by John Q. Murray
With four wins at least week's tournament in Frenchtown---three of them coming from behind--none was bigger than the Lady Broncs' 7-5 conference win over Butte Central.
That win puts Frenchtown just one step away from the magical seventh conference win that Coach Eli Field projects will earn the Lady Broncs a ticket to the state tournament in Butte.
He said the back-and-forth game with Butte Central was typical of Frenchtown's play all weekend.
“When we fall behind, we answer right away,” he said. “That's been our deal most of the year.”
Sure enough, against Libby the Broncs went up 2-0 and 5-2, then fell behind 7-5, before scoring four in the sixth and going on to win 9-7. The Lady Broncs fell behind Whitefish briefly at 3-2 before dispatching them by 10 runs, 13-3.
Butte Central took leads of 1-0 in the first and 4-3 in the fifth, but Frenchtown again came back for the win by scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Bridgett Yarnall got the fifth started with a double off the fence. Alex Duncan walked, and Shelby Russ had a two-run double to give Frenchtown the lead. Shelby then stole third and came home on a Noelle Lebsock sacrifice fly.
After Jennifer Chapman singled, courtesy runner Erin Maxted converted that single into another run.
“Erin's been a terror on the bases for us,” said Coach Field. “She stole second, took third on a passed ball, and scored on a short passed ball. She hustled us out that last run. I don't know if she realizes it, but she has been big for us on the bases because she's been so aggressive and willing to take a chance.”
Another key was the maturity of Shelby Russ on the hill, staying strong even when the Lady Broncs defense faltered behind her.
“It was a really good weekend for her. Shelby threw three great games--I thought that's the best she has thrown all year. She didn't let the little things going on around her bother her,” Coach Field said. “She was in the zone, she was tough.”
The Libby game was huge because Libby is a very good team, with an all-state caliber pitcher in Brooke Hageness.
“We competed with them and overcame some bad things. We made some real silly mistakes and compounded them, but Shelby stayed strong,” he said.
Again, the Lady Broncs bounced back offensively, starting with a double by Alex. Shelby and Noelle put the ball in play and the team's aggressive baserunning forced Libby to make errors. Kali Bennett capped off the inning with an RBI single.
“I think our aggressive baserunning got into the pitcher's head a little bit,” the coach said, noting that the rally benefitted from some bases on balls that inning.
The only game the Lady Broncs led from wire to wire was the 14-6 win against Columbia Falls, in a game marked by Shelby's three home runs in a five-for-five, five-RBI performance. Kristy Kees also homered in the game.
“We just get after it offensively. We put people in a hole pretty early and then we play with the lead,” Coach Field explained. “Sometimes it looks sloppy, but I like playing all the kids, and when we pitch with the lead we throw it right over the middle of the plate and play defense. They tend to score a little bit when you do that, which is okay.”
“We all had a pretty good weekend,” he said. “You could start to feel it come together a little bit.”
After a game Friday at Polson, the Lady Broncs' will go for number seven on Saturday against Stevensville.
After notching win number seven, Coach Field said, the team's goal will shift to getting the best seed possible for state.
He praised the hard work over the weekend of team managers who prepared the fields for all of the games.
"Tucker Hoge, Cody Beierle, and Shea Burklund deserve a lot of recognition for their work. Those guys were running around prepping fields all weekend, and they were beat. That's a large reason for the tournament being as successful as it was,” he said.
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