Twins advance to final day at State A baseball tournament
GREAT FALLS — The Glacier Twins are back in title contention and swinging in top form after a 19-5 blowout of the Billings Cardinals in loser-out play at the Montana/Alberta American Legion Class A state baseball tournament on Sunday at Centene Stadium.
The tournament schedule was reconfigured earlier in the day to reflect the Class AA tournament, swicthing opponents for the Twins overnight. Scheduled to take on either Billings or Laurel, the schedule was changed to pit the Twins against Billings, and Laurel against the undefeated Bitterroot Red Sox.
Once everything was figured out, the Twins started off fast, scoring twice in the first inning then batting around in the second to score five more. They would continue to pile on, building a 13-0 lead before the Cardinals got on the board, scoring two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Glacier answered that rally by batting around again in the sixth inning, scoring six more runs to run out a 19-2 lead. Billings got three in the bottom of the sixth but the game was out of reach.
The Twins picked up 22 hits in the victory, Vinny Smith leading the way with a 5 for 5 performance with three RBIs. Ryan Veneman, who also scored the win on the mound, was 4 for 4 with a triple and an RBI and Tyler Murphy was 4 for 5. AJ Wetsch was 2 for 4 with a pair of doubles and Jesse Walburn picked up four RBIs in a 2 for 5 performance at the plate. Seven Twins had multiple hits in the win.
The nightcap made today’s championship round more interesting, with Laurel outlasting Bitterroot for a 5-4 victory, holding off a two-run rally in the ninth inning.
The win puts Glacier into a semifinal matchup with Laurel at 1 p.m., the winner to play Bitterroot at 4 p.m. for the championship. Glacier beat Laurel 8-2 in its tournament opener.
Glacier 253 216 0 — 19 22 4
Billings 000 023 0 — 5 9 3
Ryan Veneman, Jesse Walburn (6), Vinny Smith (6) and Tyler Murphy. Kolby Kimmet, Dillon Quart (3), Cash Golden (4), Max Egan (7) and Dylan Johnson. WP–Veneman. L–Kimmet.
Glacier — Tristin Steinwand 2-4, Max Smyley 0-5, Tom Hellwig 0-1, James Sampson-Keck 2-4, Vinny Smith 5-5, Jesse Walburn 2-5, AJ Wetsch 2-4, Derek Kastella 0-3, Terek Bistodeau 1-2, Tyler Murphy 4-5, Ryan Veneman 4-4, Skyler Warner 0-1.
Billings — Christian Michaelson 2-4, Jack Leuthold 2-3, Kendall Sunclair 1-3, Dylan Johnson 1-3, Kolby Kimmet 0-2, Tyler Reed 0-2, Taylor Musgrave 0-4, Andy Larsen 0-1, Gash Golden 0-1, Max Egan 0-1, Cole deVries 1-4, Lucas Gibb 1-3, Michael Zaske 0-0.
2B–Wetsch 2, deVries, Leuthold. 3B–Veneman, Steinwand, Michaelson. RBI–Steinwand 3, Smyley, Sampson-Keck 3, Smith 3, Walburn 4, Wetsch 2, Veneman, Michaelson, Leuthold 2, deVries.