Loggers, Mariners to meet in Big Bucks finale
LIBBY - The hometown team is rolling into the championship game at the Big Bucks American Legion baseball tournament at Lee Gehring Field.
The Libby Loggers won their third straight game Saturday night, downing the Calgary Redbirds 10-0 in five innings and advancing to today's finale against the Mission Valley Mariners.
The Loggers best finish at their homefield showcase since it restarted five years ago is second place, which they took three years ago. The Loggers and Mariners split on Wednesday in a regular season doubleheader in Polson.
Besides bragging rights, there are cash prize incentives - $500, $300 and $100 for the top three places.
"We just told them to be happy that they're 3-0 in the tournament but we want to go out and win the thing tomorrow," Libby head coach Kelly Morford said.
The Loggers have shown they can do just that.
Chris Herbig doubled in the tying run in the bottom of the ninth on Friday against the Strathmore Reds and Justin Wicka followed with a walk-off single to give the Loggers their second win in a row, a 7-6 victory in extra innings.
Libby beat Rainier earlier in the day 7-5. Herbig had a two-run double in the fourth inning of that game and the Loggers held off a late rally by adding a run in both the sixth and seventh.
"I was proud to see us be able to pull out some of those close games," Morford said.
Mission Valley beat Kootenai Valley 12-1 on Saturday and hiked its' tourney record to 2-1.
Big Bucks Tournament
Scores
Friday
Kootenai Valley Rangers 6, Tri County Cardinals 5
St. Mary's Savages 4, Prairie Cardinals 2
Kootenai Valley 6, Moscow Blue Devils 5,
Calgary Redbirds 12, Prairie Cardinals 11
Mission Valley Mariners 14, St. Mary's Savages 2
Moscow Blue Devils 14, Tri-County Cardinals 13,
Libby Loggers 7, Rainier Baseball 5,
Libby Loggers 7, Strathmore Reds 6 (9)
Saturday
Tri County 8, St. Mary 4
Strathmore 3, Prairie Cards 2
Rainier 11, Calgary Redbirds 1
Moscow 1, Mission Valley 0
Strathmore 15, Rainier 12
Mission Valley 13, Kootenai Valley 1
Libby 10, Calgary Redbirds 5
Friday's Boxes
Libby 7, Rainier 5
Rainier 020 101 1 - 5 10 3
Libby 011 311 x - 7 6 4
Kelen Schuman, Jacob Daniels (2) and Trevor Gardner. Justin Wicka, Joe Coker (6) and Micah Germany. W - Wicka (4-3); L - Daniels; S - Coker (4)
RAINIER - Nick Miller 1-3, Robbie Rutheford 0-0, Tyler Champlain 0-4, Levi Lively 1-3, Tyler Simmons 2-4, Trevor Gardner 0-4, Kenny Bayer 2-3, Nick Johnson 0-2, Kelen Schuman 1-1, Jakob Daniels 1-2, Devon Hernandez 2-3.
RBI - Simmons.
LIBBY - Dustin Morningstar 1-2, Chris Herbig 1-4, Micah Germany 0-4, Coker 2-4, Wicka 0-3, Adam Stapley 0-1, Eric Grotjohn 1-4, Alex Cislo 0-3, Eric Riddle 1-2.
2B - Herbig, Coker; RBI - Morningstar (2), Coker (2), Grotjohn.
Libby 7, Strathmore 6
Strasmore 002 010 201 - 6 11 3
Libby 000 500 002 - 7 8 2
Dillon Casebear, Taylor Burden (4) and Dillon Vail-Paris. Zach Watson, Micah Germany (5), Adam Stapley (7), Clay Smith (8) and Joe Coker. W - Smith 1-0; L - Burden.
STRATHMORE - Tyson Zarowney 0-5, Joey Koshman 1-3, Vail-Paris 2-4, Eric Webb 1-4, Gordon Armitage 3-5, Matt Kennett 1-2, Cody Bangen 0-1, John Forno 0-2, Chris Mycyk 2-5, John Voykin 1-4.
RBI - Webb, Armitage.
LIBBY - Dustin Morningstar 1-4, Chris Herbig 3-5, Germany 0-2, Coker 1-3, Justin Wicka 1-4, Eric Grotjohn 0-2, Alex Cislo 0-1, Stapley 0-1, Tate Wilson 1-3, Eric Riddle 0-1, Byron Benefield 0-2, Clay Smith 1-4.
2B - Herbig (2); RBI - Herbig (2), Wicka, Smith.
Libby 10, Calgary 0 (5)
Calgary 000 00 - 0 3 2
Libby 120 43 - 10 10 0
Nic Lapointe, Colin Feenstra (5) and Matt Eaid, Bolewingon (4). Dustin Morningstar and Micah Germany. W - Morningstar (6-2), L - Lapointe.
CALGARY - Garrett D'Angelo 1-3, Topher Abt 1-3, Jason Field 0-2, Mike Belliveau 0-2, Lucas Silva 0-0, Keenan Geib 0-2, Nolan Bumsted 1-2, Travis Wallace 0-2, Mat Eaid 0-1, Bolewingon 0-1.
LIBBY - Morningstar 1-1, Chris Herbig 2-3, Germany 2-3, Joe Coker 1-2, Wicka 1-3, Eric Grotjohn 0-1, Byron Benefield 0-1, Adam Stapley 0-2, Clay Smith 1-1, Zach Watson 1-3, Eric Riddle 1-3.
2B - Germany; RBI - Coker (2), Morningstar, Herbig, Germany, Smith, Watson.
Today
at Lee Gehring Field
Seeding
Cabinet Pool - #1 Mission Valley, #2 Moscow, #3 Kootenai Valley, #4 Tri-County
Kootenai Pool - #1 Libby, #2 Strathmore, #3 Prairie, #4 Rainier, #5 Calgary
Schedule
9 a.m. - #5 seeds; 11:15 a.m. - #4 seeds; 1:30 p.m. - #3 seeds; 3:45 p.m. - #2 seeds; 6 p.m. - Championship