Glacier wins State Babe Ruth

COLUMBIA FALLS - The Glacier All-Stars defeated the Bitterroot All-Stars 5-4 in eight innings Saturday afternoon to capture the State Babe Ruth 13U baseball tournament title at Sapa-Johnsrud Field.

Heads-up base running by Jed Nagler gave Glacier the victory in a wild extra-inning affair.

Nagler, who reached on a single and stole second, scored from second after Bitterroot thought Glacier's AJ Wetsch struck out to end the top-half of the eighth.

"The (Bitterroot) catcher thought it was a 2-2 count on AJ," Glacier coach Brent Wetsch said.

"The catcher thought it was the third strike (after AJ Wetsch swung and missed a pitch) and rolled the ball back to the pitcher. The whole team (Bitterroot) came out to celebrate."

But the count was really 2-2, not 2-3.

"The whole team was walking off the field," coach Wetsch said of Bitterroot.

"Jed came around third and scored.

"It was amazing," he continued.

"There was a big controversy for 20 minutes there. The official book keeper said it was a 2-1 count (to start with), not 2-2 and upheld the run."

Bitterroot went down in order in the bottom half of the eighth to end it.

Glacier led 4-2 in the early going, but Bitterroot tied it at 4-all in the fifth.

"Awesome pitching by Colten Parker the first three innings," coach Wetsch said.

"Jonny Sapa pitched the last five. He shut them down."

Erick Franklund had the big hit for Glacier, a triple in the second inning.

Bitterroot advanced to the final with a thrilling 8-7 win earlier in the day over Kalispell. Kalispell had the bases loaded with one out, but hit into a game-ending double play.

The win sends Glacier to the Northwest Regional Babe Ruth Tournament in Kennewick, Wash. July 31-Aug. 5.

"I'm pretty proud of these boys," coach Wetsch said.

"They stuck together. When we asked guys to step up and come off the bench and do what they needed to do, they did it. That's teamwork. That's what it takes to win a ballgame."