Plains-Hot Springs softball wins sixth straight

The Plains-Hot Springs softball team hasn’t peaked yet, according to assistant Coach David Thompson.

Though they haven’t “peaked” yet, they won their sixth straight victory after they swept Ronan and Troy this week.

“We are so close to peaking and that is about all I can say,” Thompson said. “We are on the verge of being what I want to say is a ‘really good team.’ We are showing flashes of doing some things really well and our bats are coming around. We will see against how it all comes about when we play a team like Mission-Arlee Charlo at the end of the season and(how we respond headed into Divisionals.”

Plains not only swept Ronan and Troy in back-to-back doubleheaders but the victories also secured a No. 2 seed for them headed into Divisionals May 19-20 at Libby High School.

“We needed to stay in a good position for our Divisional tournament,” Thompson, whose team is now 10-5, said. “With the victories, we don’t have to play in the play-in game now. We will go in as the No. 2 seed.”

Plains will host Mission-Arlee-Charlo, one of the top-ranked teams in Class B-C softball, Thursdayafternoon in a doubleheader that begins at 4 p.m. at Plains High School.

“They will be in the Southern half of Divisionals, and they will be a good warm-up and a good test for us to see how we fare against them,” Thompson said. “It will be kind of interesting to see how Divisionals turn out.”

Thompson said he felt M-A-C is led by a talented pitcher named Randee’ Charlo and Charlo gets plenty of run support.

“They really do hit the ball well, and their pitcher has been pitching for a few years and she really knows how to throw the ball,” Thompson said. “We will have to play some decent softball to be able to beat them. It’s just the way it kind of worked out and you really never know how things are going to work out at the beginning. The way it did is interesting and fun to see that they are probably right in the middle of things there on the other half. We will just see how we fare.”

Thompson said he felt Plains-Hot Springs’ bat speed was “improving” as they inch closer to playoff time.

“Our speed on the bases is a really good thing and we are hitting the ball pretty well,” Thompson said.

The first portion of the double header against Mission will begin at 4 p.m. at Plains High School.