Loggers district champs

| July 28, 2008 1:00 AM

The Daily Inter Lake

FLORENCE - It turned out to be longer day than planned, but the end result was still to Libby's liking.

The Loggers were forced into two championship games at the double-elimination Western A American Legion baseball tournament on Sunday. Libby came into the final action undefeated, but lost to the Bitterroot Red Sox 12-2. That forced a second championship game, which Libby won 11-7 in 11 innings.

"The second game was a war of attrition," Libby coach Kelly Morford said. "Both teams were low on pitching, tired from a long tournament. We kept banging and kept ourselves in the game, gave ourselves a chance to win at the end."

In the 11th inning, Libby scored four runs to put the game out of reach. Steve Bertelsen led off with a single and scored on a RBI single by Rory Hendrickson. Nate Peltier and Kelly May also had RBI singles in the inning, and Matt Schad scored on an overthrow.

Ryan Stapley homered in the fifth inning with one runner on to tie the game at 6-all. It was Stapley's first home run of the season.

Second Championship Game

Libby 031 020 010 04 - 11 17 4

Bitterroot Red Sox 114 000 100 00 - 7 10 6

Colt Cannon, Rory Hendrickson (10) and Matt Schad; Donaldson, Richards (6), Allen (7), Weigle (8), Brown (10) and B. Anderson. W - Hendrickson (3-6). L - Brown.

Libby - Chris Herbig 0-4, Steve Bertelsen 3-6, Hendrickson 3-5, Schad 1-3, Ryan Stapley 2-6, Nate Peltier 1-5, Derek Benefield 1-4, Kelly May 2-2, Dustin Morningstar 2-5, Cannon 2-6.

Bitterroot - Shook 1-6, R. Anderson 0-0, Sherman 2-3, Hamlin 4-6, B. Anderson 0-4, Brown 0-6, Allen 1-5, Stanford 2-4, Donaldson 0-3, Richards 0-1, Turner 0-1, Weigle 0-5.

2B-Stapley; Hamlin, Stanford; HR-Stapley; RBIs-Herbig, Hendrickson, Stapley (2), Peltier, May, Cannon; Hamlin (3), Brown.

First Championship Game

Libby 010 010 0 - 2 7 2

Bitterroot 001 330 5 - 12 12 3

Bertelsen, Herbig (7) and Schad; Allen and B. Anderson. W - Allen. L - Bertelsen.

Libby - Herbig 1-3, Bertelsen 2-4, Hendrickson 0-3, Schad 1-4, Stapley 1-3, Peltier 0-2, Benefield 0-4, Eric Grotjohn 0-0, Morningstar 2-3, Cannon 0-3.

Bitterroot - Shook 3-4, R. Anderson 1-4, Hamlin 2-5, B. Anderson 0-3, Brown 0-4, Allen 2-4, Richrds 0-3, Stanford 3-4, Weigle 1-2.

2B-Schad; Hamlin, Stanford; HR-Morningstar; Hamlin; RBIs-Stapley, Morningstar; Shook (3), Anderson (2), Hamlin (2), Richards, Stanford.