Trotters win way to State B-C tourney

by John Hamilton

Happiness is a Western B-C trophy.

The icing on the cake is that along with that sparkling trophy, the third place shiner from last week's Western B-C softball tourney in Anaconda, coach Michele Bangen and her Plains-Hot Springs Trotters also receive a berth into the State B-C tournament.

Hoping to have their cake and eat it too, the Trotters will open the State B-C tourney in Belgrade Thursday against Cut Bank, the No. 2 seeded team from the Eastern B-C, at 4 p.m. at the Belgrade Softball Complex.

Bangen and her Trotters know all about the Cut Bank Wolves, after dropping a hotly contested 8-7 decision to the Wolves in loser-out play at last year's State B-C tourney. The Trotters had opened the 2018 tournament with a 10-7 loss to this year's super-power from the Eastern B-C, the as-yet undefeated Huntley Project Red Devils.

If the Trotters manage to leash the Wolves, their likely second round opponents would be the Loyola Sacred Heart Breakers, the Western B-C tournament champions from last week and quite possibly the hottest softball team in the state right now.

Huntley Project and the defending State B-C champion Florence Falcons are on the opposite side of the bracket from P-HS. Loyola won the Western B-C title, defeating Florence 6-5 in the championship, and P-HS finished third, dumping Manhattan 17-9 in the consolation.

"We look at Cut Bank as a revenge game, they knocked us out of the State tournament last year," she said. "And we are glad to be on the opposite side of Huntley Project at least early on, they are the real deal."

When it counted in Anaconda last week, the Trotters were the real deal.

After rain delayed the proceedings Friday and allowed teams to only play for a few innings, the tournament was played with a few different rules, including the fact that it was no longer a true double elimination format.

In spite of the threatening skies, the Trotters did play the first inning against Deer Lodge and built an 8-2 lead before the proceedings were postponed by weather. Back on the field Saturday morning, the Trotters completed a 13-9 win over the Wardens to advance to the next round.

After Loyola pitcher McKenna Bessette, the potential wild card in this week's State B-C tourney, blanked P-HS 11-0, the Trotters were faced with a do-or-die game with Anaconda to stay alive.

Grabbing their chance to advance, the Trotters settled in behind the pitching of Kassidy Kinzie, who allowed the Copperheads only four hits, and won a tense 3-0 decision to clinch a berth to the State B-C tourney.

Bangen said outfielder Kelsey Standeford made a key defensive play that kept Anaconda off the board in the sixth inning.

"Kass threw really well and our defense was solid behind her," she said, "and Kelsey made a huge catch that prevented them from scoring in the sixth."

With the pressure of advancing off, the Trotters slugged out a 17-9 win over Manhattan in the consolation game to claim their third place hardware. The hot-hitting Trotters pounded the horsehide for 18 hits in the game, including seven doubles.

Freshman Celsey VonHeeder, who has been an important part of P-HS's pitching rotation along with Kinzie this season, picked up the win, as Dakota Butcher and Izzy Butcher each drove in four runs for the Trotters, Kenzie Angle added three RBIs, Madison Elliott two and Natalee Deschamps and McKenzie Elliott one each.

Leading only 10-9 heading into the top of the seventh inning, the Trotters put the game away with a seven-run uprising at that point.

Bangen doesn't know much about the teams from the Eastern B-C, and really doesn't want to.

"I like going in blind," she said. "We have to play our game anyway, I would rather worry about how we play than worry about how good or bad a team we are facing is.

"We just need to play our game, to the best of our ability, and see where that takes us."