Smooth sailing
Kalispell Lakers shortstop Ben Sansaver keeps a Sherwood A’s baserunner on his toes while threatening a pickoff play during an early season game at Griffin Field. Garrett Cheen/Daily Inter Lake
Shortstop attributes team chemistry to late-season success
It's been a smooth transition from Class A American Legion baseball to the AA level for Ben Sansaver.
The 17-year-old sweet-swinging shortstop for the Kalispell Lakers leads the team in hitting with a .414 batting average.
He says he has team highs in triples (8) and doubles (20).
He's second in stolen bases and in runs scored.
He's driven in 28 runs.
"Yeah, it's fun," he said.
"Better pitchers. I just hit better off faster pitchers, so it was a lot easier for me."
Well, not that easy.
Sansaver, who bats right and throws right, struggled at first until he found his groove.
"Hold the bat up higher," he said.
"I was holding my hands down lower."
As a result, he started hitting the ball with authority.
Sansaver, 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, played just one year of A ball with the Lakers, hitting .486. Prior to that, he spent two years at the A level with the Wolf Point Yellowjackets. When his family moved to the Flathead Valley last year, he missed the first eight games of the season.
"I fit in pretty well, and they made it pretty easy for me," Sansaver said.
Sansaver and the Lakers finished the regular season by winning six straight conference games. The Lakers swept five of their six league foes at home and went 5-0 versus rival Glacier Twins.
"Really good team chemistry," Sansaver said of why this team was so successful down the stretch.
"We bonded pretty well, jelled. That's a big part of it."
Another big part is talent.
The Lakers have a solid pitching staff, have a lineup filled with hitters, and they all play tough defense.
Sansaver demonstrated the defensive side recently when he scooped up a fast-moving ground ball and in the same motion, flicked it to second base for the start of a double play versus Glacier.
"It's my favorite part (of baseball)," he said of defense.
"Sometimes we'll practice that (the play he pulled off). It was just one of those things. It was there."
Sansaver said he didn't fully appreciate that double play until he arrived in the dugout.
"It didn't hit me at first," he said.
"The fans were going crazy. I started laughing."
He said he then had to reenact his catch and flip for his teammates in the dugout.
"He's played solid for us at shortstop," Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said.
"He's a pretty good athlete. He has a pretty good work ethic. He's also made a nice transition into becoming a vocal leader."
Malmin coached against Sansaver's brother, Luke, when he was in Glasgow.
"When he (Ben) was 14, he was playing Legion. We kind of give each other crap about that; joke about the eastern Montana days."
Offensively, Sansaver said he's had a pair of 10-plus game hitting streaks. In a recent 3-0 victory over the Lethbridge Spitz Elks, he had the team's only two hits - a single and a triple. He also drove in a run.
The Lakers swept a doubleheader from the Spitz Elks that day in a key series.
"Those were a couple of wins we had to have to get to state," Sansaver said.
"You always want to be the guy who bats with the bases loaded and two outs. To have the ball hit to you so you can throw a strike to first base. Those are the things you live for."
And he likes being the No. 2 batter in the order.
"I like the pressure," he said.
Sansaver says he never lost faith after the team started 3-6 in league play.
"We knew we had to bounce back and stay focused," he said.
"We knew we had the talent."
Sansaver and the Lakers open state play today at 9:30 a.m. in Great Falls against Bozeman, a team they did not face all season. The Bucks are defending state champions.
Sansaver says the six-day break between games will not be a negative factor for the team.
"I don't think so," he said.
"We've been practicing hard. I think we'll keep the momentum going.
"I think we're the best team in the West right now," he added.
"There are a lot of good teams in the conference."
Sansaver is a three-sport standout. He's the starting point guard at Glacier High School and a free safety on the football team.
But baseball is his first love.
"Yah, I want to go play somewhere out of state," he said of college baseball.
"I think I can with hard work."