Legion Baseball: State A tournament begins in Kalispell

by The Daily Inter Lake
| July 29, 2015 11:28 PM

The Montana/Alberta American Legion Class A state baseball tournament gets under way today at Griffin Field in Kalispell, with eight teams from around the state vying for a championship. The double-elimination tournament is played through Monday.

The Kalispell Lakers (7-13 West A, 20-22-1 overall) will host the tournament, but have received no favors from the bracket in the first round.

The Lakers open play against North champion Vauxhall at 7:30 p.m. in tonight’s nightcap. The Spurs (13-11, 20-18-1) are coming off a tremendous performance in the district tournament that saw them post at least 10 runs in every game leading up to the championship. Vauxhall averaged 13 runs per game in the tournament, beating host Lethbridge 9-5 in the championship.

The tournament will begin with West champion Bitterroot Red Sox (15-5, 56-11-1) against North second seed Lethbridge (15-9, 20-15). Bitterroot upset defending state champion Glacier 6-3 in the West championship game, ending the Twins’ hopes for a repeat. Bitterroot went on a scoring blitz to close districts, scoring 40 runs in its final three games. Lethbridge averaged a shade over 11 runs per game in its district tournament.

South champion Deer Lodge (13-11, 26-20) will play perennial powerhouse Laurel (19-9, 35-17-1), the second seed in the East. Deer Lodge topped Helena 10-3 in a rain-shortened championship game in Belgrade to earn its top seed, averaging more than 11 runs per game. Laurel blazed through the East tournament in Glasgow, struggling only with the host Reds.

The Glasgow Reds (16-12, 31-17-2) outlasted Laurel 5-4 in the East championship to take a top seed and an opening round game against the Helena Reps (16-8, 38-14). While not posting the prolific offensive numbers of some of the other top seeds, the Reds held opponents to just two runs a game, led by brilliant pitching. Helena scored eight runs per game and forced Deer Lodge to a second title game in the South.

The top team from this weekend’s tournament advances to the Northwest Regional Tournament in Logan, Utah on Aug. 7-10.