Twins rally past Lakers in 9th
WHITEFISH - After waiting his turn for more than three hours, Rusty Hill lived up to his nickname.
Hill laced a two-run, pinch-hit single to right field with two outs in the ninth inning Tuesday night and the Glacier Twins rallied past the Kalispell Lakers 12-11, beating their rivals for the first time in Western AA American Legion baseball play this season.
Hill stepped into the batter's box in place of relief pitcher Michael Hader with Glacier trailing 11-10 before plating right fielder Roo Grubb and second baseman Brad Bell on an opposite-field flare.
"That's why we call him 'Clutch T,'" Glacier coach Jarod Grubb said of Hill. "Really, no one was surprised by it because he did it all last year and he had a couple clutch hits this year. Rusty is a very mentally-tough kid and he's built for that situation."
That situation was made possible after Hader made like Houdini in the top of the ninth inning. Hader surrendered singles to Kalispell's Tyler Reichhoff and Adam Olson as well as a walk to Geoff Hogan before inducing a strikeout and two fly outs to escape the bases-loaded jam and earn the win.
Kalispell left the bases loaded three times while stranding 15 runners on the night. Glacier stranded just three runners while narrowly out-hitting the Lakers, 11-10.
Glacier improves to 8-11 in Western AA play with the victory, keeping their state tournament hopes alive.
"It was absolutely huge, especially to give us a shot to state," coach Grubb said.
"It was big to finally beat the Lakers. We've battled all year with them, and to win the last one is sweet and could give us a big confidence boost playing the Electrics tomorrow."
Glacier's Nos. 1 and 2 hitters
brilliantly set the table all night - and sometimes cleared it. Speedy leadoff man Scott Palmer went 2-for-3 with a triple while scoring four runs, stealing three bases and driving in the eighth-inning run that pulled the Twins within one. Roo Grubb had four RBIs, three runs and four hits, including a two-run home run in the third inning.
Glacier's Justin Collom provided another strong mound performance, allowing just four hits and two earned runs over 5 1/3 innings.
The Twins entertain the Great Falls Electrics today in a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader at Memorial Park.
The tough-luck Lakers fell to 6-16 in conference action and 26-29 overall despite several clutch performances of their own.
Kalispell scored six runs in the seventh inning to take a 10-6 lead. Reichhoff led the Lakers with three hits and two RBIs. Olson notched two hits while Hogan drove in a pair of runs.
The Lakers resume conference play on Saturday when they host the Great Falls Stallion in a 3 p.m. doubleheader.
Kalispell 010 102 610 - 11 10 2
Glacier 102 120 312 - 12 11 5
Zach Davis, Geoff Hogan (6), Adam Olson (8) and Pat Hergesheimer. Justin Collom, Wes Beougher (6), Michael Hader (9) and Brad Nielsen and Ryan Caron (8). W - Hader. L - Olson.
KALISPELL (26-29, 6-16) - Derek Keller 1-4, Davis 0-4, Tyler Reichhoff 3-5, Olson 2-5, Hogan 1-2, Zac Ford 0-4, John White 1-5, Hergesheimer 1-3, Tucker Hankinson 1-4.
GLACIER (NA, 8-11) - Scott Palmer 2-3, Roo Grubb 4-5, Scott Yogodzinski 0-3, Brad Bell 1-4, Collom 1-5, Weston Chambers 0-1, Beougher 0-1, Hader 0-1, Rusty Hill 1-1, Zane Ridings 0-3, Josh Peterson 2-4, Nielsen 0-2, Caron 0-0.
RBIs - Kal. 8 (Reichhoff 2, Hogan 2, Keller, White, Hergesheimer, Hankinson), Gla. 11 (Grubb 4, Palmer 2, Yogodzinski 2, Hill 2, Chambers). HR - Kal. 0, Gla. 1 (Grubb). 3B - Kal. 0, Gla. 1 (Palmer). 2B - Kal. 2 (Olson, White), Gla. 4 (Peterson 2, Collom, Grubb). SB - Kal. 2 (Hogan, Ford), Gla. 4 (Palmer 3, Grubb). SAC - Kal. 2 (Hankinson, Keller), Gla. 3 (Yogodzinski 2, Chambers)