Helena wins area finale at Briarwood to finish area play undefeated

Published 1:46 pm Thursday, April 18, 2024

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – The No. 1 Helena Huskies kept rolling in area play as they wrapped up a perfect 4-0 area record with an 8-2 win over the Briarwood Christian Lions on Wednesday, April 17 at Helena High School.

During the game, Helena honored its seven seniors with a special senior night ceremony.

Once the action got underway, the Huskies scored eight unanswered runs after an explosive start to the game from the Lions.

After Harley Morrison took back-to-back strikeouts to start the top of the first for Helena, Briarwood’s Macie Johnson hit a first-pitch double to put a runner in scoring position for Larsen Cummings.

Cummings then came up big with a two-run home run to give the Lions the early lead.

While the Huskies went one-two-three in the bottom of the first, Emma Olive made sure that scoreless run wouldn’t last long as she launched a solo shot to center to cut the deficit to one.

That kicked off a big power-hitting inning for Helena as Hayden Traywick hit a solo home run of her own two batters later to tie up the game. After a pair of singles and the second out of the inning, Presley Lively sent a three-run home run to center field and put her team up 5-2.

From there, the Huskies settled in on defense and held on to their lead the rest of the way after getting a pair of chances to extend it.

After a lead-off walk from Henley Traywick in the bottom of the fifth, Olive hit her second home run of the game to take the lead to 7-2. Her two home runs gave her a 2-for-3 day with three RBI and two runs to go with a walk.

Helena finished out the scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning after a one-out single and stolen base from Lively turned into an RBI single by Hannah Steele.

Morrison then struck out the final batter of the game in the top of the seventh for her ninth strikeout of the game as she took a complete-game win while allowing just two runs, three hits and one walk.

Lively and Steele each finished the day 3-for-4 as Lively had three RBI and two runs and Steele had one RBI.

Helena will hope to improve its 31-4 record over the weekend with tournament games on April 19 and 20 starting with a showdown with Curry on Friday, April 19 at 6 p.m.

Briarwood will travel to Vincent for its next game on Monday, April 22 at 4:30 p.m.