Trotters softball team gets ready for state in Belgrade

The Plains-Hot Springs softball team qualified for the Montana High School Activities Association Tournament with a fourth-place Friday and Saturday at Florence High School.

The Trotters finished fourth in the double-elimination tournament, which was good enough to qualify them for the Class B-C state tournament May 24-26 at Belgrade High School.

Plains-Hot Springs lost to Eureka, but avenged its lost to Loyola, a team that knocked them out last year’s MHSA Class B-C bid with an 11-10 victory over them.

Plains-Hot Springs defeated Loyola 11-8 this year and eventually lost the third-place game 15-9 at the hands of Eureka.

Against Eureka, the Trotters got one of their top pitchers back Jessica Thompson.

Thompson, who split time between track and softball, tried to help her team secure a victory against Eureka Saturday.

The Plains-Hot Springs batters were able to generate runs, but Eureka slugged its way to a third-place finish at divisionals, and loss will affect the Trotter’s seed headed arguably one of the toughest softball classifications in the state of Montana.

Plains-Hot Springs got run-production from Stacy Gray, who belted two doubles, MacKenzie Elloit finished with two hits, Thompson had a double and a homerun in the game.

The Trotters also got RBIs from Sydney Jackson, Elliot, and Kassidy Kinzie. Thompson led the team in run-production by generating a total of three RBis in the losing effort.

In the 11-8 victory over Loyola the Trotters were determined not to lose to the team that narrowly beat them out last season for a MHSA Class B-C state bid and they didn’t lose to them in an 11-8 victory.

Thompson again was the starting pitching in a game that would manufacture a total of 20 runs between the two teams, similar to 21 runs in last season’s divisional contest.

There were plenty of Trotters that got multi-hits in the contest including Gray, who finished with three hits and RBI, Kinzie had two hits, Dakota Butcher had two hits and two RBIs and Sydney Jackson finished a hit and RBI.

The Trotters will head to state and the brackets will be available after press time on the Valley Press’s Facebook page.