Chinook survives extra innings for B-League title

Heading into the championship of the Havre Girls Fastpitch Softball B-League, the Chinook team had the advantage as they were undefeated in the double-elimination tournament and could afford a loss in their game against Triple Dog Thursday night at Sixth Avenue Memorial Field. However, as the game went on longer than expected with extra innings, the game was forced to be the only game for the championship, making it do or die time for Chinook.

With the game tied 4-4 and heading to the bottom of the eighth inning, Chinook finally secured the championship when their batter got walked with the bases-loaded to get the 5-4 win. Chinook head coach Leland Standiford was not surprised by the hardfought and drawn out game after they defeated Triple Dog the day before in the tournament.

"It was phenomenal. The team that we played, Triple Dog, I knew when we beat them yesterday that they were going to come back," Standiford said. "It was just an all-around great, heartfelt win because nobody gave up. We were positive the whole time and we stepped up."

The Chinook championship team consisted of Laura Danley, Abby Danley, Lou Kelly, Joe Kelly, Kendall Fetter, Zoë Scofield, Piper Skoyen, Mataya Inman, Kiley Huravitch and Chyler Standiford. With the game heading to extra innings, players such as Laura Danley were happy to just end it in addition to winning the championship.

"I was very happy because it was going to be a long game if no one scored a run in the next 20 minutes," Danley said.

The second-place Triple Dog team consisted of Olivia Keller, Parker Garrity, Leighton Owens, Marissa Garcia, Lillyanna Le, Isabella Cowan, Jazmyn Werk, Alliyah Rodriguez, Alix Holt, Kinli Nash and Kendall Shandorf. Even though her team did not win the championship, head coach Kathy Peterson was proud of their season as all her players tried different things throughout the year.

"Our season was awesome. All these girls here, they played all the different positions and tried different things throughout the year," Peterson said.

Chinook entered the game with an undefeated record but early on it looked like that record would not hold. In the top of the second inning with the ball in play, Chinook committed several fielding errors that allowed Triple Dog to score two runs for the lead.

Chinook did not get on the scoreboard until the bottom of the fourth with a bases-loaded walk to make Triple Dog's lead 2-1. Chinook then scored on another bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game, 2-2. Chinook took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth when Laura Danley hit a triple to center field to drive in a pair of runs for the 4-2 lead.

"I just kind of timed the pitch and just swung the bat because I was tired of striking out," Danley said.

Chinook only needed to record three outs in the top of the seventh to secure the championship. However, Triple Dog did not go away as they got three runners on base to start the inning. Keller then dropped a single into left field to get a runner home and cut their deficit to one run. Parker Garrity then grounded out into a fielder's choice to get another runner home to tie the game.

Chinook got a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh but failed to score and forced the game to extra innings. With a runner already on second to start the bottom of the eighth, Chinook batters got walked in two straight at-bats to load the bases with no outs. Triple Dog then walked the next Chinook batter to drive in a run for the win.

Coming into the season, Standiford was not sure how his team would perform against the Havre teams who had been practicing over the winter with the advantage of an indoor facility. He was also just happy to get to play after last season was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, so all of these factors combined made this championship that much more impressive to him.

"To end the season undefeated is a miracle. They played hard, they never gave up and so it was exciting to end up undefeated against some quality teams up here," Standiford said. "We got a lot of girls stepping up into the age bracket above and we got a lot of younger kids that got a lot of experience. Next year will be a lot more fun."