Although the score may reflect an offensive game between Thompson Falls and Florence, at least on Florence’s part, that really wasn’t the case Friday night. Instead, it was a clinic in laying down a bunt and advancing a runner. If enough are laid down, then enough runners cross the plate and score. That’s what the Lady Falcons executed to near perfection in their 8-1 victory over rival Thompson Falls.

"We felt their corners were weak," said coach Sam Richter of Florence. "And that’s what we exposed right away. Our strategy worked."

The Lady Falcons scored six runs in the first inning, before Thompson Falls even secured one out, to pad the score. Lynleigh Nichols hit a double in that first inning.

The top of the second gave the Lady Falcons a bit of deja vu when the first Blue Hawk batter, Katelyn Jedlicka, hit a long ball over the fence for a home run. That was exactly how these two teams began a battle earlier this season with Thompson Falls coming out the victor then.

But it was not to be this time. Pitcher Kate Street settled herself down and struck out two of the next three batters.

"We are strong on our defense," said Street, who struck out six batters on the way to the victory.

Florence had another surge in the bottom of the fourth inning. Street was walked, then Alyssa Sadowski laid down a bunt to advance Street. The speedy senior made it to first base before the throw. Junior Kayla Schmid laid down another bunt to advance her teammates. Up stepped freshman Chelsea Ralls who knocked a long ball to the fence for a double and two RBIs.

Richter said his team’s batting average has collectively gone up 60 points since the opening weekend tournament in Hamilton.

"We’re not giving up a lot of runs," said Richter. "We’re not making a lot of errors, and we’re hitting the ball better."

He said Street was pitching well. The strategy for this game was to throw a lot of ‘down’ balls.

"They hit the rise ball well, so we went with the down ball. That’s why you saw a lot of grounders."

The ground balls allowed the tough Falcon defense to keep the Blue Hawks off the bases.

Florence has eight freshmen on the roster and just a handful of upper classmen. But the players are adjusting and learning their roles. According to Street "We’re not as experienced as we have been in the past, but we’re getting there."

The Lady Falcons defeated St. Ignatius 11-0 on Saturday in conference play. Florence will play in the Butte Tournament this weekend.

Florence 8, Thompson Falls 1

T Falls 010 000 0 - 1 3 3

Florence 600 200 x - 8 12 0

Kyla Molzhon and Katelyn Jedlicka. Kate Street and Erin Greenberg. W-Street (9-30. L-Molzhon

Thompson Falls - Hagedorn 0-2. Petteys 0-3; Jedlicka 1-3; Wrigthoson 1-3, Howard 1-2; Wakefield 0-3, Pfister 0-3; Bache 0-1.

Florence - Street 1-2, Alyssa Sadowski 2-3, Kayla Schmid 2-4, Chelsea Ralls 2-4; Kaitlyn Rolshoven 1-4, Greenberg 2-3, Lynleigh Nichols 2-3; Shelby Meuchel 0-2; Kelsi Hoagland 0-2; Ginny Blackwell 0-2.

2B - Ralls 2, Greenberg, Nichols. HR - Jedlicka. RBIs - Ralls 3, Rolshoven, Greenberg 2, Nichols, Street Jedlicka.

In other softball happenings, Hamilton notched three victories this weekend. The Lady Broncs defeated Stevensville, 7-1, on Thursday. Sarah Callaghan had a home run and two RBIs for Hamilton and Jessica Huseby was 3-for-4 at bat and knocked two doubles. She also had an RBI. Pitcher Nicki Koning had 12 strike outs while Stevi pitcher Izzy Miller struck out three.

Saturday, Hamilton defeated Butte Central, 5-0. Koning had a shut-out for the Lady Broncs and only had three hits in the game. Huseby and Callaghan were still hot with the bats. Huseby knocked a double and Callaghan swatted a triple. Rachell Wood had two RBIs.

Hamilton also defeated Anaconda on Saturday, 15-4. Huseby knocked a home run for the Lady Broncs and had two RBIs. Callaghan had two RBIs as did Terry Bryan. With the win, Hamilton moved to 12-2 overall and 8-1 in league play. They will head back to Butte this weekend.

Corvallis defeated Ronan, 5-0, Thursday in Corvallis. Kasie Conder pitched a no-hitter. The Blue Devils had 11 hits in the game with senior Jessica Adair going 2-for-4 and knocking in two runners. Sam Nelson had a double and an RBI and Megan Auch knocked an RBI as well.

Saturday, the Blue Devils were in Butte also. Corvallis defeated Anaconda, 9-3. Conder fanned 14 and only allowed six hits. The junior had two home runs, a double and five RBIs. Freshman Brianna Brawley added a triple, two singles and an RBI.

Conder controlled the Blue Devil game against Butte Central as well. She struck out 15 batters, and only allowed three hits. She added another home run to her stat sheet along with a double and two RBIS. Adair and Markie Gurley each added RBIs for the Devils.

Devils look tough in tennis

Although the Corvallis boys tennis team lost several key players last year to graduation, the defending state champions are still looking mighty tough. Thursday they showed their strength when they topped Stevensville, 7-0, in conference play. The Corvallis girls defeated Stevensville, 4-3.

Geoff Fehr led off for the Blue Devils with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Stevi’s Elliot Pateman. Spencer Fehr topped Cody Rosin, 6-1, 6-2, John Powell topped Justin Bush, 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, and Tyler Roberts defeated Ben Stone, 6-0, 6-0.

The doubles matches were more of the same. Jake Sangster and Levi Pauly defeated the Stevi team of Rosin and Bush, 6-1, 6-4; Taylor Nagel and Eric Spencer, took a 6-2 6-3 win over Ryan Dufresne and James Stockdale. In the final match, Ben Kerner and Delane Jessop defeated Levi McConnell and Justin Stockdale, 6-0, 6-0.

Megin Madruga defeated Maggie Parson, 6-1, 6-1, in the No. 1 match on the girls side. Kayla Gingerich defeated Sharayah Campbell, 6-0, 6-1 and Emily Keegan defeated Shelby Conner, 6-0, 6-0. Stevi’s Courtney Liston defeated Kayla Ralls, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

The doubles team of Kirstin Bull and Arielle Perkins defeated Jessica Hancock and Allison Mullin, 6-3, 6-0. Alicia Buss and Becky Weidow of Stevensville topped Kylee Cheeney and Callie Ward, 6-2, 7-5 and Brittany Constatino and Autumn Morris of Stevi topped Ali Bierer and Jessica Gerig, 6-2, 6-1.

Track update

The Bob Reed Track Meet at Stevensville was cancelled on Thursday due to the snow and rain storms that ravaged the valley that day. However, once the skies cleared, the track teams were back at it on Saturday. Hamilton was at Kalispell at the Archie Roe Meet while Corvallis was in Anaconda. Victor, Florence and Darby were in Missoula at the Seeley meet.

Hamilton had a good showing at the Archie Roe Meet which featured 16 teams. The Hamilton girls finished fourth behind Flathead (110), Big Sky (106-1/2), and Hellgate (96) with 46 points. The boys finished in the middle of the pack with 24 points. Flathead also won the boys team scoring.

Hamilton’s freshman phenom, Misha Trotter, won the 800 with a time of 2:18.21. That is unofficially the fastest 800 race this year in the state. Trotter was fourth in the 100, and second in the 200 and the 400. Trotter, along with Alicia Toews, Michelle Jones and Rachell Eggleston finished fifth in the 400 relay with a time of 52.10.

In the field events, Megan Baker finished fifth in the pole vault with a vault of 8’ 6”. Toews took third in the triple jump with a leap of 33’ 7” and she finished fifth in the long jump with an effort of 15’6-3/4”. Jess Hill threw the shot 35’5” to take fourth place.

Ryan Turley had a good day for the boys team. He won the 400 with a time of 50.89. He finished fourth in the 100 and fifth in the 200. Turley ran the anchor on the 400 relay team which came in fourth with a time of 45.66. Will Buzell, Kyle Crowley and Keith Stamper were also on the team. The 1,600 relay team of Buzzell, Crowley, Tyler Holley and Ryan Turley finished fourth with 3:35.09.

Corvallis came in third in the boys’ team scoring at the Wayne Estes Track Meet in Anaconda behind Dillon and Sentinel. James Allred won the 400 with a time of 51.85 and he won the high jump with a jump of six feet even. Matt Smith finished sixth in the 100 and Mahlone Jessop was sixth in the 400. Slater Powell finished second in the 300 hurdles with 42.94 and he was third in the 110 hurdles with 15.76. Andy Jessop was sixth with 17.90 seconds. Corvallis’ 400 relay team finished second behind Sentinel in the 400 and second in the 1,600 behind Belgrade.

Dalton Sybrant won the shot put with a toss of 50’10-1/2”. He was second in the discus with a throw of 144’9". Chris Jessop finished third with 136’10”. Matt Smith was second in the javelin with 160’1", and Nick Stoker finished sixth with 146’10”.

The Corvallis girls finished second with 95 points. Belgrade won the team scoring with 112 points. Ashlee DellaSilva set a new meet record in the 100 with a time of 12.46. The old record of 12.66 was set by Kalindra McFadden of Belgrade. Whitney Henderson finished second in the race with 12.66. DellaSilva also won the 200 with a time of 25.92 and Henderson finished second again with 26.9. The two teamed up on the 400 relay to win that event along with Sam Berner and Sunni Bleibtrey. Corvallis also won the 1,600 relay. In the distance races, Jenni Hill finished third in the 800. Courtney White was fifth in the 1,600.

Bleibtrey finished third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.61. Kim Gilder was fourth with 17.64. Bleibtrey and Gilder finished fourth and fifth in the 300 hurdles. Bleibtrey also finished fifth in the triple jump. Clarissa Boyer was fifth in the high jump. Paige Lennis finished second in the shot put with a throw of 36’8-1/2” and third in the discus with a throw of 98’6”.

Florence and Darby finished in the middle of the 18-team pack at the Seeley meet. Paul Abrahamsen of Darby won the 3,200 with a time of 10:00.17. Seth Garbett finished fifth behind Abrahamsen. Abrahamsen finished third in the 1,600 and teammate Matt Stout was sixth.

Bryan Slingsby of Florence threw the shot 52’6” to win that event. He finished second in the discus with a throw of 133’9”. Kiel Hansen finished second in the triple jump.

Michael Wemple of Victor finished fourth in the javelin with a throw of 151’3”.

Florence finished second behind Cascade in the girls team scoring. Darby was fourth. Cortney Reynolds of Florence won the 400 with a time of 60.74. She was sixth in the 200. Brooke Zeiler won the 800 for Florence with a time of 2.27.69. The relay team of Amanda Heffner, Katie Neimeir, Brandy Crew, Reynolds won the 400 with a time of 52.06. The 1,600 relay team of Neimeir, Odessa Conley, Reynolds and Zeiler won as well with a time of 4:13.16.

Neimeir, who has been consistently at the top in the hurdle events finished second behind Big Sandy’s Kortney Danreuther in both the 100 and 300 hurdles. Conley finished third in the 300 hurdles. Katie Kirby finished second in the javelin with a throw of 109’3”. Rae Baerlocher was sixth with 100’8”.

Sara Schertenleib of Florence won the high jump with Darby’s Missy DeWalt taking second. Mariah Mitman of Florence finished fifth. DeWalt was second in the long jump and Rachel Wetzsteon was sixth. In the triple jump, Wetzsteon finished third with a leap of 32’4” and DeWalt was sixth. Kirby of Florence finished fifth with 31’10”. Mariah Cress of Darby finished second in the discus with a throw of 103’2”.

Simpson is Australian Open Tennis Raffle 4th Finalist

Carolyn Simpson was drawn as the 4th Draw Down Finalist of fourteen Progressive Drawing Finalists to win two spots on the USTA/Montana District 2008 Australian Open Tour. The tour will be January 2008 and includes hotel nights, tennis tickets and air from LA. Simpson is guaranteed a prize from Prince, Official Raffle Sponsor valued at $50 or more if she doesn’t win the tours. Her grandson who plays for the Hamilton High School team sold her the ticket. Local community tennis associations are selling the $20 tickets statewide and keep $10 of each ticket sold to raise money for local projects. Over $10,000 was raised to support local community tennis programs and projects in 2006.

The next finalist will be drawn on May 13. For raffle tickets or tour information, contact USTA/Montana District Executive Director M.C. Beeby at 406/449-6131, tennis@onewest.net or visit the web at http://montana.usta.com.

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