MISSOULA – The Western AA conference season started on Tuesday with four games between Kalispell and Missoula squads. Missoula Big Sky put themselves in the drivers seat at the moment with a solid day.
The Eagles started with a dominating performance versus Kalispell Flathead. After the Bravettes took a brief 1-0 lead, Big Sky’s Emily Hermes drilled a three-run homer to center in the bottom of the first. Hermes drove in five runs in the game. Big Sky kept scoring throughout five innings, and McKenna Bessette finished off Flathead in the circle. The game was called off in the fifth inning due to the ten-run rule. Big Sky won 13-2.
Big Sky then finished off the sweep against the always tough Kalispell Glacier Wolfpack. Pitcher Payton Hudson held down Glacier just enough, and the Eagles topped the Wolfpack 7-5. Big Sky put up 20 runs in two games to start 2-0 in league after not recording a hit in their season opening loss to Butte last week.
Glacier didn’t leave Missoula empty handed. The Wolfpack survived 4-3 in a tight opening game at Missoula Sentinel. The Spartans took a 2-0 lead early, but Maddie Johnson tied it with a two-run homer in the fourth inning. Then in the fifth, Allee Meyer provided a couple more runs with a double that landed fair by about a foot down the left field line. Sentinel scored on a sac fly in the sixth, but had another runner thrown out at home in the inning and came up one run short.
The Spartans did finish the day strong, though. Sentinel shut out Flathead 10-0. The Spartans and Glacier each start 1-1 in Western AA play. Flathead starts 0-2.
