Prep Softball: Bison hand Rustlers a rare loss

Erin Hocker’s first home run of the season came at just the right time.

So for the first time this season, the C.M. Russell High softball team was dealt a loss.

Hocker’s two-run blast, a rainbow shot rifled over the fence in left, in the top of the sixth inning gave the Bison a 5-4 lead.

“I honestly step up in the batter’s box and tell myself, ‘You got it. You got it. You can hit it,’” said the sophomore Hocker, who also went the distance on the mound, holding the Rustler bats to six hits. “And I just go for whatever I can get.”

Two more runs followed in the seventh, and so the first of two crosstown games went the way of Great Falls High, a 7-4 decision before roughly 300 spectators on an unsullied Tuesday afternoon at the Multi-Sports Complex.

“I think that was kind of a momentum thing for us,” GFH head coach Mike Coleman said of Hocker’s at-bat with the Bison trailing 4-3, “and it kind of set them back on their heels. They went, ‘Holy cow.’

“I think that was a big turning point, but getting those other two runs in the next inning was bigger to me. Because one run with CMR, you can’t sit back on one run. They’re too tough. You never want to go into the last inning only one run ahead. So it was good to get those insurance runs.”

Star GFH freshman Sarah Conway went 3-for-4 from the dish, and Cayley Bushong, like Hocker and Molly Schmitz, connected on two hits each for the Bison, whose record improved to 10-4 overall and 6-3 in conference.

“She did really well,” Bushong said of Hocker, “and she really needed that home run today. It helped her confidence a lot.”

The Rustlers (6-1, 11-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, when leadoff batter Savanna Voyles singled up the middle, and the rest of the lineup caught fire.

Katie Huisman capped the rally when she scored from third on a pitch that got past GFH catcher McKenzie Staats, caroming off the fence behind home plate for a 3-0 CMR advantage.

“Erin threw really well,” Coleman said. “I was happy with the whole thing. The biggest thing was we got down by three, and we battled right back and ended up winning the game. That’s a tough team over there. CMR’s tough.”

In the top of the second inning, CMR’s star senior pitcher Courtney Schroeder, who came in with a league-best six victories and a 0.92 earned run average, walked Madlynn Ray, and then Schmitz and Conway managed back-to-back singles to get on the board. Jasmine Hill knotted the contest at three with a single up the middle.

“I liked how we came back,” Hocker said. “We worked really hard. We have really great hitters, and they all came up and just played really hard.”

Schroeder, who regained herself in the ensuing innings to allow the Rustlers to regain the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Voyles doubled to left, allowed 13 hits on the day. The Rustlers did their best to lend a helping hand behind her, including back-to-back incredible diving catches by left fielder Julia Schearer and right fielder Katie Heryla. But it wasn’t enough. Schroeder was off ever so slightly, and her head coach knew it.

“She’s got to be mentally tough, seven innings, and I don’t think she was today,” CMR head coach Lindsey Gustafson said of Schroeder, whose bases-loaded single in the first made it 2-0 CMR. “But I’m going to give them credit, they are a great hitting team. Those coaches always have them ready with good swings. They’re good. You have to give them credit.”

Coleman said defeating the Rustlers is a big confidence booster for his team, a team that’s young but talented.

“We’ve been trying to tell these girls that they are as good as anybody if they just play errorless ball,” he said. “And we made a couple errors tonight, and it cost us some runs. Once again, we have to get rid of those little errors because in the state tournament, if we make it there, everybody’s good there. They’re coming around, though. They’re playing really well.”

For the Rustlers, a loss at this stage of the season isn’t always a bad thing.

“I don’t think it’s ever good to go undefeated, really,” Gustafson said. “I think it’s a humbling experience and it makes you reevaluate things and go forward from here and you have to work harder to get back to where we want to be.”

Great Falls High 7, C.M. Russell High 4

GFH…030 002 2 – 7 13 1

CMR…300 100 0 – 4 6 1

Erin Hocker and McKenzie Staats. Courtney Schroeder and Katie Huisman. W – Hocker. L – Schroeder.

GFH – Mari Held 1-3, Jasmine Hill 1-4, Tanaya Krenik 1-4, Cayley Bushong 2-4, McKenzie Staats 1-4, Madylnn Ray 0-1, Veda Root 0-2, Molly Schmitz 2-4, Sarah Conway 3-4, Erin Hocker 2-4.

CMR – Savanna Voyles 2-2, Kierstin Evenson 0-4, Myla Robbins 1-4, Katie Huisman 1-3, Courtney Schroeder 1-3, Julianna Gonzales 0-2, Laura Poitra 0-3, Julia Schearer 1-3, Katie Heryla 0-1, Kayci Edwards 0-1.

2B – Krenik, Voyles. HR – Hocker. RBI – Hill, Staats, Schmitz, Conway, Hocker 2, Voyles, Schroeder 2.