Glacier Twins in Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament title game

WHITEFISH — Once again, it’s all coming together for the Glacier Twins.

After taking the championship at their own Ed Gallo Memorial Wood Bat Tournament on June 28, the Twins are back in the title game at their Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament, winning two games on Saturday to finish a perfect 4-0 in pool play at Memorial Field.

The Twins clinched the title-game birth with a 9-1 victory over the Spokane Mead Panthers early on Saturday, but their second contest was a little more nerve-racking.

Tied at two in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Twins walked off with a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge Elks on a wild pitch that scored Colten Parker from third base.

Parker, who drew a leadoff walk to start the inning, reached second on a sacrifice bunt from Jayce Fagerland before Elks pitcher Nicholas Ankerman’s first wild pitch of the inning put Parker on third.

“We’ve worked tirelessly on small ball stuff, soft hitting, curveball hitting, and these guys are buying into it and we saw it today,” Glacier Twins coach Bob Rupp said.

“When Colten got on I walked over to Jayce and said, ‘You know you’re going to have to bunt him over.’ He said, ‘Coach, I already know that. We know. We’re ready to go.’ I never even gave him a sign. They knew what they had to do. That’s our veterans for ya.”

It wasn’t just small ball that was working for the Twins.

Jesse Walburn finished with a run scored and an RBI during his 3 for 3 performance at the plate.

Walburn knocked a double just inside the third-base line during his first at-bat, eventually scoring from third for the Twins first run of the game when Lethbridge couldn’t handle a routine double-play ball in the second inning.

The right fielder slapped a base hit up the middle to score Fagerland in the third and launched another double to leadoff the sixth.

“The first (hit) I was sitting fastball, the second one was all curveballs and the third one was just a fastball. I look fastball first. That’s what they teach us,” Walburn said.

“In the previous game, I went 0 for 3. I was in a really bad slump. Coach (Kevin) Slaybaugh said I should widen my feet a little more because I was getting ahead of the ball. Widening my stance means I’ll stay back on it more since I’m not dipping my shoulder, and that helped.”

While Walburn led the offensive charge, the Twins defense came together as well.

In the top of the second, Elks catcher Carter Witbeck hit a triple to the right-center field gap. Nick Tetzlaff then hit a rocket to Fagerland at shortstop, who caught the liner and fired to third to double up Witbeck and avoid a Lethbridge rally.

The Elks threatened again in the fourth, tying the game at two on a Witbeck double. Lethbridge went on to load the bases with no outs. Twins relief pitcher Vincent Smith came into the game to get out of the inning and did just that in three batters, collecting three-straight outs to get out of the jam with the game tied and set up Glacier’s seventh-inning heroics — much to the delight of the Twins skipper.

“Last year when we were younger we were shaky at points like that,” Rupp said. “The boys played well today. They stayed focused. They played good defense. We hit the ball when we needed to. We bunted when we needed to. We’re excited, and it’s been fun. These guys are battlers. They don’t quit.”

The Twins (31-10) will play for the championship today at 4 p.m., awaiting the winner of the semifinal matchup against the Calgary Redbirds and the Spokane Cannons at 2.

Mead Panthers 100 000 1 — 1 4 2

Glacier Twins 110 232 x — 9 12 1

WP — Grayson Bistodeau. LP — Kameron Kinder.

MEAD — Kevin Timm 1-1, Colby Hoch 0-3, Scott Neely 0-1, Casey O’Rourke 1-3, Jaeger Adams 0-2, Zachary Littell 0-1, Adam Asan 0-2, Kodie Williams 0-1, Robert Dillon 1-3, Maxwell Johnson 0-1, Tanner Seay 1-2.

GLACIER — Colten Parker 1-3, Jayce Fagerland 3-4, Kyler Howke 2-3, Vincent Smith 0-2, Jesse Walburn 1-4, Austin Robins 1-3, AJ Wetsch 2-3, Ryan Veneman 1-3, Derek Kastella 1-2, Grayson Bistodeau 0-1.

3B — Wetsch, Kastella. RBIs — Smith (2), Walburn, Robins, Wetsch, Kastella (2).

Lethbridge Elks 000 200 0 — 2 5 1

Glacier Twins 011 000 1 — 3 8 2

Austin Robins, Ty Murphy (4), Vinny Smith (4), Colten Parker (7) and Ty Murphy, Kyler Howke (4), Ty Murphy (4). Kale Penner, Nicholas Ankerman (6) and Carter Witbeck. ND — Robins, Murphy, Smith, Parker. LP — Ankerman.

LETHBRIDGE — Nicholas Ankerman 1-4, Eric Davies 0-3, Jack McDonald 0-3, Carter Witbeck 2-3, Nick Tetzlaff 0-2, Austin Huculak 1-1, Tevin Hall 1-1, Shawn Grandmont 0-2, Landen Bourassa 0-1, Jay Kotkas 0-2, Tanner Shirakawa 0-1, Josh Luchanski 0-1, Chase Carpenter 0-1.

GLACIER — Colten Parker 0-3, Jayce Fagerland 0-2, Kyler Howke 1-4, Vincent Smith 0-3, Jesse Walburn 3-3, Tristin Steinwand 2-3, AJ Wetsch 1-3, Austin Robins 1-3, Ty Murphy 0-3.

2B — Witbeck; Walburn (2). 3B — Witbeck. RBIs — Witbeck (2); Walburn, Wetsch.

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Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament

Saturday’s Games

Spokane Dodgers 8, Spokane Ferris Saxons 6

Glacier Twins 9, Spokane Mead Panthers 1

Calgary Redbirds 4, Spokane Cannons 3

Glacier Twins 3, Lethbridge Elks 2

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Sunday’s Schedule

9 a.m. — Spokane Mead Panthers vs. Spokane Ferris Saxons

11:30 a.m. — Lethbridge Elks vs. Spokane Dodgers

2 p.m. — Calgary Redbirds vs. Spokane Cannons

4:30 p.m. — Glacier Twins vs. Redbirds/Cannons winner