2005 GAME SUMMARIES
4/1- We open the 2005 season with a "Softball Jamboree". This is the first time the AA schools have tried to do this and I must say that I felt it went very well. We had a one hour limit and/or a 5 innings. No matter where you were in the game, you stopped when the horn went off. We faced Missoula Hellgate, Missoula Big Sky, Kalispell and Helena High. The team played well in its first outing. No statistics were kept as we viewed these as practice games. -Coach O.
4/2- We open the 2005 softball campaign with a trip to Helena. We face defending State Champions; Helena Capital first and beat them soundly 11-2 behind the pitching of Sammi Bergan. Sammi threw an excellent game and had the backing of a very potent offense lead by Spud Dupuis ( 3-5) , Meaghan Beecroft (3-3), Annie Hayes (2-3), Kari Schiller (2-4) and Sammi herself (2-4). The defense was great, the enthusiasm high and it was a great win for the Bison. In the second game we faced Helena High. Our bats went to sleep and our pitching struggled a bit and when that happens it usually means that your defense is soon to fail too. Well, it did. We mustered only 6 hits off the Helena pitcher and we committed 5 errors. Sara Hocker pitched a good game but her control was off and she struggled with her command of her pitches. She walked 9, five in the last inning. Going into the 6th we were down 4-2 but I felt confident that we would finally get to the pitcher and start banging the ball around. Instead we self destructed and let Helena score 8 runs in the bottom half of the inning and we lose 12-2. Very humbling. We will work hard next week to prepare for Senior and Skyview. We are 1-1. -Coach O.
4/8- Billings Senior come to town today and we have our work cut out for us. Senior is always very competitive and I expect they will be again. The first game (conference) goes well for us. Sammi shuts them out! They don’t score on us and we put 6 runs on the board. Leading the hitting was Whitney Secord with a 3-3 effort at the plate. Whitney didn’t play in Helena due to a broken tip of her middle finger on her throwing hand. Spud Dupuis (1-3), Sammi Bergan (1-3), Jocelyn Head (1-3) and Meaghan Beecroft (1-2) finished out the offense. Again, defense was a key, the girls are playing very well for this early in the season. Annie Hayes has done outstanding at second base and Kelly Conners is doing very well at third since we moved her there. The second game (non conference) was very rewarding because Suzie Bartram (Freshman) made her Varsity debut. She has been showing great control and command of her pitches so I wanted to see how she would fair against a good team like Billings Senior. We out lasted them 8-6. She struck out 7 and did a good job. Our leading hitters were Spud Dupuis (2-3), Patti Laabs (1-3), Jocelyn Head (1-3), Meaghan Beecroft (1-2), Whitney Secord (1-3), Kelly Conners (1-3), Sammi Bergan (1-2), and Kari Schiller (1-3). Defensively Annie Hayes, Jocelyn Head, Kelly Conners and Whitney Secord had great games again. -Coach O.
4/9- We face Billings Skyview today in a double header. The first game will count toward the conference standings. Skyview has a good pitcher named Lauren Gustafson. I didn’t realize how tall she was until the line up exchange at home plate. She is about 6’ 3. She throws well but our girls were NOT intimidated by her or the rest of the Skyview team. We came to play and we got it done. We beat them 7-1 and Sammi almost had the shut out. Offensively, we banged out 12 hits with Whitney Secord (3-4) leading the way. Patti Laabs (2-4), Spud Dupuis (1-3), Kelly Conners (2-4), Sammi Bergan (2-3) and Kari Schiller (2-3) rounded out the rest of the hits. Defense, again played a huge part in our win. We are making the routine plays and that always helps. We are not beating ourselves. The second game played out a lot like yesterdays. We pitched Suzie Bartram and she did outstanding. She recorded 8 strikeouts, 1 walk and only 6 hits. She is going to be very helpful as the season progresses. Leading hitters for the non conference game were: Patti Laabs (2-4), Annie Hayes (1-3), Jocelyn Head (1-3), Meaghan Beecroft (1-2), Whitney Secord (1-3), and Sammi Bergan (1-3). These girls are playing very well together and getting it done when we need it. We are tied for 1st in our conference with our cross town rival CMR and Billings West. Conference record 2-1, over-all 5-1. Let’s keep it going!!! -Coach O.
4/15- Bozeman and Billings West are in town for two conference games today. Bozeman is a team that gets better and better each year. Billings West is a very good team with a rich tradition in their program. It will not be an easy day. We play Bozeman first. Because these are conference games I want to have Sammi throw both games if needed. My plan to have her throw the first game until we get a sizeable lead backfires. Bozeman jumps on us 3-0 in the first inning. A base hit, a couple of bunts that we can't make a play on, and then an error and before you know it....we are down by three. We hold them at 3 and then in the fourth inning we put up 3 runs to tie. A big sigh of relief comes from me because now I think we are on track to get it done. The score remains tied through 7 innings and then in the top of the 8th, we give up 2 runs on a hit and an error. We cannot recover and lose to Bozeman 5-3. Sammi ends up throwing the whole game. Leading hitters for the Bison were: Sammi Bergan (2-4), Spud Dupuis (2-4), Whitney Secord (2-4), Meaghan Beecroft (1-4), and Kari Schiller (1-3). Spud and Whitney continue to hit with authority and confidence. I tell the girls after the game that They cannot expect to win games when they play so sloppy. We are a good team with a good defense and we just didn't come to play. Now Billings West is coming over and if we don't screw our heads on, we are going to be 0-2 today. Sammi is going to start this one too. In this game our defense and her pitching kept us in it. Kari Schiller made an amazing catch in right-center to keep 2 runs from scoring. We outlast them and win 2-1. Sammi throws a great game and raises her record to 4-1. Leading hitters for the Bison were: Spud Dupuis (1-3), Whitney Secord (1-3), Kari Schiller (1-3), and Joelle Cote (1-2). We are now 3-1 in conference and 6-2 overall. Next week we travel to Billings to face Skyview on Friday and Senior on Saturday. - Coach O.
4/23- We had to change our plans on our Billings trip this weekend. We ended up having to play a triple header on Saturday. One conference game against Billings Skyview at 12:30 and then a conference game with Billings Senior at 2:30 followed by a non conference game at 4:30. This is a critical trip because we are 3-1 and can put some space between us and the rest of the pack. We open with Skyview and I feel that the girls are confident and ready but we don’t end up playing that way. Skyview’s pitcher is on fire and hitting her spots. She is throwing a hard drop and we can only muster 2 hits and we don’t get those until the 7th inning. We lose 4-1. We didn’t get it done offensively or defensively. We are much better than what we showed this game. Whitney Secord (1-3) and Meaghan Beecroft (1-3, RBI) are our only offense. Sammi Bergan suffers her first conference loss giving up 11 hits, 2 runs, 2 K’s and 2 BB’s. Next we have Billings Senior, This is a game we should win and need to win. I start Freshman Suzie Bartram on the mound because she has pitched outstanding and is always in the "zone". Suzie throws a great game but we lose 9-1. Errors and not enough offense contribute to our loss. We are doing things that are very uncharacteristic of how we’ve been practicing. We made some plays that include not calling for a fly ball, not getting behind a fly ball, not making the correct throw to the correct base and last but not least…we are not aggressive toward the pitched ball in the strike zone. This stuff really bothers me because in practice situations we do it right. This is a classic example of bad things "snowballing". We need to fix the ship. Leading hitters for the Bison were Kari Schiller (2-3), Annie Hayes (1-4), Sammi Bergan (1-3), Whitney Secord (1-3), Meaghan Beecroft (1-3), and Kelly Conners (1-3). In the second game Sara Hocker threw a great game and we won 8-6. She really had good command of her pitches and continues to improve. She may be a diamond in the rough. She is 6'1 and can really "bring it". Even though this was a non-conference game, it was good to come out with a win. We really needed it. Leading hitters for the Bison were Kelly Conners (3-4), Kari Schiller (2-2), Jocelyn Head (2-3), Spud Dupuis (2-4), Annie Hayes (2-4) and Sammi Bergan, Suzie Bartram & Joelle Cote with one hit apiece. Next weeks practice will have to be great....we have the cross-town game with CMR and they're 11-0 right now. Time to rise up to the challenge girls! _Coach O.
4/28- We play the cross-town rivals today. CMR is 11-0 overall and a very good team. They have been able to beat teams without scoring a lot of runs due to good pitching and good defense. We, on the other hand, have been struggling and unable to find our form of success that we experienced early in the season. The girls are not playing with a lot of confidence and we continue to hurt ourselves with poor defense. I feel that if we play our game and attack the ball we can upset the league leader. We start the game and it’s 28 above on the thermometer. It’s beyond cold. We start out in trouble allowing the first girl to reach base on an error, then Sammi hits the next two batters so we have bases loaded and no outs! Luckily, their clean up hitter (Amber Keeler) lines out to Sammi and she then gets the girl out at third. A much needed double play. The next hitter then grounds out to third base and we escape without giving up a run. In the bottom of the inning we lose our opportunity to score when our courtesy runner slides into third base and can’t get up in time to race home. No problem, I feel that we are going to hit this pitcher all over the field. As it turns out, it is CMR that is doing the hitting. We lose the game 6-1, we only got 3 hits although we did hit the ball a lot but right at people. We are still capable of playing much better and we will. Leading hitters for the Bison were Sammi Bergan (2-3), and Spud Dupuis (1-3). We will take Friday off and having nothing this weekend, then it will be time to get back to work and get back on track. We travel to Bozeman on Friday for one conference game and then to Billings to face Billings West for a conference game at 10:00 AM, and a non conference at noon. These are MUST win games for us. – Coach O.
5/6- We didn't start our turn around very well today. We played Bozeman today and started the game with 3 errors. Sara Hocker got the start for us and I put Sammi Bergan out in centerfield, Marissa Jenkins started at third. We ended up losing 5-1 and committed 5 errors. Sara Hocker did a great job pitching, striking out 7 and only walking 1. She gave up 1 earned run so that sort of tells you about our defense. Leading hitters for the Bison were; Meaghan Beecroft (2-2), Sammi Bergan (2-4), Whitney Secord (1-3), Kari Schiller (1-3). We need to pick it up against Billings West tomorrow. If we win we can still end up 2nd in our conference.
5/7- Well we lost the conference game against Billings West...we started the game with 3 errors in the first inning. We can't seem to solidify our defense. We got down 4-0 and battled back to 4-3. We had the bases loaded and Kari Schiller hit a sacrifice fly out to leftfield. Annie Hayes tags up and scores. I am so excited that we tied it up and we also moved the other runners into scoring position. The West Coach yells, "she left early". So they appeal and the home plate umpire rings up Annie...3rd out and no tie game. I was fit to be tied. If it wasn't for Coach Barrett, I may have gotten tossed and had to sit out the next Varsity game. We ended up losing 7-3. Leading hitters for the Bison were Spud Dupuis (2-2), Annie Hayes (2-4), Sammi Bergan (1-3) and Jocelyn Head (1-3). Losing this game ensures us that we will travel somewhere for a playoff game to see if we make it to State. In the second game, Suzie Bartram pitched and did a fine job. We could only muster 1 run and gave up 5. Leading hitters for the Bison were Jocelyn Head (2-3), Joelle Cote (2-3), Spud Dupuis (2-4), and Meaghan Beecroft (1-3). We are idle now until next Friday when the 3 Missoula Schools come to town for a triple header. Let's have a great week of practice girls. -Coach O.
5/13- We open our "Triple Header" with Missoula Big Sky. They have a transfer from across their town named Brittany Clifford who is a very good pitcher. I was hoping to see her because I want to see where our girls are in relationship. Clifford does throw against us and we lose 5-0. A couple plays made by us and we are in the game. Sam Bergan threw a great game for us, striking out 5 and walking 3. She gave up some "bloop" hits but Big Sky does have some girls that can really swing it. Leading hitters for the Bison; Annie Hayes (2-2), Spud Dupuis (1-3). Next up is Missoula Sentinel. This was a fun game because it was back and forth for awhile until we busted it open. Sentinel, another talented team from the west, gave us a good game. Sara Hocker was our pitcher and aside from losing her focus for an inning, she was very tough. We won the game 9-5 and played really well. Leading hitters for the Bison were Meaghan Beecroft (2-4), Kari Schiller (1-2), Kelly Conners (1-2), Sam Bergan (1-3), Spud Dupuis (1-3), Whitney Secord (1-3), Tasha Tucker (1-3), and Annie Hayes (1-3). It feels good to get the "W", it has been too long. Next up Missoula Hellgate. Suzie Bartram (Freshman) gets the start against Hellgate. She has been very consistant all year long and always right around the strike zone. She pitches a "gem" striking out 9 and walking zero! Again, another good game defensively and the leading hitters were Whitney Secord (3-4), Meaghan Beecroft (3-4), Tasha Tucker (1-2), Annie Hayes (1-2), Kari Schiller (1-2), Jocelyn Head (1-3) and Kelly Conners (1-4). This is a good momentum builder for us going into the 2nd CrossTown Showdown with CMR on Tuesday. Regardless how we do, we will still be on the road for a playoff game on Friday. -Coach O.
5/20- We arrive in Billings today, we had to leave Great Falls at 6:00 AM. I have a good feeling about our girls. I think we can play our best games today and earn a trip to State in Helena. The first game starts out good, we are very intense and I think we can pull if off. Lauren Gustafson (6'2 RHP) is on track today. She is throwing well and we have to get the ball on the ground and make them make a play. One thing that I've noticed is Gustafson's jersey in "untucked". According to the MHSA rules...uniforms MUST be tucked in. We've been hearing about it for a couple of years now. I ask my next hitter to ask the umpire to get the pitcher to tuck in her shirt. The umpire tells the catcher and the catcher then tells the pitcher. The pitcher just rolls it up and within two pitches it is hanging down again. I ask the next hitter up to ask the umpire to enforce the rule and he yells at my hitter to, "Get in the box and play ball!" I call time out and ask him to enforce the rules, he tells me that I'm grasping at straws and to get back in the coaching box or he'll toss me. After the inning, I yell to him that, "They (Skyview) are not above the rules!" For saying that...I got tossed. I missed the rest of the game and all of the next game and I feel terrible. I didn't do anything to warrant being tossed and I wouldn't do anything to but my team in that situation. We lose the game 8-0 and now we have to win the next two. We only manage one hit so we don't deserve to win this game anyway. In the next game we lose 3-1, our defense has been flawless all day but we can only generate one run. Sam Bergan threw both games and did well. We don't make it to State but it isn't for lack of effort. Leading hitters for the Bison were: Sam Bergan (2-3), Whitney Secord (2-3), and Jocelyn Head (1-3). We say so long to our 6 Seniors who will always be members of the Bison Softball Family. Good luck to Meaghan Beecroft (Walla Walla CC), Joelle Cote (Albertson College), Spud Dupuis (University of Notre Dame), Annie Hayes (University of Northern Colorado), Patti Laabs ( Undecided between Shasta College in Redding, CA or North Idaho College or Spokane Falls CC) and Kari Schiller (University of Great Falls). You are all winners . - Coach O.