Softball: Panthers advance to face Libby

By RYAN AMYS Chronicle Sports Writer

BUTTE n The Belgrade Panthers softball team clawed its way back from an unconventional first inning to defeat Columbia Falls, 15-5, in the second round of the Class A state tournament.

When Belgrade’s Lauren Torres gave up five runs in the top of the first inning, it appeared as though Columbia Falls was going to hand the Panthers their fourth loss of the season and an early entry into the consolation bracket.

Five runs was the most the sophomore pitching standout had given up in any game throughout the year, so for her to allow a handful of Wildcats to cross home plate in a single three-out stretch was completely out of the ordinary for the top seed out of the Eastern Division.

But, nothing in the first inning seemed to go the conventional way.

Due to never-ending rain Thursday that resulted in a sloppy field at Butte’s Copper Mountain Park, the game was moved across town to a more playable field at Stodden Park after just five pitches.

“Starting the game at Copper Mountain and having to move to Stodden, not knowing if we were going to play and with the conditions so bad, wasn’t the easiest thing,” Panthers coach Eddie Holgate said. “I’m not going to make any excuses for Lauren, but she had five minutes to warm up. But, once she got warmed up after that first inning, she settled down and did so much better.”

While the Wildcats hot bats went cold after the first, the Panthers never stopped pounding the ball all over the field n no matter what field it was.

“I knew we hadn’t hit yet, so I was pretty confident we would get after it when we got the bats going,” Panthers catcher Brittany Larsen said of the Wildcats’ five-run charge. “We knew what we had to do and did it.”

Belgrade rebounded quickly from a five-run deficit they hadn’t faced this year. The Panthers batted through the order and posted four runs of its own in the first inning.

“I was a little nervous, but I was still confident we were going to win it,” Torres said. “That first inning is just a blur right now.”

The second inning went scoreless, but the Panthers didn’t let the scorekeeper take too long of a break.

Belgrade’s Ali Morgan ripped a double to the fence that scored a run in the third, tying the game, 5-5.

Kasey West then placed a perfect bunt that turned into a blooper reel for the Wildcats, who threw the ball around the diamond until Morgan and West both scored. Meagan Bell followed that up with a double of her own, scoring Kelsey Foster, who reached second base on a double, giving the Panthers another four-run inning, an 8-5 lead and all the momentum to face Libby in today’s quarterfinals.

Larsen drove a shot over the left-field fence in the fourth inning, and freshman Ali Cygan clinched the game with a two-run drive in the fifth for the mercy-rule victory.

After a first-round bye and an opening-inning scare in the second round, the Panthers are still on pace to take home their first-ever state crown, facing Libby at 1 p.m.

“Our girls, with the way we hit the ball, we never rolled over,” Holgate said. “We responded with four runs in the first, then I figured we would have to slug it out with them. I said that was the key going into this, that if our bats were going, we are going to go a long ways. Hopefully, we can keep that up.”

Belgrade 15, Columbia Falls 5, 5 innings

Wildcats 500 00 — 5 6 4

Panthers 404 52 — 15 12 1

Morgan Rowe, Jessica Owens (4) and Amber James. Lauren Torres and Brittany Larson. W — Torres. L — Rowe.

COLUMBIA FALLS — Amanda Milliard 1-3, Tia Yaeger 0-2, Lindsay Nelson 0-3, Amber James 2-3, Kayla Stinger 1-3, Renae Nelson 1-3, Mandy Toavs 1-2, Morgan Rowe 0-2, Cedar Smith 0-0.

BELGRADE — Kelsey Foster 1-2, Megan Bell 3-4, Lauren Torre 1-3, Brittany Larson 1-3, Jill Gue 1-2, Ali Cygan 2-4, Paige Newell 0-0, Ali Morgan 2-3, Kasey West 1-2.

2B — Foster, Bell, Cygan, Morgan, Milliard, Toavs. 3B — Bell. HR — Larson, Cygan. RBI — Bell 3, Larson, Cygan 3, Morgan 2, James, Nelson, Toavs 2.

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