Power Up: Coming In From The Snow

Weather permitting, perpetually the qualifier this time of year, the Glasgow softball team will hit the field for the first time on Saturday in Havre against the Lady Blue Ponies.

After a remarkable run to second place in the state in 2012, the Scottie girls are understandably anxious to get back on the field to try to repeating their unprecedented success. Instead, the girls have been confined to indoor work only, mostly focusing on hitting in batting cages.

So being able to take infield practice is what Head Coach Mark Falcon is most looking forward to.

“I think it’s just going to be good to get out on the field,” he said. “The big thing I want to see is how we do on grounders – take it as a practice.”

That invaluable practice may not happen, though. The forecast for Saturday shows a high of 24 and a 10 percent chance of snow. The decision to go or not will be made later in the week.

Last season’s mild winter allowed the Scottie girls onto practice fields on their very first day of scheduled practice, giving the team time to gel as a defense. The results proved it helped as Glasgow routinely made fewer errors than their counterparts early in the season.

Falcon says they’ll have a different advantage this season.

“There’s so many girls that are returning from last year, they can help the younger girls. It makes our whole team better,” he said.

The Scottie girls only had two seniors on the team in 2012, Jessica Carson and Tyana Rasmusan.

Carson was injured early in the season and missed the rest of the regular season before returning in the state playoffs. Rasmusan and Shyla Bergtoll, a junior this year, formed a two-headed pitching monster with 21 wins, four saves and a combined 3.38 ERA. Those two, and Kenady Hall, who transferred to Shepherd, are the only regulars who don’t return this season.

“I think we’re going to be even more powerful than we have been,” said Falcon. “Our ninth batter is going to be just as good as our first batter.”

That’s high praise given that the Scottie girls’ lineup hit 18 home runs, 56 doubles, 13 triples and scored more than 10 runs per game last season.

Glasgow softball was not the only team trying to tee off for the first time this season; the Scottie golfers were scheduled to travel to Shelby on Friday for a meet.

However, inclement weather and poor playing conditions on the course led to the decision for the Scotties to not travel to the meet.

Their first varsity meet will now be at the Poplar Invitational in Wolf Point on April 20.