Must beat Red Sox today at 9 a.m. to advance to state
By CARL HENNELL
The Daily Inter Lake
So it's down to the Bitterroot Bucs, Mission Valley Mariners and the Bitterroot Red Sox at the American Legion baseball Western A District Tournament being played at Griffin Field.
But only two of those teams will advance to the state tournament in Billings next week.
The Bucs beat the Mission Valley Mariners Friday afternoon in the tourney's undefeated semifinal, 8-4, to earn a berth into both the district championship game and into the state tourney.
The Mariners will play the Red Sox, who beat Kootenai Valley in the 10th inning at about 11:20 p.m. Saturday, today at 9 a.m. for the district's final berth.
Kootenai Valley nearly climbed out of the depths of the losers' bracket to earn a shot at Mission Valley and a berth into state after eliminating Kalispell Saturday morning, 14-7.
The Red Sox beat Missoula to get into the game against Kootenai Valley.
The winner of the Mission Valley-Bitterroot Red Sox game will play the Bucs in the championship game at 12:30 p.m.
Bitterroot Bucs 8, Mission Valley 4
Tied 4-4 in the top of the eighth inning, Scott Sharp bunted a ball with runners on first and second an no out that looked like it was going to roll foul but Mission Valley catcher Jake Whetzel picked it up and misfired to first base and two runs scored. Then Deric Stephens followed with a suicide squeeze that plated Sharp and the Mariners were unable to field the bunt and Stephens wound up with an RBI bunt single.
The Mariners rallied with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game at 4-4.
Eric Locke hit a two-run double and Tyler Trudea got an RBI hit by pitch and the Mariners got the tying run across the plate on a wild pitch.
But the Bucs took command for good right after that with that four-run eigthth inning.
Phil Perez started on the mound and went 5-for-6 from the plate for the Bucs. Tony Isbell hit two home runs - a solo shot the broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning and a three-run shot in the seventh inning.
The Bucs outhit the Mariners, 12-6. No Mariner had more than one hit.
Bucs 000 001 340 - 8 12 1
Mariners 000 000 400 - 4 6 1
Phil Perez, Tony Isbell and Deric Stephens. Jake Bosley, Tyler Trudeau Brandon Thompson and Jake Whetzel.
BUCS - P. Perez 5-6, Matt Perez 0-5, Jeremiah Hanna 0-4, Isbell 2-4, Chance Edman 0-4, Dustin Lind 0-5, Aaron Blackwell 2-4, Dominic Goble 0-2, Tyler Davolt 1-1, Scott Sharp 0-1, Stephens 2-5.
MARINERS - Tim Gauthier 1-5, Eric Locke 1-4, Bosley 0-4, Thompson 1-4, Chris Brown 0-1, Trudeau 1-4, John Rausch 1-4, Robert Wallace 0-3, Will Gordon 0-1, Whetzel 1-3.
Bitterroot Red Sox 16, Kootenai Valley 14 (10 innings)
The Rangers rallied from a 9-4 deficit and tie the game in both the eighth and ninth innings, but couldn't get over the hump.
But they were really darn close.
Graham Cook tied the game for the Rangers in the eighth by scoring on a passed ball to knot the game at 13.
Jessee Gardner gave the Red Sox a 14-13 lead in the top of the ninth with an RBI single and the Rangers got out of a huge jam with a crazy double after Lucky Barrett doubled to left-center field. Barrett ran Jasper Miller off second base when Gardner held up at third base on the double. The Rangers picked Miller off of second base and then Gardner tried to score and was called out on a close play when Rangers' catcher JD Belstad tagged him out as Gardner was heading into the dugout after he missed home plate.
Zach Niewsma walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth for the Rangers, stole second and scored on an error to send the game into extra innings. The Rangers had the walk-off winning run on third base a couple of times in the bottom of the ninth, but Jordan Lundberg - who had five hits and was just a double away from hitting for the cycle