The Big Sky Eagles will take on the Billings Senior Broncs at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Big Sky sitting on four straight victories and Billings Senior on eight.
Big Sky is coming in fresh off a high-stakes matchup with another one of Montana's top teams: Butte, who was ranked 17th at the time (Big Sky was ranked eighth). The Eagles came out on top against the Bulldogs by a score of 10-6 on Friday.
Big Sky got a big performance out of Logan Latrielle, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with one stolen base, one double, and one RBI. The team also got some help courtesy of Sadie McGuinn, who went 2-for-4 with two RBI, one run, and one double.
Meanwhile, Billings Senior got themselves on the board against Skyview on Wednesday, but Skyview never followed suit. They were the clear victors by a 10-0 margin over the Falcons. The Broncs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won nine games by six runs or more this season.
Riley Tryan was a major factor no matter where she played. On the mound, she didn't allow a single earned run over six innings pitched. What's more, she posted five strikeouts, the most she's had since back in May of 2024. She was also solid in the batter's box, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and one RBI. Those doubles were her first of the season.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Ivy Runsabove, who went a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs, three RBI, and one triple. Those three RBI gave her a new career-high. Another player making a difference was Portia Bryant, who went 1-for-3 with two RBI and one run.
Billings Senior kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 11 hits. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now got at least nine hits every time they've taken the field this season.
Billings Senior's win was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 10-1. The home victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 3.3 runs on average over those games. As for Big Sky, their win bumped their record up to 8-1.
Fans could be in store for some top-tier slugging on Saturday. Big Sky hasn't had any problems when it comes to power this season, having averaged 0.9 home runs per game. However, it's not like Billings Senior struggles in that department as they've been averaging 1.9 home runs. With so much power on both teams, it'll be down to the pitchers to keep the mound locked down.
Big Sky suffered a grim 14-3 defeat to Billings Senior when the teams last played back in May of 2024. Can the Eagles avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
