Helena @ Hellgate Preview

For the Hellgate softball program it was a rough opening weekend last Friday and Saturday against the Billings Class AA schools, but the Knights have a chance to bounce back against the Helena Bengals Tuesday.

Hellgate fell to all three Billings Class AA schools last Friday and Saturday to start the season at 0-4, with a 7-2 game against Skyview on Friday night being the closest match the Knights had played. The Knights are a young team with only five seniors on the roster, but there are seven experienced juniors that fill out the remainder of the roster.

Helena on the other hand has opened their season at .500, splitting games against the Great Falls schools to open the season, and then dropped a game to Butte on Saturday, and bounced back against Bozeman later Saturday afternoon. Like the Knights, the Bengals are a youthful team with only five seniors and six juniors.

In order for the Knights to pick up their first win of the season Hellgate will need to tighten up their defense as the Bengals have only been able to earn five or more runs in one of their first four games. Offensively the Knights will have to find their bats as Hellgate was only able to earn five runs between four games last weekend. Expect both games of the doubleheader to be a tight match with first pitch scheduled for 3:00 pm at the Rattlesnake Fields, and the second of two games getting under way roughly 20 minutes after the first is finished.