EAST HELENA — April showers do not always bring May flowers, and that could also be said for softball season in Montana.
Due to some of Montana’s most recent weather conditions. the first softball game of the year for these two squads in Dillon and East Helena had to be moved from Dillon to the turf in East Helena. The Vigilantes would defeat the Beavers 11-5 in the game.
The Beavers started the game strong, cheering loudly and scoring twice without a single hit in the top of the first. But the Vigilantes had other plans and quickly made up for it taking the lead in the bottom of the inning.
The very first hit on the year for the Vigilantes goes to the second batter in the lineup in right fielder Keeley Hamilton who barely made it to first on a hard-hit single. Next up mentality for East Helena, starting pitcher — and half of the Montana duo — Belle Surginer stepped up to the plate for her first in-game swings of this young season.
Surginer swiftly took a ball before belting it deep to the center field fence, bringing home Hamilton for the first run of the season, making it 2-1 Beavers, still in the first inning.
The other half of the self-proclaimed Montana duo, Ella Pickett, will score her first run of her senior season on a wild pitch.
Bottom of the first, the Vigilantes quickly tie the game up at two apiece. East Helena would make it through their entire lineup in the first inning versus the Dillon Beavers as second baseman, Lauren Betz, continued the RBI streak, smoking one up the middle for the Vigilantes. Creighton and her squad would eventually get out of the inning, trailing 5-2.
After two innings and no runs scored by East Helena, the Beavers cut into the lead, down 5-3. But, the younger sister to Belle, eighth grader and varsity call up, Maddie Surginer changed that by drilling another single to a base that she is familiar with as Surginer also plays third. Vigilantes remain ahead in the third inning, 6-3.
After only 4 innings, Belle Surginer already had 11 strikeouts. The score stayed the same, ending the fifth inning, before East Helena started to pull away in the bottom of the sixth on a three-run double from Belle Surginer, putting her squad up 11-3.
The Vigilantes would never look back, winning the game 11-5.
"These girls are just making history every year, last year we made history, this year we're making history, it's fun," proclaimed assistant coach, Jayden Tripp.
Following the East Helena Vigilantes win, they are now 1-0 on the season.
