July 18, 2024
BY BOB JUDSON
OGDEN, UT — Montana Avalanche 14u (Missoula, MT), coming off an extra innings win in their opening matchup of the Triple Crown Fastpitch 14u World Series, found themselves in an early hole in Game 2 of their trip to Utah on Thursday afternoon.
Absolute Blast surged ahead 7-1 after two innings before the Avalanche plated three runs in the third inning, closing the gap to 7-4.
A five-run top of the fourth gave the Avalanche the lead, and when time ran out in the bottom of the fourth, Absolute Blast was unable to come back as the Montana based squad captured a 9-7 victory as temperatures hit 100 degrees after 1 p.m.
“(First game) was a long, hard great ball game,” said Avalanche coach Kyle Weaver. “These girls have had a lot of heat in Montana the last couple of weeks, so we were prepared, which is good.”
But it did take a couple of innings for the Avalanche to get going in Game 2.
Absolute Blast scored four runs in the bottom of the first on a two-run double by pitcher Jenna Nowak and a towering two-run homer from Paityn Craig off of starting Avalanche pitcher Sara Bjornson.
“Our starting pitcher was off in the first inning and the next inning kind of got her stuff back,” Weaver said.
A run in the second inning didn’t help the Avalanche when Absolute Blast added three more in the bottom half to lead 7-1. Nowak added her third RBI of the game with a two-out single.
Three runs in the third pulled the Avalanche within 7-4, with only one run earned, a trend that continued throughout the course of the game.
“This team has done that a lot this year; we’ve fought back hard like that. We trust our bats,” Weaver said.
The strange fourth inning dawned when the Avalanche got seven straight runners on with one out and scored five runs – all of them unearned – aided by several errors, passed balls, wild pitches and mental mistakes by Absolute Blast.
"Two or three swinging bunts can create a little chaos, when the ball gets thrown around and people are running, it’s hard for any team on that deal,” Weaver said. "Definitely a little luck in that. Smart baserunning. The girls were aggressive and put pressure on them.”
Avalanche shortstop Olivia Warriner was a key factor, scoring one run in the fourth – and two overall - while getting on base three times in the game.
“We needed to get our bats going more and hit it in the gaps. We’d been hitting it a lot to their players,” Warriner said. “We had five runs but they had a bunch of errors.”
Warriner came on the pitch the final two innings for the Avalanche, who did not surrender a hit and registered a strikeout.
“We have two pitchers warm up every game and then we switch it up so they see new pitchers and don’t get used to the same one,” Warriner said. “The plan was for me and her (Bjornson) to pitch in this game; see how it goes and bring me in.”
Weaver praised Warriner’s performance in the circle Thursday.
“She’s tough; she’s got really good movement–downward movement and upward movement. She’s sneaky fast and has great control,” Weaver said. “It was the right pitcher for the right spot in their lineup. We needed to get their big hitters and try to keep it in the park. We didn’t want to have either pitcher go too deep in this heat.”
Coach Weaver was proud of the final outcome and effort of his shorthanded club on Thursday.
“Even though we only brought 10 players, we have really good depth in pitching,” Weaver said. “We’re pretty thin. Injury is a concern.”
