Trotters softball on a roll in early portion of the season

The Plains-Hot Springs softball team is a much-improved team from the team that came up two runs shy of qualifying for the MHSA Class B-C state softball tournament last season and thus far, their record is indicative of their improvement.

The Trotters (4-1) toppled a young but tough Thompson Falls team 10-0 Tuesday afternoon at Plains High School and carried the momentum they built over into the double-header with Drummond, where they amassed 24 hits en route to a clean sweep Saturday afternoon at Drummond High School.

Trotters’ head coach Michelle Bangen said her team that consists of only two senior players is physically much stronger than last year’s team.

“We had a very young team (last year) and we have only two seniors this year,” Bangen said. “I think our team has gained a lot of strengths physically and mentally, and we are really starting to come together.”

Bangen said she felt the team has worked hard on their basic fundamental skill-sets such as hitting, fielding, and batting“I think our players are really working hard on the skill part of it and they are learning the skills of the game,” Bangen said. “They improved on the mental aspect of the game and they are learning that if you make one error, you just have to forget about it happening. We are still working on getting them to relax and (if you make a mistake), there is always the next pitch. Mistakes definitely happen.”

The Trotters’ only loss of the season has come at the hands of defending MHSA Class B-C state champion Florence in the opening week of the season, and the loss was mostly because of mental errors, according to Bangen.

“When we played Florence, there was just a mental block,” Bangen recalls of the 17-1 opening-week loss at the hands of the defending MHSA Class B-C champs. When we were playing Florence, we had a mental block and made double-digit errors. We are mentally tougher and in softball, there is a lot of failing that goes on, especially with hitting. We just have to continue to create a mindset that we don’t have to be perfect. We just have to find a level where we are good.”

Against Drummond, Bangen said she hopes her team found that as they accumulated a total of 24 hits in their second game.

“Our hitting really came alive against Drummond,” Bangen said. “In our second game yesterday, we played every single girl except Jessica Thompson because she was at a track meet. Every girl (on our team) got one hit.”

Bangen also got an opportunity to rest some of her starters and allowed some of her younger players to get valuable varsity experience because of their lead.

“I pulled most of my starters in the fourth inning of the first game,” Bangen said. “We were able to get pitcher Dakota Butcher experience in the last two innings and our younger girls got a chance to play also. It was good to see my younger girls and my freshman getting better, too. Their improvement is just going to make the team stronger.”

Another reason the team has excelled is the increased pitching depth. Last year, they relied primarily on Trotters’ ace Jessica Thompson, who was rotating her time between softball and track all last season. This season, they have a solid rotation of pitchers including Kenzie Cassidy and Dakota Butcher.

Cassidy, who tore her ACL last season playing basketball, is now medically cleared to play softball and according to Bangen, that has increased the team’s pitching depth.

This week, the Plains-Hot Springs softball team will have a big week. They will play Anaconda at 5 p.m. Thursday at home, play a make-up game against Manhattan Christian Friday at noon at Loyola High School in Missoula and play a doubleheader at noon Saturday at Deer Lodge.

“Our team is pretty young and we have good players,” Bangen said. “It was good to see hitting becoming contagious and our top four or five batters all stayed in and got about three hits (each). That is usually when you really start getting the bats going and each starts getting in there and hitting the ball well. I am very proud of my girls working hard and getting stronger as a team from top to bottom, which is very nice to see.”