CMR, GFH softball teams start strong at jamboree
It’s about what they expected for the start of softball season: weather, wind, solid offense and shoddy-at-times defense.
Saturday’s Great Falls Softball Jamboree kicked off the Treasure State’s prep fastpitch season at the Great Falls Multi-Sports Complex with few surprises for the host teams. Great Falls High won thrice and tied another hour-long scrimmage while rival C.M. Russell managed three wins as well, falling in Saturday’s finale to Kalispell Glacier.
Not a bad showing despite record-tying wind gusts that topped out at 58 mph and a brief delay due to freezing precipitation, huh?
“It’s early, and it’s cold and it’s miserable and the dust is in your eyes,” Bison head coach Mike Coleman said. “So you know, I feel pretty good about the way we look right now.”
The Bison tied Missoula Sentinel 2-2 to start off the day, but they rattled off three straight wins after that. Great Falls High blew out Kalispell Flathead 13-0, beat Helena Capital 5-3 and finished off with an 8-1 win over Havre.
They did it with solid at bats and good use of team speed, Coleman said. He said Bailey Ferda, Marina LaRocque and CJ Konesky had particularly good days with the stick.
“We don’t have the big bomb hitters,” the coach added. “We’re just going to be the base-hit hitters. That’s the way it is.”
And if the pitching shows as much promise as it did Saturday — LaRocque and Hannah Schaffer allowed just six runs in the four hour-long contests — the Bison are going to be just fine.
The Rustlers started out strong but struggled toward the end of the day. CMR ousted Flathead 13-4, Capital 9-0 and Havre 20-3 before running into a buzzsaw in Kalispell Glacier and Wolfpack pitcher Ali Williams, who shut the Rustlers out in a 5-0 decision.
“We just need to make adjustments, and we didn’t do that,” CMR coach Lindsey Gustafson said of the finale.
The Rustler defense was rock solid Saturday until that final game as well, when they allowed four unearned runs behind pitcher Quinn Hartman.
“I thought for the most part today, our defense played pretty good,” Gustafson said.
Hartman’s lone earned run of the day was a home run allowed to Glacier; the Super-State selection tossed four shutout innings against Capital. Courtney Schroeder was solid in the circle against Havre and Flathead.
As a coach, Gustafson was happy to see the bright side at the plate (including home runs from McCall Enott, Hartman and Katie Huisman), but the Rustler skipper was also thankful for the humility Williams handed CMR at the end of the day.
They’ll see Williams and the Wolfpack again on Friday in a non-conference game at home.
“We have room to improve, for sure,” said Gustafson, reiterating the need for adjustments at the plate, “so it will be fun to see where we go in a couple days of practice next week.”
Both Electric City squads begin regular season action Thursday, April 2 back at the Multi-Sports Complex with a doubleheader against the Helena schools. CMR begins the season with Capital at 1 p.m. while the Bison will play host to Helena High. The teams will then trade opponents for the 3 p.m. contest.
Results
Game 1
Great Falls CMR 13, Kalispell Flathead 4
Great Falls High 2, Missoula Sentinel 2
Missoula Hellgate 3, Butte 0
Missoula Big Sky 4, Laurel 0
Billings Senior 6, Helena High 4
Billings West 3, Kalispell Glacier 3
Helena Capital 6, Billings Skyview 5
Bozeman 6, Havre 4
Game 2
Great Falls High 13, Kalispell Flathead 0
Missoula Sentinel 4, Butte High 2
Laurel 11, Missoula Hellgate 2
Missoula Big Sky 5, Billings Senior 2
Billings West 1, Helena High 0
Kalispell Glacier 7, Bozeman 6
Great Falls CMR 9, Helena Capital 0
Billings Skyview 13, Havre 2
Game 3
Butte 6, Kalispell Flathead 0
Missoula Sentinel 8, Laurel 3
Billings Senior 2, Missoula Hellgate 0
Billings West 5, Missoula Big Sky 3
Bozeman 1, Helena High 1
Kalispell Glacier 8, Billings Skyview 7
Great Falls High 5, Helena Capital 3
Great Falls CMR 20, Havre 3
Game 4
Laurel 11, Kalispell Flathead 6
Missoula Sentinel 12, Billings Senior 1
Billings West 10, Missoula Hellgate 2
Missoula Big Sky 7, Bozeman 5
Helena High 3, Billings Skyview 1
Kalispell Glacier 5, Great Falls CMR 0
Helena Capital 11, Butte 0
Great Falls High 8, Havre 1