Lakers split with Helena

The Kalispell Class AA American Legion baseball team's bats are alive and well.

The Lakers combined for 22 hits, including two grand slams, and 26 runs Saturday at Griffin Field, and rebounded from one bad inning early in the first game of their doubleheader against Helena to forge a non-conference split.

The Senators won the first game, 10-7, on the strength of a five-run third inning. The Lakers came back to win the second one, 19-6, in a game shortened to five innings due to the 10-run rule.

"You take away that third inning of the first game and we should have gotten the sweep," Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said. "But for the most part, I was really happy with our offensive performance. We hit the ball well and our outs were quality outs. We put the ball in play and limited the strikeouts. So I'm very happy with the offense."

The Lakers outscored the Senators 25-8 in the day's final nine innings and improved to 3-2 on the season.

"That first game we came out kind of blah and didn't play with that much energy," said Zac Ford, who hit a walk-off grand slam to end the second game. "But coach got us into it in the second half. We started turning it on in the end and made it somewhat of a close game. We knew that we had to come out in the second game so we just carried the intensity over from that first game. We started off strong and just kept it up. We were swinging pretty good."

It was the first games of the season for Helena.

The Lakers are back in action today at Griffin Field, hosting Class AA Belgrade in a non-conference doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.

Kalispell 19, Helena 6 (5)

Ahead 10-6 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Helena's pitching fell apart and the Lakers exploded for nine runs and ended the game by mercy rule.

Ford's grand slam over the left-field wall capped the surge.

"That was my first home run in Legion ball," Ford said. "It was pretty sweet - a walk-off grand slam. I'll be remembering this one for a while."

Two Helena pitchers combined to issue four walks in the inning, including three with the bases loaded.

"My homer was on a 3-1 pitch and, man, that new pitcher was all over the place," Ford said. "The other guys were being selective and I was thinking the same thing. It got to 3-1 and all I thought was to put it in the outfield and get the run in to end the game. But he pitched it right into my wheelhouse and I put a swing on it. I didn't think it was going to go out at first. It was a fastball right down the middle. That's all he was throwing was fastballs because he couldn't locate anything. But he piped a 3-1 pitch."

But that wasn't the only grand slam of the game.

Ahead 5-3 in the third inning, Pat Hergesheimer made it 9-3 with his first AA homer on his first official at bat of the season.

"It was a new pitcher so it was sweet to get a grand slam on his second pitch," Hergesheimer said. "The first pitch was a fastball right down the pipe and the second pitch was the same exact pitch. I loved his sidearm motion. This was my second grand slam. My first one was my 14-year-old year - Babe Ruth All-Stars in Bozeman. So this was exciting."

Hergesheimer was injured on his first at bat of the season last Saturday against Bozeman when he was hit by a pitch. He missed three games and came back only to get hit by a pitch in his first plate appearance. In the second inning, he walked. Then he hit the grand slam. Then Helena plunked him again. Then he got another walk. So far, he's 1-for-1 on the season with the grand slam, three hit by pitches and two walks.

"It's pretty crazy, pretty sweet," said the player who was hit by a pitch 34 times last season at the Class A level.

Three Helena pitchers combined for eight walks and four hit batters.

"It kind of got out of hand a little bit," Helena coach Dave Thennis said. "Our pitching was a little inadequate the second game. Those guys had a poor outing, but it was everyone's first appearance on the mound so I'm not too concerned."

Thennis' Senators opened the millennium by winning three straight state championships. He won coach of the year in 2001 and 2003, but failed to make the state tourney the last two years.

"I've never seen two grand slams in a game … And I'd rather see it on the other side," he said. "We've had a couple of bad years and this could be the turnaround year. This is actually going to be a very good team."

Jacob Scott gathered three hits in his first game as the Lakers' leadoff man. Ford and Austin Zapata each got two hits. Ford and Hergesheimer both had five RBIs. Zach Davis was the winning pitcher. He struck out six, walked three and hit three batters.

Helena 003 03 - 6 8 5

Kalispell 324 19 - 19 11 2

Joe Andriola, Jake Sharbono (3), Anthony Hogan (5) and Adam Eckhart. Zach Davis and Pat Hergesheimer. W - Davis (1-0). L - Andriola (0-1).

HELENA (1-1) - Derek Carley 1-3, Chris Wheat 2-4, Travis Capps 1-3, Buddy Burnett 1-2, Eckhart 0-3, Jake Vulk 0-1, Matt Williams 1-3, Nick Trapp 1-2, Wade Heverly 0-2, Nick Retz 1-1.

KALISPELL (3-2) - Jacob Scott 3-4, Hergesheimer 1-1, Tyler Reichoff 1-4, Adam Olson 1-3, Zac Ford 2-3, Davis 0-3, Austin Zapata 2-4, Derek Keller 0-3, Tucker Hankinson 1-3.

RBIs - Hel. 4 (Wheat, Capps, Burnett, Retz), Kal. 19 (Hergesheimer 5, Ford 5, Olson 3, Zapata 2, Scott 2, Davis, Hankinson). HR - Hel. 0, Kal. 2 (Hergesheimer, Ford). 2B - Hel. 0, Kal. 2 (Olson, Scott). SAC - Hel. 0, Kal. 1 (Ford). SB - none.

Helena 10, Kalispell 7

Helena starting pitcher Jake Vulk pitched five strong innings, allowing six hits and a walk while striking out just one to earn the victory.

The Lakers committed six errors and starting pitcher Adam Olson was touched for four straight hits to start the decisive third inning, which was aided by two errors.

Tyler Reichoff stopped the bleeding for the Lakers from the mound. He relieved Olson in the third and pitched four innings of two-hit ball. He allowed no earned runs.

"Both Adam (Olson) and Zach (Davis) struggled a little bit from the mound," Malmin said. "Adam was just out of the zone and kept the ball up a little too much so they were able to hit off of him. He just had an off day. Zach also struggled with his pitches but he had just enough to get us through - but, of course, he had the run support that Adam didn't.

"Tyler (Reichoff) again did a good job. We expect good things from him this year. He looks forward to being out on that hill and he's got the confidence and that poise about him."

Malmin coached most of the day without any assistant coaches.

"It's all good," he said. "It's all the kids. I just had a fun time watching them get excited. When both of those kids hit the grand slams, I looked over and watched them all explode onto the field. There was a lot of that kind of stuff and that's what it is all about."

Helena 125 001 1 - 10 11 2

Kalispell 010 022 2 - 7 11 6

Vulk, Carley (6), Eckhart (7) and Burnett. Olson, Reichoff (3), Hankinson (7) and Tony Lawrence. W - Vulk (1-0). L - Olson (0-1).

HELENA (1-0) - Carley 2-5, Wheat 1-5, Capps 0-4, Burnett 1-3, Eckhart 2-4, Hogan 1-3, Williams 2-4, Trapp 0-3, Retz 2-4.

KALISPELL (2-2) - Keller 0-2, Brian Sneck 0-1, Reichoff 1-3, Hankinson 1-1, John White 0-3, Olson 2-4, Ford 1-3, Davis 1-2, Zapata 2-3, Scott 2-4, Lawrence 1-3.

RBIs - Hel. 6 (Williams 2, Carley, Wheat, Eckhart, Hogan), Kal. 7 (Scott 2, Zapata, Lawrence, Reichoff, Olson, Davis). 3B - Hel. 1 (Hogan), Kal. 0. 2B - Hel. 2 (Burnett, Retz), Kal. 4 (Ford, Scott, Reichoff, Olson). SAC - Hel. 0, Kal. 1 (Ford). SB - Hel. 2 (Carley, Williams), Kal. 0.