A State Legion Baseball: Mariners, Reds last 2 standing
GREAT FALLS — The Mission Valley Mariners and Glasgow Reds will play for the Class A State American Legion baseball tournament championship today at 10 a.m. at Centene Stadium.
The Mariners (49-7) advanced with a Sunday afternoon 15-1 loser-out victory over Belgrade while Glasgow, the lone unbeaten team in tournament play, eliminated Libby 16-6.
If Mission Valley beats Glasgow, a second championship game will be played at 2 p.m.
Those two teams opened tournament action on Thursday with Glasgow (42-18) pulling out a 4-3 victory.
Both teams will advance to the Northwest A Regional in Burley, Idaho. That tournament starts Thursday.
Zeke Webster-Yaqui went the distance for Mission Valley on the mound, holding Belgrade to two hits. He had four strikeouts and walked seven in the seven-inning contest.
Webster-Yaqui helped his cause at the plate with two RBI. Justin Evertz and Chris Clary also had two RBI each.
Evertz totaled two hits and scored four times.
Jacob Young went 3 for 4.
The Mariners broke the game open with a six-run third inning.
For the second-straight year, Libby finished fourth at the tournament
The Loggers (31-26) came up short, falling to Glasgow 16-6.
The Loggers were held to eight hits in this contest. Oliver Gruphenhoff had two and six other players had one each.
Libby had been averaging 16 runs per game in tournament play and were the hottest hitting team. They had 18 hits on Saturday in a 15-4 loser-out victory over Gallatin Valley.
Mission Valley 006 034 2 — 15 11 1
Belgrade 000 000 1 — 1 2 7
Zeke Webster-Yaqui and Jack Humpreys; Chris Gilbreath, Chris Schreckengost (6), Brett Franklin (7) and Conner Switzer. W — Webster-Yaqui. L — Gilbreath.
MISSION VALLEY — Justin Evertz 2-6, Webster-Yaqui 1-4, Robert Gauthier 2-6, Chris Clary 1-4, Jacob Young 3-4, Humphreys 0-3, Bradley Pichler 0-3, Cole McArthur 0-3, Dalton Molzhon 2-3.
BELGRADE — Franklin 0-2, Chris Mitchell 0-2, Trevor Mahn 0-0, Switzer 1-3, Gilbreath 0-2, Schreckengost 0-1, Joshua Gier 0-1, John Hinkle 0-0, Joshua Browning 0-1, Jamis Olson 1-3, Koby Ruff 0-3.
2B—Gauthier, Molzhon; Switzer; RBIs—Evertz (2), Webster-Yaqui (2), Clary (2), Pichler, McArthur, Molzhon; Olson.
Libby 003 000 3 — 6 8 4
Glasgow 130 704 1 — 16 15 8
Micah Germany, Luke Haggerty (4) and Oliver Gruphenhoff; Robert Henville and Gage Legare. W — Henville. L — Germany.
LIBBY — L. Haggerty 1-2, Will Reichel 1-3, Jared Winslow 0-2, Germany 1-4, Gruphenhoff 2-4, Nic Robertson 1-4, Andrew Haggerty 0-3, Josh Foote 1-3, Cameron Burkes 1-2, Collin Johnson 0-1.
GLASGOW — Grant Legare 1-3, Gage Legare 1-2, Blayd Sanders 0-0, Jared Smith 0-0, Jes Hanks 0-0, Tom Leland 3-4, Wacy Ortman 0-4, Andy Gardner 3-4, Walter Dalbey 1-5, Zach Rodgers 2-3, Griffin Bengochea 2-3, Jonathan Koessl 2-3, Jacob Renner 0-1, Parker Kulczyk 0-0, Henville 0-0.
3B—L. Haggerty; Gardner, Bengochea; RBIs—Winslow, Gruphenhoff, Robertson; Grant Legare, Gage Legare, Leland (2), Ortman, Gardner (3), Dalbey, Rodgers (3), Bengochea (2).