CMR escapes close call to sweep Senior

Billings Senior catcher Sarah Bonner had just tied the game with a two-run homer.

The play before, Senior’s Grace Ostermiller had reached on an error to put an end to C.M. Russell pitcher Courtney Schroeder’s streak of 10 straight Broncs retired.

But Schroeder set down six of the next seven hitters, and the Rustlers hung three runs in their half of the seventh to claim a 6-3 win and secure a sweep of visiting Senior Saturday afternoon at the Great Falls Multi-Sports Complex. CMR won Game 1 12-0 in six innings.

“It kind of put a fire under me to stay strong and go hard at them,” Schroeder said of Bonner’s no-out blast that cleared the center-field fence.

The bats woke up in the last as well. Caitlin Soltesz opened the frame with a seeing-eye slap up the middle, and Savanna Voyles bunted her way aboard. The pair advanced on a fake bunt-steal, and Soltesz scored when the Broncs’ third baseman mishandled the throw down.

“When you have Caitlin and Savanna on base, it’s fun to see what they can do,” Rustlers coach Lindsey Gustafson said of her speedy baserunners.

Laura Poitra drew a walk, and Myla Robbins drove in Voyles with a sharp single to right-center. Poitra later scored on Quinn Hartman’s fly ball to left that was dropped, and that was more than Schroeder would need.

She allowed a bottom-half single, but a ground ball to Robbins resulted in a game-ending double play.

“I should say (we were) coasting, but we just weren’t as focused,” Gustafson explained. “But I like how we responded in the seventh inning.”

The Rustlers managed just three hits prior to the last inning against Senior sophomore Brittanee Fisher. CMR rattled off 12 hits — including three home runs — in the day’s first contest with Bonner in the circle for the Broncs.

“I don’t know why the pitching changed us,” said Schroeder, who homered in the first game. “Nothing was really different.”

Gustafson was surprised the bats went to sleep as well.

“We had a couple good practices this week really working on our hitting, staying long through the ball,” the coach said.

But perhaps the linescore hinted at a dropoff. CMR scored nine runs the first three frames — including no-doubt dingers from Schroeder and Robbins in the early going — before hanging a pair of goose eggs in the fourth and fifth. McCall Enott ended it in the sixth with a 3-run homer of her own that invoked the mercy rule.

Hartman struck out five Broncs and scattered three hits for an easy win in the circle.

The Rustlers (8-1, 5-0) won’t get much time to rest weary legs; Saturday marks the first day of a stretch in which they’ll play nine games in 11 days. That continues Tuesday with the second installment of the Crosstown series. CMR won the first game 5-2 in eight innings last Tuesday.

“It’s weird having it a week after (the first game),” Schroeder said of the rivalry matchup. “… Now the emotions are all smushed together.”

That game begins at 4:15 p.m. at Multi-Sports, following the 2 p.m. JV affair.

Game 1

Great Falls CMR 12, Billings Senior 0, 6 inn.

Senior…000 000 — 0 3 3

CMR…342 003 — 12 12 0

Sarah Bonner and Payton Meyer. Quinn Hartman and Katie Huisman. W — Hartman. L — Bonner.

BILLINGS SENIOR — Meyer 0-2, Grace Ostermiller 2-3, Bonner 1-3, Brittanee Fisher 0-2, Anna Paine 0-2, Courtnie Brown 0-1, Mercedes Boyer 0-2, Camille Castles 0-2, Sydney Norwood 0-2.

C.M. RUSSELL — Savanna Voyles 1-4, Laura Poitra 1-3, Myla Robbins 1-2, Courtney Schroeder 2-4, Hartman 1-4, Huisman 3-4, McCall Enott 2-3, Brenna Bushard 0-3, Caitlin Soltesz 1-3, Tanaya Krenick 0-1.

2B — Huisman. HR — Schroeder, Robbins, Enott. RBI — Robbins 3, Schroeder 3, Enott 4.

Game 2

Great Falls CMR 6, Billings Senior 3

CMR…200 001 3 — 6 6 1

Senior…100 002 0 — 3 7 3

Schroeder and Huisman. Fisher and Bonner. W — Schroeder. L — Fisher.

C.M. RUSSELL — Voyles 2-3, Poitra 1-3, Robbins 1-4, Schroeder 1-3, Hartman 0-3, Huisman 1-2, Enott 0-3, Kierstin Evenson 0-2, Soltesz 1-2.

BILLINGS SENIOR — Meyer 1-4, Ostermiller 0-3, Bonner 2-3, Fisher 0-3, Paine 1-2, Brown 1-3, Boyer 0-3, Castles 0-3, Norwood 2-3.

2B — Voyles. HR — Bonner. RBI — Robbins, Schroeder, Huisman.