. W – England. L – Ray.

FRENCHTOWN – Emma Pyron 0-4, Yarnall 1-4, Ray 1-4, Krista Hebnes 0-4, Haley Cyr 2-4, Shelby Shourds 0-2, Laci Willett 1-3, Allie Moe 0-2, Taylor Rockwood 0-2, Ali Hochhalter 0-1.

LIBBY – Madisen Monigold 1-4, Mahalah Wedel 1-4, Abby Ennenga 0-4, Devon Gallagher 0-4, Rachel Rebo 0-4, Staci Regh 1-4, Dayln Germany 0-2, Auria Benefield 0-2, Ashley Walker 0-1, Hannah England 0-3.

At Whitefish, the Loggers blasted Whitefish in a northwestern A blowout.

Libby put up 20 points on only five hits. Madisen Monigold and Jordan Turner had two of those apiece.

Whitefish (0-5, 0-10) got a pair of singles -- one each from Grace Porterfield and Savannah Eisenbarth.

Libby  1 3 9 5 1   19 9 0

W-fish 0 0 0 0 0    0 2 0

Hannah England and Devon Gallagher. Halle Reading, Savannah Eisenbarth (4) and Lily Stedman. W – England. L – Reading.

LIBBY – Madisen Monigold 2-2, Mahalah Wedel 0-2, Abby Ennenga 0-3, Gallagher 0-1, Jordan Turner 2-3, Rachel Rebo 0-0, Staci Regh 0-3, Dayln Germany 0-3, Auria Benefield 0-0, England 0-0, Taryne Luscher 0-1

WHITEFISH – Grace Porterfield 1-2, Abby Reese 0-2, Michaela McDowell 0-2, Eisenbarth 1-2, Isabelle Klempel 0-2, Reading 0-1, Bailey Smith 0-1, Baileigh Krause 0-2, Stedman 0-2, Abbey Nelson 0-1.

2B – Benefield. RBIs – n/a.