State A Legion baseball tournament: Lakers knocked out by Lethbridge

The Kalispell Lakers opened the scoring on Saturday, but couldn’t stop Lethbridge from doing the same, falling 14-1 in a loser-out game in the Montana/Alberta American Legion Class A state baseball tournament at Griffin Field.

The Lakers once again started the game strong, but down to only 10 players after in-season injuries to the roster, began to lose steam.

Kalispell took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Keaden Morisaki singled and stole a base to move into scoring position. Haydn Schlepp knocked him in on the next at-bat with a single through the left side of the infield. Schlepp would move to third base on a wild pitch but a grounder to the pitcher got Lethbridge out of trouble.

The Miners quickly got on board in the bottom of the inning, reaching base on a hit batter before ripping a pair of singles, the last by Torrin Vaselenak scoring a pair of runs.

Kalispell was caught stealing after a single opened up the fourth inning and was again out of the inning in three at-bats.

An opportunity to get back in the game wasted, the floodgates opened for Lethbridge in the bottom of the inning. The Miners scored on a fielder’s choice four batters in and reached their next five batters, including a three-run home run over the left-field wall from Vaselenak, to score six runs and take an 8-1 lead.

Lethbridge scored three more in both the fifth and sixth innings to put the game away.

“We ran out of gas a little bit,” Lakers A manager Jesse McFarland said. “That’s what happens when you only have 10 guys and five or six pitchers. You get into a tournament like this and you run out of pitching a little bit. It happens, but these guys kept fighting and I appreciate that.”

Attempting to extend the game in the top of the seventh, the Lakers’ Torin Bowden started the inning with a double, followed by a single from Eric Seaman, putting a pair of runners on base with no outs. However, the next two batters hit short fly balls to the right side of the diamond and the third grounded to the shortstop, who flipped the ball to second for a game-ending force out.

Schlepp went 2 for 3 with an RBI to lead the Lakers at the plate.

Lethbridge’s Liam Leech went 5 for 5 with six RBIs and Vaselenak was 2 for 5 with five RBIs.

“It didn’t go like we hoped. I thought we had a real good chance against Lethbridge and things just didn’t go our way,” McFarland said.

“It was really everything. We had trouble hitting, we had trouble making plays, we just couldn’t do much. It was a tough way to end. But we’re not going to sulk too long on that.”

Kalispell ends its season at 21-26 overall.

“It’s been an amazing year,” McFarland said. “These guys got a win here at the tournament when nobody was giving them a chance. I’m very proud to be their coach.”

Kalispell 001 000 0 — 1 6 1

Lethbridge 002 633 x — 14 10 2

Jonas Nyman, Eric Seaman (4), Jaycob Serrano (6). Torrin Vaselenak. W—Vaselenak. L—Nyman.

KALISPELL—Haydn Schlepp 2-3, Gunnar Marsh 0-3, Spencer Pisk 1-3, Torin Bowden 1-3, Eric Seaman 1-3, Jonas Nyman 0-3, Dawson Smith 0-3, Jaycob Serrano 0-3, Keaden Morisaki 1-2.

LETHBRIDGE—Wyatt Tomalty 0-3, Liam Leech 5-5, Torrin Vaselenak 2-5, Kyle Bloor 1-4, Blake Braun 1-4, Jack Jensen 2-3, Zachary Goruk 0-2, Zac Aos 1-3, Raleigh Ferby 0-1.

2B—Bowden, Jensen. HR—Vaselenak. RBIs—Schlepp. Tomalty, Leech 6, Vaselenak 5, Aos, Ferby.

Helena 001 001 100 – 3 13 3

Laurel 200 001 10x – 4 6 2

Tristan Siegers, Andrew Rosston (7) and Isaiah Meza. Brenden Cellmner, Chase Feller (8) and Mason O’Donnell. W – Cellmer. L – Siergers.

HELENA – Ryan Arntson 3-5, Carter Wald 0-3, Colin Sassano 3-5, Ray Moore 1-5, Robert McCarvel 4-5, Meza 1-4, Tanner McMahon 1-3, Austin Whitehouse 0-2, Seth Schneider 0-1, Eamonn Byrne 0-4.

LAUREL – Carson Hoke 2-5, Trevor Meier 1-3, O’Donnell 1-2, Dawson Cortese 0-3, Daniel Stamper 1-3, Kade Osborne 1-4, Bryson McGann 0-3, Karson Zeiler 0-3, Bridger Haffey 0-0, Feller 0-4.

2B – Osborne. RBIs – Arntson, Sassano, Meier, Stamper.

Bitterroot 307 000 7 — 17 13 3

Glasgow 000 010 1 — 2 4 6

Zach Ringer, Ladd Grenfell (6) and Austin Ray. Jason Thibault, Blake Mattfeldt (3), Alex Fransen (7), Gabe Lagare (7) and Gage Lagare. W – Z. Ringer. L – Thibault.

BITTERROOT RED SOX – Jonathan Ringer 1-4, Nate Loranger 0-1, Justin Horvath 2-5, Z. Ringer 3-4, Billy Anderson 0-0, Kody Lane 1-5, Hunter Omlid 0-1, Tylor Nixon 4-5, Joe Johnson 1-5, Ray 1-3, Bret Huxtable 0-3, Grenfell 0-1.

GLASGOW – Thibault 1-4, Keil Krumwiede 0-3, Lagare 0-2, Samuel Schultz 0-3, Jake Kolstad 0-3, Ryan Padden 0-1, Hunter Losleben 0-1, Mattfeldt 0-2, Gabe Lagare 0-1, Parker Kulczyk 0-1, Bryce Legare 1-2, Dylan Guttenberg 2-3.

2B – Horvath, Nixon, Z. Ringer, Guttenberg. RBIs – J. Ringer, Loranger, Horvath 4, Anderson, Nixon 2, Johnson, Ray, Z. Ringer, Lane, Guttenberg.

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Today’s Schedule

1 p.m. — Laurel vs. Glasgow

4 p.m. — Bitterroot vs. Lethbridge