GREAT FALLS – Great Falls High beat Helena Capital 5-2 on the softball diamond Thursday afternoon to improve to 10-0 overall and hand the Bruins their first loss of the season. The Bison are now the only remaining unbeaten team in Class AA.
Senior ace Erin Hocker earned the win for the Bison, allowing four hits and one run in six innings while striking out eight.
Capital (9-1) got on the board first in the top of the first inning on a throwing error to third base. Taylor Matthews trotted home to make it 1-0 Bruins.
The Bison responded in the bottom of the second inning with a two-out, two-strike home run from sophomore Anna Toon, who would also close out the game on the mound in the seventh inning.
Great Falls High added four more runs in the third inning, with Toon, Molly Schmitz and Sarah Conway recording RBI.
HELENA CAPITAL 9, GREAT FALLS CMR 4
In the first game of the doubleheader, the Bruins jumped out to a 7-0 lead over defending AA champion CMR and held on for a 9-4 win.
Capital opened scoring in the third inning with a two-run home run from Shelby Martin. The Bruins would add two more runs in the 4th, and three runs in the 5th before the Rustlers got on the board in the bottom of the 5th.
Brooke Crabtree, Kayci Edwards and Cadence Propios each had two hits for the Rustlers, who fell to 4-7 overall.
