Apr. 5—COLUMBIA FALLS — On a frigid Friday night at Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Field it was Reggie Sapa's cool demeanor that allowed the Columbia Falls Wildcats to escape with a 9-8 win in a back-and-forth game against a gritty Whitefish Bulldogs team.
Holding onto a 1-run lead, Sapa came in for relief and struck out five of the next six batters to close out the game, though it didn't come without some traffic on the bases.
Sapa walked the Bulldogs' Carter Godsey to lead off the seventh inning and Godsey immediately stole second base and advanced to third on defensive interference. Luke Dalen lined out to second for the first out and Avery Caton struck out for what catcher Cooper Ross believed was the third out of the game as he rolled the ball towards the mound.
Sapa calmly picked up the ball, walked to home plate and told Ross, "We're good" before striking out the next batter to end the game.
"The runner was already on third and there was nothing I could do about it now except shut the door," Sapa said. "If I give up a walk so be it who cares, but don't sit back just go after him."
The Wildcats jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings without recording a hit, drawing nine walks off starter Reed Boyer. Whitefish responded in the top of the fourth inning by stringing together six straight hits, highlighted by Dalen's double that brought the Bulldogs within one.
Whitefish plated three more runs in the fifth inning for its first lead of the game. It looked like all momentum had shifted in the Bulldogs' favor, but the Wildcats responded.
Jory Hill led off the bottom of the fifth inning and laced a triple to the right-center field gap for Columbia Falls' first hit of the game. Hill scored on a wild pitch, and Ross and Nico Young singled before Sapa's seeing-eye hit plated the go-ahead run.
"Our body language was horrible, I thought we were done but Jory Hill hits that triple and gets the dugout back in it, Treysen Murphy comes in and throws strikes, then Reggie Sapa comes in and slams the door," Columbia Falls coach Chad Green said.
"We noticed early on they were struggling to throw strikes, and we were maybe being too selective letting too many fastballs go by. I was glad to start seeing us swing the bat because we relied on the walks a little too much."
All four of Columbia Falls' hits came in that fifth inning to re-take the lead. The Wildcats drew a total of 12 walks. Dalen went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and the only extra-base hit of the game for the Bulldogs, who collected eight hits total.
Calvin Eisenbarth drove in two runs for Whitefish and Carter Godsey reached base three times and scored twice.
Columbia Falls (2-0) will play at Ronan on Monday at 3:30 p.m., while Whitefish will travel to Polson for a 4:30 p.m. game on Tuesday.
Whitefish 000 530 0 — 8 8 4
C-Falls 204 030 x — 9 4 1
Reed Boyer (2), Tait Orme (5), Carter Godsey (6) and Avery Caton. Jett Pitts (4), Treysen Murphy (5), Reggie Sapa (7) and Cooper Ross.
WHITEFISH — Ryan Conklin 0-3, Drew Queen 0-4, Tait Orme 1-4, Finn Ryan 1-3, Christian Schawderer 1-3, Carter Godsey 1-2, Luke Dalen 2-3, Avery Caton 1-4, Calvin Eisenbarth 1-3.
COLUMBIA FALLS — Cooper Ross 1-2, Nico Young 1-2, Reggie Sapa 1-3, Brady Matson 0-4, Jett Pitts 0-3, Aidyn Williams 0-2, Treysen Murphy 0-1, Wyatt Dodson 0-3, Jory Hill 1-1, Trenton DeRosa 0-3.
2B — Dalen. 3B — Hill. RBIs —Dalen 3, Eisenbarth 2, Orme, Ryan, Schawderer. Pitts 2, Young 2, Ross, Matson, DeRosa.
Columbia Falls' Jett Pitts (18), Reggie Sapa (22), Nico Young (4) and Brady Matson (32) celebrate after a 9-8 win over Whitefish in Columbia Falls on Friday, April 4. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter ...
