Bulldogs even with Bruins

By Bruce Sayler, of The Montana Standard - 04/25/2007

The competition is good and fierce in Western AA Conference high school girls’ fastpitch softball this year and both Butte High and Helena Capital stepped up Tuesday to provide some.

They split a league doubleheader as Capital won the first game 4-1 before the Bulldogs bounced back to prevail in the second contest, 10-6. The games were played at Stodden Park on a day that went from sunny and warm to windy and chilly in the nearly five-hour span it took to complete the two tilts.

“They’re a quality team,” Butte High head coach Steve Stosich complimented the Bruins. “You have to give Capital a lot of credit. They’re a good team. They have good hitters, good pitchers and they play good defense.” The Bruins played errorless defense, which made for a full day’s work for the Bulldogs. Butte High committed five errors on the day. The Bulldogs went longball to roar in the second game, getting over-the-fence shots from senior second baseman and leadoff hitter Megan Holland, senior left fielder McKenzie Dallaserra and sophomore shortstop Julia Robinson to key the victory that prevented a Capital sweep.

“I’m extremely happy to be coming back like we did,” Stosich said of the Bulldogs’ resiliency shown in the second game. “Capital had the momentum after winning that first game and would’ve been easy to give up.

“Then we had a 6-1 lead and they tied. We showed character in winning it. I’m just really happy with the way we came back.” The split gave Butte High a 3-2 Western AA record and a 5-2 overall mark, not counting the four games played in the season-opening Great Falls Jamboree, which the Bulldogs do. Counting the first weekend’s games make Butte High 7-3-1 for the season. The Bulldogs will next play on Thursday, going to Missoula for a makeup twin bill against Hellgate.

Helena Capital 4, Butte High 1 Capital starting pitcher Ashely Ames, a hard-throwing lanky junior, used a motion that was slow See BULLDOGS, Page B5 and distracting to the Bulldogs. It included a part in which she held the ball over her head for several seconds before finishing the windup and delivery.

Stosich said he thought it affected his hitters’ timing and questioned the legality of the hesitation. Umpires ruled it legal when it was protested.

Ames and Butte High ace Darcy Powers, a slight-of-build senior, locked in a good pitchers’ duel for much of the contest. Nobody scored until the fourth inning. The Bruyinss did first with two runs in the frame and the Bulldogs answered with one in the bottom half.

Ames reached on a two-out error and advanced on a single by Morgan Donnell. They crossed the plate on a single ro right field by Halie Hash for a 2-0 Bruins edge.

Butte High responded with a one-out double Rebekah Gibson crashed off the center-field fence. She scored on a bloop single behind first base by Robinson.

Capital’s other two runs were scored in the sixth inning. Shannon Furlong reached on a two-out error and scored on a double by Kalli Heller. Kelsi Brekke, 4-for-4 at the plate in the game, doubled Heller home with a blast into center field.

Ames struck out eight batters while throwing the five-hiter. She walked three. Powers was touched for 13 hits, but posted five strikeouts, no walks, and yielded no earned runs. She has not allowed an earned run in her last two starts.

Capital 000 202 0 — 4 13 0 Butte High 000 100 0 — 1 5 2 Ashley Ames and Kalli Heller. Darcy Powers and Ali Stosich. W — Ames. L — Powers (3-2, x-4-2-1).

x-counts Great Falls Jamboree games.

HELENA CAPITAL — Shannon Furlong 0-4, Kalli Heller 1-4, Kelsi Brekke 4-4. Lindsay Cline 2-4, Jordyn Gillespie 0-4, Jacie Vonata 0-3, Ashley Ames 2-4, Marissa Miller 0-0, Morgan Donnell 3-4, Halie Hash 1-3.

BUTTE HIGH — Megan Holland 0-2, McKenzie Dallaserra 1-3, Ali Stosich 1-3, Rebekah Gibson 1-3, Julia Robinson 2-3, Rebecca Loberg 0-2, Marianne Leathers 0-3, Amy Sullivan 0-2, Shelby Fortune 0-1, Jessica Young 0-1, Jesse Taylor 1-1.

RBI — Capital 4 (Hash 2, Heller 1, Brekke 1), Butte High 1 (Robinson). 2B — Brekke; Gibson.

Butte High 10, Helena Capital 6 Again, Capital took first lead. But the Butte High response was immediate and impressive.

The Bruins scored another unearned run for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Furlong started the game with a single up the middle and wound up scoring on one of the two Bulldogs errors of the inning.

But Holland caught her teammates up in the home half of the first, smashing a Hash pitch over the center field fence for her first career home run. The Bulldogs took the lead in the second inning when pitcher Marianne Leathers helped herself by ripping a triple off the fence in right-center, then coming home on an infield hit by Jessica Young. The fielder got tangled up in the fence on Leathers’ hit, and fell down, whch allowed the Bulldog to cruise into third base.

The third inning, though, was the big one for Butte High. Dallaserra led it off by creaming a Hash pitch over the center field fence. Ali Stosich singled to left field and gave way to courtesy runner Shelby Fortune. Gibson then blooped a single behind first base before Robinson clobbered a three-run homer over the left-field fence.

Capital, though, would not stay down.

The Bruins got three runs back inthe fourth inning. Ames led off with a single and Hash followed with a double that scooted under the center-field fence. Jordyn Gillespie was out on a grounder that plated Ames. Then Jacie Vonata tripled Hash home before scoring on a groundout by Furlong. The surge cut Butte High’s lead to 6-4.

Capital tied the score at 6-all with two runs in the fifth inning. Brekke clubbed a leadoff double and then Lindsay Cline singled to right. Donnnell lifted a sacrifice fly that plated Brekke, and Cline beat thre throw to third base. Ames lofted a sacrifice fly to center that brought Cline in with the tying run.

But the Bulldogs had another explosion building and lit lit off in the bottom of the fifth. Fortune, pinch hitting, the bases.

The Bulldogs’ last run was scored in the sixth inning. Robinson walked, went to second and third on fielder’s choices, and scored on a wild pitch.

The Bruins threatened to rally in the seventh against Powers, on in relief of Leathers. Brekke was safe on an error and Cline walked. Nobody was out and Devin McNellis was sent in to run for Cline. Donnell, however, bounced to Leathers, back at her regular third-base position, and the Bulldog stepped on the bag to get the lead runner on a fielder’s choice. Ames then grounded out to Holland at second base. But a walk to Hash loaded the bases.

Powers got Gillespie to hit a ground ball to Holland. She scooped it and flipped to shortstop Robinson covering second base on a very close play that forced Hash out at second and ended the game.

Capital 100 320 0 — 6 6 0 Butte High 114 031 x — 10 12 3 Halie Hash, Lindsay Cline (4) and Kalli Heller. Marianne Leathers, Darcy Powers (6) and Ali Stosich. W — Leathers (2-0, x-3-1). L — Cline. S — Powers (1).

HELENA CAPITAL (7-2, 9-2) — Shannon Furlong 1-2, Kalli Heller 0-4, Kelsi Brekke 1-3, Lindsay Cline 1-3, Devin McNellis 0-0, Morgan Donnell 0-3, Ashley Ames 2-3, Halie Hash 0-2, Jordyn Gillespie 0-4, Jacie Vonata 1-2.

BUTTE HIGH (4-2, 5-2, x-7-3-1) — Megan Holland 1-5, McKenzie Dallaserra 3-4, Ali Stosich 3-3, Amy Sullivan 0-0, Rebekah Gibson 1-4, Julia Robinson 1-2, Rebecca Loberg 0-4, Marianne Leathers 1-3, Rachel Durkin 0-2, Shelby Fortune 0-0, Darcy Powers 0-0, Jordan Peterson 0-0, Jessica Young 2-3.

RBI — Capital 5 (Furlong 1, Donnell 1, Ames 1, Gillespie 1, Vonata 1); Butte High 9 (Robinson 3, Dallaserra 2, Young 2, Holland 1, Stosich 1). 2B — Hash, Brekke; Young ,Dallaserra. 3B — Vonata; Leathers. HR — Holland (1), Dallaserra (1), Robinson (1).

x — includes Great Falls Jamboree games.