Lakers rally back in Libby

LIBBY - Cody Dopps knocked in three runs, Mario Venturini had two RBI and the Class AA Kalispell Lakers rallied back from a 7-0 deficit to beat the Class A Libby Loggers 19-11 in a nonconference American Legion baseball game on Friday.

Dopps went 3 for 5 and Venturini had a double and a single for Kalispell (22-8 overall). The Lakers scored 10 runs in the final three innings while Libby committed 11 errors in the game and gave up the lead for good in the seventh after a two-out rally led to six Lakers' runs.

"Against a good swinging club like Kalispell you can't really give them outs like that," Libby head coach Kelly Morford said.

Dean Stimpson, Dominic Eickert, Michael O'Connell and Marshall Boyland all had an RBI apiece for the Lakers.

The Loggers (15-16) jumped ahead 7-0 in the first after 19-year-old Dustin Morningstar capped the monster inning with a bases-clearing 3-run double.

Kalispell fought back and took its first lead of the game in the sixth, 9-7.

Libby's Micah Germany added a 3-run double in the bottom half of the sixth to put the Loggers back up, 11-9.

In the top of the seventh, Kalispell strung together five-straight singles with two outs to score six runs and take the lead for good.

"We helped them out a lot with the errors," Morford said. "We just had a lot of physical errors and then mental errors on top of it. When things go wrong for us, we can't quite stop it. We need to be more consistant."

Libby hosts their alumni game tonight at 6 p.m. before heading to Polson on Monday for a matchup with the Mission Valley B team.

Kalispell hosts Western AA foe Lethbridge (8-5) on Sunday in a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.

Kalispell 030 033 604 - 19 16 0

Libby 700 004 000 - 11 5 11

Shane Johnson, Greg Seaman (1), Mat O'Brien (5) and Cody Dopps. Dustin Morningstar, Chris Herbig (6) and Joe Coker. W - O'Brien; L - Herbig.

KALISPELL - Dean Stimpson 1-4, Dominic Eickert 2-5, Michael O'Connell 1-5, Seaman 2-3, Alex Stanley 0-1, Marshall Boyland 3-5, Dopps 3-5, Mario Venturini 2-6, Johnson 0-2, O'Brien 2-3, Dillon Matteson 0-0, Parker Motley 0-6.

2B - Seaman, Venturini, O'Brien; RBI - Dopps (3), Venturini (2), Stimpson, Eickert, O'Connell, Boyland.

LIBBY - Morningstar 1-4, Adam Stapley 0-3, Herbig 0-3, Coker 1-3, Micah Germany 2-3, Justin Wicka 0-4, Eric Grotjohn 0-4, Clay Smith 1-3, Zach Watson 0-2, Byron Benefield 0-1.

2B - Germany (2), Morningstar, Coker; RBI - Morningstar (3), Germany (3), Wicka, Grotjohn, Smith, Watson.