Lakers repeat as champions
Break open 3-2 game in 5th against Twins
The Lakers-Twins rivalry is alive and well.
The Flathead Valley's two Class AA American Legion baseball teams played for the 2007 Canadian Days Tournament championship Sunday in front of a cold and tightly-packed crowd at Griffin Field and played a fantastic game for almost five innings.
Ahead just 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, Kalispell scored five runs to take command and cruised for the final two innings en route to a 12-4 victory.
"We did well and they did well for the first handful of innings, then we had a questionable play go against us and it kind of sparked our team for the rest of the game," Kalispell's Tyler Reichoff said. "The momentum carried over into the next inning and we scored quite a few runs.
"This is our biggest rival so it's always nice to come out with a win. No matter who they pitch, no matter who we pitch, it's just nice to beat them."
Reichoff, John White and Pat Hergesheimer each went 2-for-3 to lead the way for the Lakers on offense. Adam Olson started on the mound and pitched six innings of eight-hit ball while walking three and striking out three to earn his first victory of the season.
Although no player in the game had any multi-RBI hits, the Lakers had nine RBIs. Reichoff had three, White had two and Derek Keller had two.
The Lakers also asserted their early-season dominance on the base paths with seven stolen bases. Jacob Scott, the Lakers' leadoff hitter and center fielder, had three of those swipes. He went 1-for-1 with a walk, hit by pitch and sacrifice bunt and came around to score after all four plate appearances.
All told, the Lakers had 11 hits in repeating as champions of their own tournament.
"Two years in a row, next year will be three," Reichoff said after being handed his first-place medal. "It's nice to defend our home field. When anybody comes in here, they have to know they're going to get a tough battle from everybody."
The Twins pounded out eight hits, but committed five errors.
"We keep doing that, we keep having a meltdown inning late in the game," Glacier coach Jarod Grubb said. "But it's usually been the fourth inning. So I guess I should see that as a little bit of improvement since we waited until the fifth to do it today.
"We hit the ball well. We got some good jobs out of our pitchers. But it was just the one inning, if our defense sharpens up - thinks a play ahead, we just aren't doing that late in games. But if we get that, that's it. If we have a sharp infield, we win this game."
Roo Grubb and Josh Peterson each had two hits and an RBI to lead the Twins on offense.
With the victory, Kalispell improved to 13-4 on the season. Glacier dropped to 12-6. But if the first four-and-a-half innings of Sunday's game are any indication of things to come once the Western AA schedule gets going, the Lakers and Twins rivalry will be well represented.
Both teams kick off their conference schedules on Wednesday night against each other in Whitefish. First pitch of the one nine-inning game is 6 p.m.
Glacier 200 002 0 - 4 8 5
Kalispell 102 053 x - 12 11 3
Wes Beougher, RJ Beasley (4), Zane Ridings (5) and Brad Nielsen. Adam Olson, Greg Niels (7) and Pat Hergesheimer. W - Olson (1-2). L - Beougher (0-1).
GLACIER (12-6) - Roo Grubb 2-3, Rusty Hill 1-4, Josh Peterson 2-4, Justin Collom 1-4, Weston Chambers 1-2, Brad Bell 0-2, Scott Yogodzinski 0-3, Ryan Caron 1-4, Michael Hader 0-2, Nielsen 0-1.
KALISPELL (13-4) - Jacob Scott 1-1, Austin Zapata 1-3, Tyler Reichoff 2-3, Olson 1-4, Zac Ford 1-3, John White 2-3, Hergesheimer 2-3, Tony Lawrence 0-0, Derek Keller 1-3, Tucker Hankinson 0-3, Neils 0-0.
RBIs - Gla. 3 (Peterson, Chambers, Grubb), Kal. 9 (Reichoff 3, White 2, Keller 2, Zapata, Olson). 2B - Gla. 2 (Caron, Grubb), Kal. 2 (Hergesheimer, Reichoff). SAC - Gla. 1 (Neilsen), Kal. 2 (Scott, White). SB - Gla. 0, Kal. 7 (Scott 3, Zapata, Reichoff, Hergesheimer, Keller).