Lakers sweep Electrics

One look at the lineup card for the Class AA American Legion Kalispell Lakers Thursday and six names jumped out as having a lot of experience already this season - and those were non-starters.

… And the Lakers proved just how good they are by sweeping the Great Falls Electrics under a constant drizzle at Griffin Field, 9-2 and 7-4.

The sweep dropped the Electrics from third to fourth place in the Western AA standings to 9-6 (.600). Medicine Hat climbed into third place at 5-3 (.625). The Lakers are in fifth place at 7-9 (.438). The top four teams from each conference advance to the state tournament at the end of July.

The Lakers got complete-game victories from pitchers Adam Olson and Zach Davis and pounded out 18 hits in the doubleheader. The team improved to two games over .500 overall on the season (22-20).

"The hitting is coming around, the pitching did great - I'm just really happy for the kids," Kalispell coach Ryan Malmin said.

Great Falls Electrics coach Aaron Johnson said his team played terrible in all aspects of the game in dropping to 25-17 overall.

Kalispell 9, GF Electrics 2

Tied 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning, Kalispell No. 2 hitter Dan Conners hit a two-run single and the Lakers never looked back.

Olson struck out only one batter while giving up eight hits and two walks in earning his sixth complete-game victory of the season.

He retired 10 of the final 11 batters in order after struggling early.

"Early in the game I wasn't hitting my spots and I was struggling and Jake (Fitzsimmons) and coach (Malmin) came out and told me that I needed to start hitting my spots and … I don't know … I started hitting my spots and settled down," Olson said. "My fastball I throwing high and my curveball I was hitting my spots but they weren't breaking very much."

So what did he have to do to adjust? … Stride farther? … Slow down his motion?

"Just man up," said Fitzsimmons, his catcher.

"I just had to do it," Olson said.

Olson used mostly fastballs and changeups to win his fourth straight game and improve to 6-3 on the season.

The Lakers got it going on offense as well. By the third inning, they had eight hits and ended up giving Great Falls pitcher Shaun Tatarka his first loss of the season.

Fitzsimmons was the leader from the No. 3 spot. He went 3-for-4. Conners, No. 5 hitter Geoff Hogan and No. 9 hitter Tucker Hankinson each went 2-for-3. Conners and Hankinson each had two RBIs while Hogan and Zac Davis each added one RBI.

Great Falls was led by JT King's 3-for-4 performance. Tatarka gave up eight walks and five hits while striking out three. All six of the runs he gave up were recorded as earned.

GF Electrics 010 100 0 - 2 8 1

Kalispell 130 014 x - 9 11 2

Shaun Tatarka, Curtis Bloomfield (6) and Levi Johnson. Adam Olson and Jake Fitzsimmons. W - Olson (6-3). L - Tatarka (8-1).

ELECTRICS (9-6, 25-16) - Ryan Egan 1-4, JT King 3-4, Tyler Fayden 0-3, Zack Semenza 0-3, Kevin Corwin 0-3, Jarod Jacobson 1-3, Johnson 1-1, Kody Swartz 1-3, Ryan Beecroft 1-3.

KALISPELL (7-9, 21-20) - Stefan Malkuch 0-3, Dan Conners 2-3, Fitzsimmons 3-4, Geoff Hogan 2-3, John White 1-4, Zach Davis 1-3, Adam Olson 0-3, Austin Zapata 0-2, Tucker Hankinson 2-3.

RBIs - GF 2 (Schwartz, Beecroft), Kal. 6 (Conners 2, Hankinson 2, Hogan, Davis). 2B - GF 1 (Swartz), Kal. 1 (White). SB - GF 2 (King, Semenza), Kal. 1 (Malkuch).

Kalispell 7, GF Electrics 4

It was kind of a seesaw battle, but Kalispell led the whole game.

Ford took a two-hitter into the sixth inning before running into trouble as Great Falls cut its deficit to 4-2.

But Kalispell's No. 8 hitter Austin Zapata and leadoff hitter Stefan Malkuch hit RBI singles in the bottom of the sixth and Tyler Reichhoff and Zapata executed a double steal to plate Reichoff as the Lakers took command again.

Ford allowed seven hits, three walks and hit a batter while striking out four in improving to 5-3 on the season.

"He was throwing straight heat - he was throwing hard," Fitzsimmons said.

"It took me a little while to settle down but once I did I felt great," Davis said. "The curveball worked pretty good and the slider worked once."

"We didn't dare throw his changeup," Fitzsimmons added.

Fitzsimmons had the fireworks going early for the Lakers when he pulled a two-run home run about 10 feet from the foul pole in the third inning.

"I think it was a fastball … I don't know … I guess it could have been a changeup," Fitzsimmons said. "It was the first pitch, letter high and I just jumped on it."

The dinger gave the Lakers a 4-0 lead they sat on for three innings as both pitchers cruised.

King pitched the complete game for Great Falls and dropped to 4-3. He gave up seven hits and four walks while striking out none in six innings. Of the seven runs he gave up, only four were earned as the Electrics' defense committed five errors.

Malkuch was the only Laker with more than one hit as both teams had seven hits.

Great Falls leadoff hitter Ryan Egan and No. 8 hitter Cody Swartz each had two hits in the loss.

GF Electrics 000 002 3 - 4 7 5

Kalispell 022 003 x - 7 7 1

King and Jacobson. Zach Davis and Fitzsimmons. W - Davis (5-3). L - King (4-3).

ELECTRICS (9-7, 25-17) - Egan 2-4, Fayden 1-3, Semenza 1-3, Tatarka 1-4, Corwin 0-3, Jacobson 0-3, Johnson 0-2, Swartz 2-2, Cody Dobson 0-3.

KALISPELL (8-9, 22-20) - Malkuch 2-3, Conners 1-4, Fitzsimmons 1-3, Hogan 1-3, White 1-2, Tyler Reichhoff 0-2, Ford 0-2, Zapata 1-3, Chris Hooley 0-2.

RBIs - GF 3 (Tatarka 2, Fayden), Kal. 5 (Malkuch 2, Fitzsimmons 2, Zapata). HR - GF 0, Kal. 1 (Fitzsimmons). 2B - GF 0, Kal. 1 (Conners). SB - GF 2 (Semenza, Tatarka), Kal. 2 (Reichhoff, Zapata).