BUTTE — After falling to Lewistown in the second round of the Class A state softball tournament, Laurel coach Trent Crookston offered his team a challenge.
"Just get to Saturday," he recalled telling his Locomotives after that deflating defeat. "You guys make it to Saturday, anything can happen. And they proved that right."
The Locomotives responded to that loss to Lewistown by reeling off five straight wins to work their way through the consolation bracket and set the stage for a championship against Hamilton, with the Broncs winning three straight games to reach the title game which was ultimately postponed and moved to Stodden Park on Tuesday.
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Needing to defeat the Broncs twice to win state, Laurel left no doubt, topping Hamilton 13-1 in the first championship and then following that up with an 8-2 victory in the winner-take-all second championship. The Locomotives claimed their first title since 2006.
"If there was a group of girls to do it, it was this one," said senior Laurel pitcher Adrienne Roth who pitched the entirety of both games and allowed just three Hamilton runs. "Most of them I've been playing with since I was about six, and they deserve it as much as I do. If you're gonna go out, you might as well give it your all."
Said Crookston: "You saw Adrienne out there today, she left her heart out on the mound. Same with the catcher, same with the center fielder. They just gave everything to the team. All a coach could ask for."
The first championship saw Laurel pile up 10 runs in the top of the fifth inning to earn a run-rule victory. In the second championship, the Locomotives led 3-2 after one inning and then scored five runs across the final three innings to seal the victory.
"I play for these girls and they play for me," said Roth. "If they have my back I have theirs. It's so important to me that they get as much credit as I do cause they deserve it as I do."
Laurel concluded its championship-run season at 24-9 and the Broncs finished at 20-5.
