Loggers drop Dillon

The Daily Inter Lake

VAUXHALL, Alberta - Just a little reminder.

The Libby Loggers trailed the Dillon Cubs by a run going to the bottom of the eighth inning at the Class A state American Legion baseball tournament at Jets Stadium.

That's when catcher Mat Schad got the team together in front of the dugout.

"He reminded us that we have been here before and we are going to score runs. That was good to see from one of our leaders," said Libby head coach Kelly Morford.

And just like that, the Loggers responded with two runs to beat Dillon, 4-3.

Steve Bertelsen and Rory Hendrickson hit back-to-back doubles to start off the eighth inning.

Schad tapped a slow roller to the left of the Dillon third baseman to score Bertelsen and Ryan Stapley slipped another slow roller past the shortstop to bring Hendrickson home.

"It was in true Logger style … nothing impressive, but it got the job done," Morford said.

With that 4-3 victory, the Loggers are now one game from the Class A state championship game. They'll take on at 7:30 p.m. tonight in the semifinal contest.

"It was a heart attack game. It was a great ballgame," Morford said.

"It wasn't a relaxed atmosphere in the dugout," he admitted. "We started to get on our heels a little bit, but then everybody realized we've been behind before. It's just kind of the way we do things.

"But we aged a little bit … and (assistant coach Jack) Helber can't afford to do any more of that," he joked.

Bertelsen led the Loggers at the plate. He was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBIs.

Nate Peltier kept the Cubs in check from the mound.

He put in a complete game for Libby, striking out eight, walking one and allowing four hits.

"His split finger was working really well today. He was in and round the zone all day. They really only hit the ball hard two times," Morford said.

Dillon Cubs 000 002 100 - 341

Libby Loggers 002 000 02x - 481

Conor Hartz and Jackson Berkram. Nate Peltier and Mat Schad. W - Peltier (4 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts). L - Hartz.

Dillon (1-1) - Dakota Norris 0-4, Conor Hartz 1-4, Zach McRae 1-4, Tim Goins 0-4, Jackson Berkram 1-4, Kacy Schwend 13, Jake Schmit 0-2, Luke Renfree 0-3, Andy Peterson 0-3.

HR: McRae, Berkram.

RBIs: McRae 2, Berkram.

Libby (2-0) - Chris Herbig 0-3, Steve Bertelsen 2-4, Rory Hendrickson 2-4, Mat Schad 0-3, Ryan Stapley 0-3, Derek Willis 0-2, Royce Hendrickson 0-1, Kelly May 0-4, Dustin Morningstar 1-4, Colton Cannon 2-4, Nathan Peltier 1-1.

2B: Bertelsen, Rory Hendrickson.

HR: Bertelsen.

RBIs: Bertelsen 2, Schad 1, Stapley 1.