Lakers split AA doubleheader with Senators

Kalispell Lakers AA head coach Ryan Malmin is often reminded of his team’s youth and relative inexperience.

He also regularly sees the immense potential he believes the team possesses, even if it hasn’t tapped into all of it yet.

Both were on display Tuesday evening at Griffin Field, where the Lakers allowed a multitude of opportunities to slip away in a 4-3 loss to the visiting Helena Senators in Game 1 of an American Legion baseball doubleheader, but then responded with an emphatic 9-3 victory in the nightcap.

“Offensively, we had opportunities to win Game 1, but we just didn’t come up with a clutch hit and they did,” Malmin said.

“It’s a mentality thing. These guys are young, and they don’t trust how talented they are yet, but they’ll get there. It’s a great group of kids.”

In the opener, Kalispell was unable to take advantage of seemingly endless chances to break the game open.

The Lakers left a total of 12 men on base, including eight in scoring position. They stranded a runner in scoring position in each of their seven at-bats.

Even so, Malmin’s club found itself with a chance to steal a win in the seventh inning.

Sam Elliott and Hayden Schlepp each had RBI singles in the bottom of the fourth inning to give the Lakers a 2-1 advantage, but that lead was erased in the top of the sixth on Kienan Stief’s two-run home run to left field off of Kalispell starter Dawson Smith, a blast that gave Helena a 3-2 edge.

“(Smith) just left the ball up a few times,” Malmin said. “Stief took advantage of a ball that was left up.”

Kalispell tied the game in the bottom half thanks to a pair of Stief errors, which set the table for Keaden Morisaki to race home on Eric Seaman’s sacrifice bunt.

The tie wouldn’t last long.

Helena’s Colin Sassano poked a two-out single into right field past a diving Torin Bowden at first base for what would become the winning run.

The Lakers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but two shallow flyouts to center field left the potential tying and winning runs stranded in scoring position.

“Painful,” Malmin said. “Some of that’s baseball, some of that is approach at the dish. What are we looking for? Are we going to be aggressive and attack the fastball early in the zone? We were a little bit hesitant.”

The Lakers showed no reluctance in Game 2, jumping out to an early lead and adding to it steadily in the late innings.

The Kalispell lineup jumped on Senators starter Brett Jacobs for three runs in the second inning, and the bottom of the order provided the spark for the rally.

Spencer Pisk’s RBI double to left-center field gave the Lakers their first run of the game, and two more runs scored thanks to Morisaki’s hustle with two outs.

With two runners in scoring position, the catcher lined a Jacobs offering right back off the box. The ball deflected off Jacobs’ glove and ricocheted to the second baseman, but Morisaki beat the throw to first, allowing both runners to race home.

“It’s definitely good to see (the bottom half of the lineup produce),” Malmin said. “It takes pressure off the guys in the middle of our lineup. Again, we’ve been fortunate. We’ve seen that from time to time throughout the course of our season so far. Again, it’s just a matter of finding that consistency and having that approach and that confidence to step up and get it done.”

Helena knotted the game at 3 in the top of the fourth, but the Lakers got the runs right back in the bottom half on a pair of errors by Stief and a Schlepp infield single.

Bowden, Jonas Nyman and Pat O’Connell scattered RBI singles over the fifth and innings to give Kalispell ample insurance, but it was unneeded thanks to the work of Drew Scherrer on the mound.

Scherrer entered for Elliott, Kalispell’s Game 2 starter, with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth and allowed only one of the runs to score on a sacrifice fly.

He threw the final 3 2/3 innings for the Lakers without harm, surrendering just four hits and striking out a pair of Senators.

“It was good to see our kids rebound in Game 2,” Malmin said. “We were able to take advantage of some of their mistakes, and we were aggressive on the bases.”

With a doubleheader split salvaged, the Lakers now look forward to five games in Pullman, Washington, this weekend at the Palouse Summer Series, where Malmin hopes to see improvements in confidence and consistency.

The Lakers’ first game in the tournament is Thursday at 6 p.m. against Rock Creek, Washington.

“They don’t trust how good they can be yet,” Malmin said of his team. “It just makes me believe that they’ve got great potential. We’ve seen it over and over again. When you go to the wall and go 12 innings in back-to-back doubleheaders and you’re on the road for 2,000 miles in 13 days and you play six conference games, it’s a little bit of a grind. But these guys, they rise to the occasion. It’s fun to watch these kids grow. They’ve gotten better. We just have more room to grow.”

Helena Senators 010 002 1 — 4 10 2

Kalispell Lakers 000 201 x — 3 8 0

WP—Tanner McHahon; LP—Dawson Smith

HELENA — Connor McCarvel 1-3, Ryan Arnston 1-4, Colin Sassano 2-4, Kienan Stief 1-3, Ray Moore 0-3, Peyton Pappas 3-3, Tyler Carlson 1-3, Carter Pappas 0-3, Jackson Maynard 1-2, Kellan Elder 0-0.

KALISPELL — Hayden Schlepp 1-4, Eric Seaman 1-4, Patrick O’Connell 1-4, Torin Bowden 1-2, Smith 0-3, Johan Freudenberg 0-1, Ryan Symmes 1-3, Spencer Pisk 1-3, Sam Elliott 1-4, Keaden Morisaki 1-3.

2B—P. Pappas; HR—Stief; RBIs—Sassano, Stief (2), Carlson; Schlepp, Elliott.

Helena Senators 000 300 0 — 3 11 3

Kalispell Lakers 030 312 x — 9 9 0

WP—Drew Scherrer; LP—Brett Jacobs.

HELENA — McCarvel 2-4, Arnston 1-4, Sassano 0-3, Stief 1-3, Moore 0-4, P. Pappas 2-3, Carlson 3-4, Isaiah Mesa 2-4, C. Pappas 0-2.

KALISPELL — Schlepp 1-3, Seaman 0-3, O’Connell 1-4, Bowden 1-4, Smith 1-2 Symmes 2-4, Pisk 1-2, Nyman 1-3, Morisaki 1-3.

2B—P. Pappas; Pisk, Symmes; RBIs—McCarvel, Arnston, Sassano; Schlepp, O’Connell, Bowden, Pisk, Nyman, Morisaki (2).