Thompson Falls-Noxon co-op softball team wins four straight

Momentum with post season play on the horizon is always a good thing.

That being said, the Thompson Falls-Noxon co-op softball team has a good thing going.

Assuming they beat Whitefish on Monday afternoon, the red hot Lady Hawks will have reeled off five lopsided wins in a row, with four games left in the regular season.

A four-game sweep this past week of Troy, Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Anaconda and Deer Lodge, along with a likely road win over Whitefish, and the Lady Hawks will be rolling along with an 11-3 season record.

They completed the week’s “quad-win” this past Saturday, dodging heavy rain along the WAY to defeat Deer Lodge 16-1 and Anaconda 15-0, with both wins shortened by the Mercy rule (15-run lead) and Mother Nature’s downpours.

Earlier in the week, the Hawks hosted Bonners Ferry, Idaho and came away with a 14-2 victory.

And in what seems like months ago, they began the week with an 18-1 Mercy rule road win road win over Troy.

In the win over Troy, T Falls-Noxon erupted for six runs in the top of the third inning after the two teams had battled to a scoreless tie following the first two frames.

But paced by junior Sarah Koskela’s second home run of the season, part of a four RBI performance at the plate, the Lady Hawks were off and running. They added five more runs in the top of the fourth, then plated seven scores in the top of the fifth to seal the deal in the Western 7B conference contest.

Troy managed a single run in the bottom of the fifth, during which they also picked up their first and only hit of the game, but it was way too little, too late for the Lady Trojans. T Falls’ Brooklyn Cork also had a four RBI day against Troy, and Koskela was nearly unhittable on the mound, allowing one unearned run while striking out 12 Troy batters.

Two days later the Hawks hosted Bonners Ferry, which jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after half of the first inning was in the books. However, T Falls-Noxon came right back with three runs in the bottom of the first.

Neither team scored in the second inning, a trend that continued for the Idahoans for the rest of the game, thanks to the two-hit pitching performance by junior Olivia Fitchett, who also struck out four Bonners Ferry batters while walking no one.

The big inning for the Lady Hawks was the bottom of the third, when they exploded for 10 runs, the key blow being a three RBI double by third baseman Addie Traver, who went two for three at the plate.

T Falls tacked on a game clinching solo run in the bottom of the fourth, then held Bonners scoreless in the top of the fifth to secure the win.

Saturday, under constantly threatening, rain-charged clouds, the Lady Hawks hosted a double header with first Deer Lodge and second, Anaconda, providing the opposition.

In the opener of that two-game scheduling oddity, T Falls held the Lady Wardens scoreless int the first inning, then put up three runs in the bottom of the opening frame to take a lead they would not relinquish.

T Falls-Noxon added seven runs in the bottom of the second inning, and six runs in the bottom of inning number three as the first raindrops began to disturb the infield dirt at T Falls’ Pirk’s Place ballpark.

Deer Lodge picked up its only run of the game in the top of the third on a booming triple that broke the shut out bid by Fitchett, who struck out four Deer Lodge hitters in her three innings on the bump.

T Falls outhit Deer Lodge 10-1 for the game, including five run-producing doubles, two of which were recorded by Fitchett. The home girls were aided by five Deer Lodge fielding errors, most of which came with runners in scoring position.

T Falls scored the Mercy rule, invoking 15-run lead of the game in the bottom of the third, as the Lady Hawks runner crossed the plate literally as the clouds above opened up and dumped heavy rain.

Following a two-hour gap, Anaconda, which had defeated Plains earlier in the day, rolled up to the parking lot at Pirk’s as the heavy rain in T Falls subsided enough for a second game.

T Falls-Noxon jumped out to a big 8-0 lead at the end of the first inning, after holding the Lady Copperheads scoreless in the top half of the first.

The Lady Hawks tacked on a single run in the bottom of inning number two to build a 9-0 lead,k then scored six more in the bottom of the third to once again invoke the Mercy rule that ended the game with T Falls earning a 15-0 victory.

T Falls scored their 15 runs on just four hits, the big blow being a home run by Traver, who had four RBIs for the game. Meanwhile, Koskela had another strong pitching outing, putting up goose eggs on the Anaconda side of the scoreboard while striking out five of the 10 batters she faced.

Next up for the Lady Hawks is a home game this Thursday (May 2) against Sanders County rival Plains, first pitch at 5 p.m. T Falls-Noxon plays a second home game the following afternoon versus Eureka at 3 p.m.