Hawks rally past Trotters

 

Seeming to get stronger every inning, the Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawks erased an early deficit and moved to an 11-6 win over the rival Plains-Hot Springs Trotters in season-opening softball action in Thompson Falls March 30.

Encouraged by his team’s grit and determination in the face of an opponent they have struggled mightily with over the years in Plains-Hot Springs, coach Jared Koskela gave his team credit for a job well done.

“It’s been a while since Thompson Falls has beaten Plains,” Koskela said. “We started out kind of cold, it seemed we had the jitters a little bit, everyone was kind of nervous, but we finally managed to get some things going.”

Senior pitcher Riley Wilson was key to the Hawk win. Struggling with her control early in the game when P-HS took the lead, Wilson was consistently finding the strike zone by the end, and allowed only four Trotter hits in the complete game victory.

“Riley did a great job, got stronger every inning,” Koskela said. “I think she started feeling more confident out there as the game went on and the team seemed to rally behind her on defense.”

New to the Blue Hawks this season and the only Noxon player on the roster, shortstop Dylan Vigil made several outstanding plays in the field, including a potentially run-saving, overhead grab of a soft flyball into short left field that could have spelled trouble for the Hawks.

Offensively, Shelby Lane, Cheyla Irvine and Vigil each had two hits to lead the Hawks. Lane had the most important hit of the game, a bases-loaded double to drive in three runs during the Hawks’ seven-run fifth inning. Trailing 5-4 going into that inning, the Hawks led 11-5 after the Trotters finally recorded the third out.

Wilson kept the Trotters at bay over their last two at-bats in the sixth and seventh innings to seal the deal.

Vigil singled and doubled, driving in a run, Abbi Lane, Wilson and Blakely Lakko each had a hit a run driven in, and Irvine ended up with a single and a double.

Vigil and Wilson scored two runs apiece, and Makenzie Robinson, Shelby Lane, Lakko, Irvine, Olivia Harnett, Danni-jo VanHuss and Abbi Lane scored one run apiece.

Hoping to keep their momentum going, the Hawks play an important conference game at Mission-Arlee-Charlo (M-A-C) Thursday, host Bonners Ferry for a doubleheader Saturday and wrap up the week of play with another single game at Troy next Tuesday.

M-A-C has been on a tear to open the season, defeating Class A teams Frenchtown (14-0) and Hamilton (18-0) last week, then pummeling B-C rival Deer Lodge (16-0) Saturday.

“I scouted them last week,” Koskela said. “They are a solid team with good pitching and good athletes. It will be interesting to see how we match up with them.”

Koskela said Bonners Ferry is sporting a 3-6 record, and that he also expects good games with the Badgers. A ceremony dedicating the field as “Pirk’s Place” will be held immediately before Saturday’s first game at 1 p.m. (see other story).

 

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