Hannah Bell’s three RBIs guide Mt. Spokane past University

Hannah Bell’s first Greater Spokane League home run was just the appetizer.

Her bases-loaded single provided the main course.

Bell drove in three runs Tuesday to power the Mt. Spokane Wildcats (5-2) to a 5-3 victory over visiting University that handed the Titans (6-1) their first Greater Spokane League softball defeat.

U-Hi held a 2-0 advantage when Bell led off the bottom of the second inning with a drive over the left-field fence.

“I was thinking the inside pitch is my favorite, so I was waiting on that and that’s what it was,” the Wildcats sophomore shortstop said. “I think right when I hit it I was hoping it was over, but I felt like (the flight of the ball) was kind of higher, so I didn’t know for sure.”

Bell came to the plate the following inning with the bases loaded and one out. Kyla Stern’s RBI single to center field three batters before had tied the score at 2.

Bell drove a single up the middle to score Jesse Dupuis and Stern. The ball got past Titans center fielder Rachael Johnson for an error, scoring Jadeyn Cronn for a 5-2 Wildcats edge and sending Bell to third base.

“When the bases are loaded, I’m just thinking to get it out of the infield,” Bell said. … “If I’m going to get a great base hit, it has to be right up the middle or something deep.”

“We get down early and Hannah shows us that we can put the ball in play,” Wildcats coach Carl Adams said. “It’s kind of contagious like that: ‘If she did it, I’ll go hit the ball, too.’ ”

Mt. Spokane didn’t score after the third, but the pitching of Wildcats senior Kimber Tutt and some bad fortune kept the Titans from catching up.

Tutt struck out seven and walked one. Her two biggest strikeouts came in the sixth, when U-Hi had runners on first and second and nobody out.

“I just work on getting the batter,” Tutt said. “I don’t worry about the runners because I know that my defense can help me out.”

After Tutt’s two strikeouts in the sixth, Titans leadoff hitter Johnson appeared to have collected an RBI single to left field, but she was called out for stepping on home plate.

The inning before, the Titans ran themselves out of a scoring chance when Kirsten Anstrom, who had doubled, collided with Bell as she attempted to field Brooklynn Tacke’s grounder.

Tacke helped give the Titans their early lead, tripling home Anstrom and scoring on Gracee Dwyer’s single in the first.

“Right now, (the Titans) are consistently at the top of the league and that’s a good (win) for us,” Adams said. “But we’re just trying to play as well as we can every day out, whether it’s U-Hi or not.”

U-Hi’s defeat created a three-way tie for first place with Mead and Shadle Park, which meet Friday at Shadle.