Royals, Hansen mow down Loggers
POLSON - Jake Hansen, a hard-throwing left-handed pitcher, held Western District A champ Libby to four singles and struck out 19 as the Fort Macleod Royals opened the Montana/Alberta Class A State American Legion baseball tournament on Thursday with an impressive 6-1 victory.
Hansen, drafted in the 30th round by the New York Mets, issued just one walk in nine innings on the mound.
"We ran into a buzzsaw today," Libby coach Kelly Morford said.
"We just didn't play good enough defense to give ourselves a chance at the end."
Both teams had three errors in the contest.
"He's pretty good," Morford said of Hansen.
"His fastball is up there close to 90 (miles per hour), has an above average change-up and curveball as well.'
Libby's Alex Bluhm broke up Hansen's no-hit bid in the fifth inning with a single. Justyn Mack followed with another single.
Bluhm scored after back-to-back errors by the Royals.
The Royals' Taylor Wolstenholme homered in the bottom of the fifth to put the Royals up 4-1.
Wolstenholme and Hansen had two hits and one RBI each.
Hansen had the Royals other extra base hit - a double.
Micah Germany singled twice for Libby in four trips to the plate.
The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Loggers (40-19). Libby drops into a loser-out contest today at 9 a.m. versus Dillon.
Libby 000 010 000 - 1 4 3
Fort Macleod 102 010 20x - 6 7 3
Justin Wicka, Justyn Mack (5) and Micah Germany; Jake Hansen and Maverick Price. W - Hansen. L - Wicka.
LIBBY - Wicka 0-4, Jared Winslow 0-4, Chris Herbig 0-4, Alex Cislo 0-4, Germany 2-4, Alex Bluhm 1-3, Mack 1-3, Andrew Haggerty 0-3, Will Reichel 0-3.
FORT MACLEOD - Taylor Wolstenholme 2-3, Price
0-2, Hayden Shackel 0-3, Hansen 2-4, Luc Lavorato 0-3, Tyler Ammann 1-4, Blair Goodreau 0-4, Ryan Cook 1-4, Cole Bennett 0-2, Aiden Kidd 1-1.
2B-Hansen; HR-Wolstenholme; RBI - Wolstenholme, Hansen, Tyler Ammann, Price.
Belgrade Bandits 8,
Billings Cardinals 2
LD Seversen struck out nine batters in eight innings and also drove in two runs as Belgrade (42-23) stopped Billings in the second game of the tournament.
Belgrade, up 4-0 after five innings, blew the game open with a four-run sixth inning on RBI by Chris Mitchell and Chris Gilbreaith and two errors.
Brett Franklin, Fernando Castaneda and Mark Erickson had two hits apiece for Belgrade.
Shelby Zorn singled twice for Billings.
Billings 000 000 002 - 2 8 4
Belgrade 020 024 00x - 8 10 0
Colter Endy, Ian Byorth (6) and NA; LD Seversen, Jose Eudave (9) and NA. W - Seversen. L - Endy.
Billings - Brayden Wickam 0-2, Troy Roadifer 2-4, Colton Welhaven 0-4, Ian Byorth 1-4, Shelby Zorn 2-3, Winston Cox 1-4, Garrett Cosgrove 0-2, Kenny Clarin 1-4, Tony Huppert 0-4, Colter Endy 1-2, Jordan Ketterling 0-1
RBI-Huppert, Endy.
Belgrade - Brett Franklin 2-4, Chris Gilbreaith 1-4, Trevor Mahn 0-1, LD Seversen 1-3, Conner Switzer 0-4, Fernando Castaneda 2-2, Mark Erickson 2-3, Alex Hess 1-2, Chris Mitchell 1-4, Colton Stump 0-3.
2B-Erickson (2); RBI-Gilbreaith, Seversen (2), Erickson (2), Hess, Mitchell.
Laurel Dodgers 5,
Dillon Cubs 4
The two-time defending state champions advanced, but not without a fight.
Dillon led 2-1 after three innings, but Laurel (43-13) took a 5-2 lead with two-run innings in the fourth and six.
Dillon (38-28-1) made it interesting down the stretch, scoring
twice in the bottom of the eighth. Dilan Starkel scored on an error and Robert Walsh singled in another runner.
David Swecker homered for Laurel in the second inning.
Kenny Niles and Cole Dooper both had two hits for Laurel.
Donnie Moore went 3 for 3 for Dillon.
Laurel 010 202 000 - 5 8 2
Dillon 200 000 020 - 4 6 3
Cole Dopper and NA; Cole Miotke and NA. W - Dopper. L - Miotke.
Laurel - Kenny Niles 2-4, Ryan Caron 0-3, Zach Cortese 1-5, Jay Dempster 1-5, Cole Dooper 2-4, David Swecker 1-3, Cody King 0-3, Kyler Worden 1-4, Justin Linse 0-2.
HR-Swecker; RBI-Niles, Caron, Swecker, King.
DILLON - Dilan Starkel 1-3, Donnie Moore 3-3, Andy Peterson 1-3, Luke Renfree 0-3, Robert Walsh 1-3, Dillon Womack 0-3, MJ Simkins 0-4, Eathyn Peterson 0-4, Bud Mehring 0-4.
RBI -Walsh (2), Womack.
Mission Valley
Mariners 16,
Great Falls Electrics 6
Mission Valley used an eight-run top of the sixth inning to upset the No. 1 seed for the North District in the final tournament game of the day.
Robbie Gauthier went 2 for 3 for the Mariners, driving in three runs and hitting a double.
Derrick Rathe was 2 for 4 with three RBI and a double as well.
It was a back-and-fourth affair with the game tied 6-6 before Mission Valley found the magic stroke. The Mariners collected five hits, Great Falls committed two errors and they broke the game wide open with a 14-6 lead.
Josh Rustad pitched a 4-hitter for the Mariners, although errors by the defense did cause a little anxiety for the home crowd.
Rustad, a veteran, was cool under pressure and struck out seven.
Great Falls' Dalton Cook, Justin Pfennigs and Sam Wingerter drove in runs for the Electrics.
The Mariners had 14 hits as a team and five different players had a multi-hit game.
Mission Valley 111 128 2 - 16 14 5
Great Falls 012 210 0 - 6 4 6
Josh Rustad and NA; Tyler Pfennigs, Sam Wingerter (5) and NA. W - Rustad. L - Wingerter.
MISSION VALLEY - Jack Humphreys 1-3, Justin Evertz 1-3, Chris Clary 2-3, Robbie Gauthier 2-3, Austin Von Tom 1-3, Derrick Rathe 2-4, Kevin Hagedorn 1-2, Dalton Molzhon 2-5, Jake Young 2-4.
2B-Gauthier, Rathe, Young (2). RBI-Gauthier (3), Rathe (3), Molzhon (2), Young (2), Evertz, Clary, Von Tom.
Great Falls - Tanner Lee 0-4, Sean Egan 0-2, Dalton Cook 1-3, Scott Held 0-2, Justin Pfennigs 1-3, Zander Ehnes 1-3, Wingerter 0-1, Brandon Knowles 0-2, Jayse McLean 1-2, Joshua Kakalecik 0-1, Tyler Pfennigs 0-1.
2B-McLean. RBI-Cook, Justin Pfennigs, Wingerter (2)
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TODAY'S SCHEDULE
Loser-out Games
9 a.m. - Libby vs. Dillon
Noon - Billings vs. Great Falls
Winners' Bracket
3 p.m. - Fort Mcleod vs. Laurel
6 p.m. - Belgrade vs. Mission Valley
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Brandon Hansen of the Lake County Leader contributed to this story.