Plains softball move on to state

PLAINS – The Trotters continued their late season push, barreling through their play-in game to secure a postseason berth and a date with Deer Lodge on Friday. 

On Tuesday evening, The Plains softball team trounced the Lady Trojans of Drummond in their one game playoff to finalize the playoff bracket in Ronan. Under sunny skies the Trotters put up a score characteristic of a football team scoring 24 runs to ensure the continuation of their season. 

The game was called after five innings, due to the 10 run mercy rule, with a final score of Plains 24 and Drummond 13. 

The Trotters fell behind 2-0 after the first frame of the contest, but a surge of offense allowed Plains to take control of the game, something they would not relinquish through its entirety. 

Plains Head Coach Jeff Rude was confident following the game, feeling his team was prepared for the challenges awaiting them at Ronan. 

“We have been working on everything, swinging the bats a lot in practice, I think we are ready,” Rude said. 

Senior catcher Alex Green led the offensive surge, driving in six runs and going a perfect 2-2 at the dish, cranking a grand slam in the bottom of the first to power the Trotters through their play-in game. 

Another senior, Tia Thompson, started for Plains and settled down after allowing two runs in the first to ensure the home team’s lead was never seriously threatened after the first frame. 

T. Thompson helped herself out from the plate striking a double and chasing two base runners home. 

Hailey Coe came in as a reliever for Thompson midway through the game, preventing Drummond from prolonging the game by keeping the visitors 11 runs off the pace. 

Adding to the offensive outburst for the playoff bound Plains girls was infielder Jena Peterson who was 1-3 at the plate, including a triple, with 3 RBIs in the convincing victory for the home team. 

Leah Thompson also added a double and an RBI to the hit parade. 

The girls compiled an impressive nine hits in the game, while taking advantage of five Drummond errors to ensure the outcome of the contest was never really in doubt. 

The play-in game win moved the Trotters record to 14-5, and the team has used an impressive late season run to give them the third seed in the Western B-C tournament in Ronan. 

Playing against Deer Lodge in the opening game of the tournament, during the early afternoon of Friday, May 24, Plains continued their winning ways, taking the contest by a score of 9-3. 

The opening game win set Plains up to play Ronan in the evening for a chance to advance to the state tournament.

The Trotters, fresh off their win against Drummond, held the momentum of the game throughout the afternoon. 

Getting on the board early, Plains enjoyed a five run first inning to put the playoff game out of reach early. 

The lead right out of the gate allowed starting pitcher T. Thompson to get comfortable and control the Deer Lodge hitters from start to finish, only allowing one hit in the afternoon game. T. Thompson also compiled seven strikeouts in her impressive effort. 

On the offensive side of the plate Plains got contributions from throughout their lineup. 

Josey Carr went 1-4 on the day with a double and an RBI with Peterson adding an RBI single of her own in the opening frame of the contest. 

Collectively Plains collected seven base hits against Deer Lodge and appeared to have plenty of momentum as they played for the chance to go to state against Ronan, moving their season record to 15 and 5.

Early in the later portion of the tournament, Plains continued their steak of early inning runs, jumping out to a 9-4 lead against the hometown team after two innings. 

Ronan added two runs in the final frame of the third, but the rally appeared to stall and it looked like Plains would be the ones moving on to a berth in the state playoffs. 

However, in the eleventh hour during the bottom of the sixth inning, with one inning left to play, Ronan mounted a furious rally to squeeze past the Trotters by a final score of 11 to 10. 

Several players including Carr, who went 1 for 3, and homered in the game, provided the Trotters offense. 

T. Thompson, collected two doubles and drove in a run from the other side of the plate, going 2-3.  Danika Whitcomb also netted an extra base hit, going 2-5 and adding two RBIs.

Green and Sami Kinzie also added doubles, while driving in two RBIs each. 

The hard fought contest, in which Plains collected 11 hits, may have ended in disappointment for Plains but the team had a lot to be proud of after collecting 15 wins during their season. 

The loss did not eliminate Plains from the tournament and the Trotters played a consolation game against Loyola Sacred Heart. 

The winner of this game would move onto the Western B-C third place game and most importantly next week’s state tournament in Great Falls. 

In the consolation game, the Trotters could not be denied, winning the pivotal game by a score of 6 to 2. 

Loyola jumped out to an early lead after the first inning, but Plains used a huge third inning, in which they pushed across all six of their runs to move onto the state tourney. 

T. Thompson picked up another win, while driving in two runs. The rest of the offense came through RBI base hits by Carr, Green, Peterson and Whitcomb. 

The win moved the Trotters into a matchup with Florence to determine who would take third place in the Ronan tournament. 

After striking first in the opening inning Plains fell behind Florence after the third, when Florence scored five times.

The Trotters narrowed the deficit to two runs after four innings, but Florence enjoyed another five-run inning in the fifth to make the game 13 to 6, putting it out of reach.

The contest ended with Florence winning 14 to 6, with both teams moving onto the state tournament. 

The tournament finale featured strong performances by Peterson, who double and drove in three runs and Kinzie who doubled and had an RBI. 

The State Tournament will be held in Great Falls and will begin on Thursday, May 29. 

Plains brings a 16-7 record into the competition and will face Huntley Project High School of Worden at 3:30 p.m. next Thursday.