Lakers face Scarlets in opener
The Kalispell Lakers have landed in a familiar destination for the end of July - the American Legion baseball AA State Tournament.
But this year, they'd like to keep their reservations a little longer.
With one of the best pitching staffs in the state, the Lakers (15-9 in conference, 34-21 overall) find themselves in Miles City with an opening round game on Saturday against the defending champion Billings Scarlets (18-6, 40-13). The Scarlets lead in state trophies with six total, and have won two of the last three.
This is the second year in a row that Kalispell has had to face a defending champ in the opener. Last year, the Lakers took on 2007 winner Bozeman and got battered 13-0 and finished 1-2 at the double-elimination tourney.
The Lakers have been in the state tourney four of the past five seasons and are 1-6 in that time.
"Going to the state tourney can't be a goal, it has to be an expectation," Lakers coach Ryan Malmin, in his fourth season, said. "Once you get there, you can't be satisfied."
This season, the Lakers finished third in a somewhat music-chairs Western AA. Lethbridge ran up the standings in the final weeks, passing Kalispell and eventually Missoula to win the regular season crown and earn the West's No. 1 seed.
The month of July has proved to be a sullying period for the hot-start Lakers, who opened the season 26-11, but have since lost 10 of their last 18 games.
But one of the bright spots to last throughout the roundabout season has been the pitching. Joe Pistorese amassed an 8-2 record with an astounding earned-run-average of 1.02 through 89 1/3 innings. The 17-year-old lefty, in his rookie AA season, struck out 134 batters and had a no-hitter.
Ben Sansaver, a standout shortstop and starter who will be playing baseball for Miles City Community College next year, finished the season 6-3 with a 2.17 ERA and also had a no-hitter.
Mario Venturini rounds out the big three for Kalispell. He finished with an 8-3 record with 76 strikeouts and a 3.89 ERA.
"We've been pretty consistent all year on the mound," Malmin said. "Defensively, we just need to make sure we eliminate making mistakes on the routine plays. And we need to produce one through nine in the lineup. That is a huge key for us."
Michael O'Connell leads the Lakers offensively with a .391 batting average and has 48 RBIs. Catcher Zach Brosten follows up with a .354 average and 38 RBIs.
The Lakers have six players in their final season - Sansaver, Toby Liechti, Pat Hergesheimer, Zane Ridings, Blaine Matulevich and Bryant Eickert.
2009 Montana State AA Tournament
Denton Field, Miles City
Saturday
Game 1, 9:30 a.m. - Billings Royals (17-7 conference, 38-22-1 overall) vs. Missoula Mavericks (17-7, 46-23)
Game 2, 12:30 p.m. - Billings Scarlets (18-6, 40-13) vs. Kalispell Lakers (15-9, 34-21)
Game 3, 4:30 p.m. - Bozeman Bucks (18-6, 41-18) vs. Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs (14-10, 23-17-1)
Game 4, 7:30 p.m. - Lethbridge Spitz Elks (17-7, 27-12) vs. Miles City Mavericks (0-23, 7-40)