Mariners, Loggers lose in state baseball play

Vauxhall, Sidney unbeaten after 2 rounds

LIBBY - It was a day of quasi-upsets Wednesday at the American Legion Baseball Class A State Tournament.

Both Mission Valley and Dillon lost their second-round games.

The undefeated semifinal is set: Vauxhall, B.C, (33-4) against Sidney-based Richland County (39-18).

Vauxhall had everyone in Lee Gehring Field shaking their heads in disbelief by whooping the Mission Valley Mariners, 22-9, in eight innings during the nightcap.

Richland County rallied late to beat Dillon in extra innings, 8-7.

In loser-out action, the Great Falls 15- and 16-year olds eliminated Libby, 9-5, and Gallatin Valley rallied to beat Laurel in a pitchers' duel, 2-1.

Today's action starts at 1 p.m. with Gallatin Valley (40-19) against Dillon (56-8) in a rematch of bad blood from a regular-season incident when Dillon coach Randy Shipman put his team back on the bus in Three Forks because he believed GVO was playing with an ineligible player. That player will be starting on the mound against the Cubs today.

At 4:30 p.m., Mission Valley (56-8) takes on Great Falls (33-23).

Vauxhall 22,

Mission Valley 9

Vauxhall pitcher Mitch Schaafsma got stronger as the game went on and the Spurs' hitting was relentless.

Schaafsma put the final 15 Mission Valley batters down in order. He finished with 12 strikeouts and allowed four walks and nine hits - all in the first four innings.

On the flip side, four Mariners pitchers struggled and combined for 13 walks.

Through the first four innings, the game was fantastic.

Brandon Thompson mashed a line drive into the center field netting (380 feet) for a two-run home run that put the Mariners ahead, 5-1. They scored three more runs in the third to stay ahead, 8-7, and took a 9-7 lead into the sixth inning.

Then Vauxhall erupted.

All but two Spurs starters had at least two hits. Catcher Zach Rhodes had a home run and Vauxhall Academy of Baseball player Brendan Miller had three hits, including two doubles. No. 7 hitter Clay Turcato went 4-for-5. Eleven Spurs had at least one RBI.

Thompson finished 3-for-4 for the Mariners and was a triple away from hitting for the cycle heading into the fifth inning.

Vauxhall 013 306 18x - 22 19 2

Mission 233 100 18x - 9 9 4

Mitch Schaafsma and Zach Rhodes. Eric Locke, Brandon Roy (4), Kyle Bagnell (6), Joe McCarthy (8) and John Rausch. W - Schaafsma. L - Roy.

VAUXHALL (33-4) - Ryan Hutchinson 2-5, Ty Sparrow 2-5, Zach Rhodes 2-4, Jaden Odland 2-4, Brendan Miller 3-5, Mike Brown 2-5, Clay Turcato 4-5, Schaafsma 1-5, Cole Stober 0-2, Coltan LaBoucane 1-2, Brent Deunk 0-1.

MISSION VALLEY (56-8) - Kyle Brown 1-2, Roy 1-1, K. Bagnell 0-1, Eric Locke 0-3, Tim Rausch 1-4, Brandon Thompson 3-4, Will Gordon 2-4, Tyler Linse 0-4, Craig Bagnell 1-3, Cubbie Pierre 0-3, J. Rausch 0-3.

RBIs - Vau. 19 (Rhodes 3, Turcato 2, Miller 2, Brown 2, Odland 2, Schaafsma 2, Hutchinson 2, Deunk, Brown, LaBoucane, Sparrow), MV 6 (T. Rausch 2, Thompson 2, Brown, Locke). HR - Vau. 1 (Rhodes), MV 1 (T. Rausch). 2B - Vau. 4 (Miller 2, Sparrow, Schmaafsma), MV 4 (Gordon, Brown, Thompson, Roy). SB - Vau. 8 (Odland 3, Hutchinson 2, Rhodes, Miller, Sparrow), MV 1 (C. Bagnell). SAC - Vau. 1 (Odland), MV 1 (Locke).

Richland County 8,

Dillon 7 (10)

What a ball game, what a comeback.

Richland County scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings. Then Chad Williams delivered the game-winning suicide squeeze bunt with one out in the 10th as the Patriots pulled the upset and advanced to the undefeated semifinal.

Williams' bunt, after three throw overs to third base by Dillon pitcher Chance Plutt, went hard up the third-base line. The bunted ball looked like it was going to skip foul and Dillon third baseman Tim Goins let it go, but the ball went all the way up the line and bounced hard off the third base bag.

It scored Jordan Nesper, who led off the inning with a slow rolling single between first and second. Kraig Balcer followed with a walk and Kelsey Brown advanced them with a sacrifice bunt.

Trailing 7-5 with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Patriots' Trent Thomas hit a solo home run over the left-field fence off the Cubs' 19-game winner Tim Goins, who relieved starter Zach McRae after earning the complete-game victory in the opening round against Libby.

After Thomas' homer, Goins gave up and walk and then a dying quail single over third base before Chris Lee delivered the game-tying ground ball RBI single between shortstop and third base.

Trailing 6-2 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Joel Kessler hit a three-run double off the left-field wall on Goins' first pitch in relief. Josh Nollmeyer followed the double with a single, putting Kessler on third as the tying run. But Goins got out of the jam on a fly ball to center field.

Ahead 6-5 in the top of the ninth with two outs, Dillon's Zach McRae hit an 0-2 pitch into an opposite-field RBI double to give the Cubs a two-run lead heading into the Sidney-based team's final at bats.

The Patriots out-hit the Cubs, 12-8. Nollmeyer went 3-for-5 to lead the way. Kessler finished with four RBIs. Kels Brown relieved starter Chad Williams in the fifth inning and earned the victory on the mound. He finished with 5 2/3 innings pitched, striking out four while allowing five hits and two walks.

McRae and Alan Howard each had two hits for Dillon. Plutt got the Cubs on the scoreboard first with a two-run home run in the third inning.

Dillon 002 011 201 0 - 7 9 3

Richland 000 101 302 1 - 8 12 2

Zach McRae, Tim Goins (7), Chance Plutt (10) and Jackson Berkram. Chad Williams, Kelsey Brown (5) and Joel Kessler. W - Brown. L - McRae.

DILLON (56-8) - Joel Rogers 1-4, Plutt 1-5, McRae 2-4, Berkram 1-5, Goins 1-5, Drake Waltner 0-5, Alan Howard 2-5, Jake Schmit 0-4, Kirt Taylor 1-3.

RICHLAND COUNTY (39-18) - Kraig Balcer 1-3, Brown 0-3, Williams 1-5, Trent Thomas 1-4, Kessler 1-2, Josh Nollmeyer 3-5, Chris Lee 0-5, Brett Zadow 0-5, Jordan Nesler 2-5.

RBIs (Plutt 3, McRae, Berkram, Howard, Taylor), RC (Kessler 4, Williams, Thomas, Nollmeyer, Lee). HR - Dil. 1 (Plutt), RC 1 (Thomas). 2B - Dil. 2 (Rogers, McRae), RC 1 (Kessler). SB - Dil. 5 (McRae, Goins, Howard, Berkram, Taylor), RC 0. SAC - Dil. 1 (Taylor), RC 1 (Brown).

LOSER-OUT GAMES

Great Falls 9, Libby 5

Great Falls youngster Jake Mansch allowed just four hits over eight innings of work to earn the victory. He struck out 11 and walked five.

"He's one of the best pitchers we've seen," Libby coach Kelly Morford said. "Giddy-up on his fastball - 86 mph is what they said. He kept us tripped up with a split-fingered change-up. It had to have been a 50 mph difference between his fastball change-up."

Ahead just 4-3 heading into the top of the fifth inning, the Stallions got an unearned insurance run. In the seventh, they added two more unearned.

Stallions leadoff hitter Spencer Thomson went 3-for-6 and Aaron Stucker added two more hits.

Libby committed five errors and were out-hit, 10-6.

No Logger had more than one hit. Matt Schad hit a double and scored twice.

Steve Bertelesen started on the mound and allowed seven hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out seven.

"That was hard for us to come back and play a game with all the emotion of last night's late game. We kind of had a hangover with emotions. That scene (Wednesday night) was amazing. We didn't have that crowd for this game."

The Loggers ended the season with a 23-28 record and lose only two players because of age: No. 3 hitter and third baseman Richard Brumbaugh and No. 7 hitter and left fielder Kory Volkers.

"I've already started thinking about what we're going to be during the fall," Morford said.

Great Falls 103 010 202 - 9 10 1

Libby 021 000 110 - 5 6 5

Jake Mansch, Jake Bleskin (9) and Alex Waltari. Steve Bertelson, Kody Foote (6) and Kasey Basso. W - Mansch. L - Bertlesen.

GREAT FALLS (33-22) - Spencer Thomson 3-6, Aaren Remus 1-5, Waltari 1-5, Mansch 1-4, Dustin Schultz 1-5, Aaron Stucker 2-5, Bleskin 1-3, Brady Kangas 0-5, Skyler Smith 0-3.

LIBBY (23-28) - Zack Rowan 1-5, Bertelsen 1-5, Richard Brumbaugh 0-3, Matt Schad 1-3, Basso 0-3, Derek Benefield 0-2, Kory Volkers 1-3, Chris Herbig 1-3, Nate Peltier 0-2, Foote 0-1, Ryan Stapley 0-1, Rory Hendrickson 1-1.

RBIs - GF (Thomson 2, Schultz 2, Remus, Kangas), Lib. 4 (Rowan, Basso, Volkers, Herbig). 2B - GF 0, Lib. 2 (Hendrickson, Schad). SB - GF 1 (Thomson), Lib. 3 (Bertelsen 2, Rowan) SAC - GF 0, Lib. 1 (Rowan).

Gallatin Valley 2,

Laurel 1

What a pitchers' duel between GVO's Derek Allen and Laurel's Jade Stricker.

Both pitched complete games. Allen allowed six hits and one walk while striking out eight in earning the complete-game victory. Stricker did better, allowing just five hits and no walks while striking out 12.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the top of the seventh inning, GVO got a string of breaks when Laurel committed three straight infield errors to lead off the inning and the Outlaws plated two of the runners.

The Dodgers scored their lone run in the fourth inning. It, too, was unearned.

Carson Anderson had two of GVO's hits. Dillon Boeshans had two of Laurel's hits.

The Dodgers' season ended with a 33-19 record.

Gallatin 000 000 200 - 2 5 2

Laurel 000 100 000 - 1 6 5

Derek Allen and Matt Enriquez. Jade Stricker and Keenan Weatherford. W - Allen. L - Stricker.

GALLATIN VALLEY (40-19) - Lynn Crawford 1-4, Isaiah Jensen 1-4, Patrick Sinnema 1-4, Enriquez 0-4, Carson Anderson 2-4, Shane Koski 0-4, Matt Workman 0-3, Brandon Oakes 0-4, Cameron Frost 1-3.

LAUREL (33-19) - Joe Binstock 0-4, Stricker 1-3, Clay Graber 1-4, Chris Mjelstad 0-3, Jake Giovetti 0-4, Dillon Boeshans 2-4, Weatherford 1-3, Kenan Lausch 1-4, Taylor Roberts 0-4.

RBIs - none. Extra-base hits - none. SB - none. SAC - GV 1 (Jensen), Lau. 1 (Mjelstad).