Trotters still looking for first win
Plains-Hot Springs junior Karlena Heward slides into home during a 1-2 loss in the first half of a double header versus Florence on Friday. The game, originally scheduled for Thursday was postponed due to poor weather conditions.
Trotter senior Brittany Spencer goes to bat for Plains-Hot Springs on Friday evening. Spender earned a single in the loss.
The Trotters can’t seem to get over the hump in 2011 and have fallen in three of their four contests by only one run.
After falling 2-1 and 5-18 in a double-header versus Florence on Friday, and 4-5 versus Libby’s junior varsity squad on Saturday, Plains-Hot Springs is now 0-3 conf. 0-4 ovr.
Trotter head coach Larry Rivinius was un-phased by the losses. “I’m optimistic,” he said. “We’ve shown so far that we can play with most of the teams that we’ve met so it’s just a matter of pulling everything together so that we can get a win rather than a close loss.”
Although numbers have been a factor for the Trotters thus far, Rivinius feels that some dissipating eligibility concerns will be enough to get his team into the win column in the near future.
On Friday, Courtney Byrne stared both games for the Falcons as they completed the Western B-C sweep of Plains. Florence played flawless defensively, not allowing a single error in either game.
In the first matchup, Byrne surrendered two hits and six walks, but struck out 11 for the win.
Sophomore pitcher Aspen Rude got the start for the Trotters. Rude only allowed two hits, but four Trotter errors kept her from earning her first win of the year. She fell to 0-2 on the season.
For Florence, Kristin Lind hit a double and Cassandra Skeers added an RBI in the win.
Ashley Thompson had a pair of singles and an RBI for the Trotters.
In the second game, the Falcons seemed to find their groove. They rattled off 12 hits and 18 runs to end the game early. The contest was called after five innings because of the 10-run margin rule.
Byrne led the Falcons, hitting 3 for 3, while Brittany Heinz added a single and a triple.
Things picked up for the Trotters offensively as well, as they tallied seven hits. However, their defense cost them again. They surrendered seven errors in the loss.
A. Thompson and Shannel Peterson each had two hits for Plains-Hot Springs. Tia Thompson, Brittany Spencer and Felicia Earhart also had singles for the Trotters.
Byrne had another impressive outing in the second game. She allowed seven hits and six walks with six strikeouts for the Falcons.
Junior hurler Karlena Heward got her first start of the year for the Trotters.
Rivinius was happy with Heward’s play, noting that although she was the primary pitcher for last year’s Plains-Hot Springs squad, she had not thrown in a game this season. He added that she simply needed to shake off some rust, noting that her pitching improved as the innings wore on.
On Saturday, it was more of the same for Plains-Hot Springs as they came up just shy of their season’s first victory.
“I do feel that we should have won that game,” Rivinius said. “For whatever reason, we started hitting pretty well, but our hits left us there in the latter half of the game.”
Rebeca Criss gave the home crowd something to cheer about when she connected on a two-run double in the sixth inning and led the Loggers to the win.
Alyssa Walker pitched a complete game. She struck out five and walked only one batter while picking up the win.
Rude took the mound again for the Trotters.. She struck out 12 and walked four in the loss.
Rude took the initiative from the batter’s box as well, claiming two singles. Alex Green, Peterson and Spencer also had hits for the Trotters.
Rivinius is looking forward to fielding a complete team when the Trotters host Thompson Falls on Tuesday. Each team will be looking to pick up their first win of the season. Results were not available at press time.
“I’m hoping of course that they play up to their potential and I believe we can get a win out of Thompson,” he said.