Big 5th pushes Scarlets by Lakers
Kalispell Lakers AA starting pitcher Johan Freudenburg works against a Billings Scarlets batter in the third inning in the Class AA state tournament at Griffin Field on Tuesday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Kalispell Lakers AA third baseman Dawson Smith ranges to his left to throw out Billings Scarlets Jarron Wilcox on an infield grounder in the fifth inning of the Class AA state tournament at Griffin Field on Tuesday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
The Daily Inter Lake
Those close, dramatic games finally came to an end on Tuesday afternoon at Griffin Field for the home team.
The Billings Scarlets exploded for 16 runs in the fifth inning for a 17-1 loser-out victory over the Kalispell Lakers at the Montana/Alberta Class AA State American Legion baseball tournament.
The victory advances the Scarlets to today’s 4 p.m. loser-out contest versus Lethbridge, which rallied by the Billings Royals in Tuesday’s late game 12-7. It was the first loss for the Royals, who will play the Elks-Scarlets winner at 7 tonight.
The Lakers (39-16) and Scarlets were locked in a tight battle through four innings before everything fell apart for the tournament hosts.
The Scarlets tallied 20 hits against four Kalispell pitchers. Johan Freudenburg went the first 4 2/3 innings. He allowed seven hits, five runs, struck out two and walked a batter.
He gave up a home run to Ben Tallman, who went 2 for 5. Tallman finished with five RBIs.
Scarlets leadoff hitter Christian Michaelson and No. 2 in the lineup Taylor Musgrave were both 3 for 4. Musgrave had three RBIs. Jarron Wilcox and Koby Croft were also 3 for 4 for the Scarlets with three RBIs each.
Croft and Dylan Johnson doubled and Michaelson tripled.
Ryan Paul was the winning pitcher. He limited Kalispell to five hits, struck out one and walked two.
Five different players had hits for the Lakers. Drew Scherrer had the team’s only extra-base hit with a double.
Kalispell opened the tournament on Saturday with a 4-2 win over the Helena Senators, lost 3-1 to the Billings Royals in nine innings and edged the Missoula Mavericks 3-2.
Billings Scarlets 100 0(16) — 17 20 0
Kalispell Lakers 000 01 — 1 5 1
WP — Ryan Paul; LP—Johan Freudenburg.
BILLINGS SCARLETS — Christian Michaelson 3-4, Taylor Musgrave 3-4, Ben Tallman 2-5, AndyLarsen 0-3, Dylan Johnson 2-4, Jarron Wilcox 3-4, Cory Brownson 2-3, Logan Meyer 2-4, Koby craft 3-4.
KALISPELL LAKERS — Randy Stultz 1-2, Ryan Symmes 1-3, Eric Seaman 1-3, Dawson Smith 0-2, Taylor Morton 0-2, Logan Siblerud 0-2, Anthony Jones 1-2, Samuel Elliott 0-2, Brandon Jordan 0-0, Drew Scherrer 1-1.
2B—Croft, Johnson; Scherrer; 3B—Michaelson; HR—Tallman; RBIs—Michaelson, Musgrave (3), Tallman (5), Johnson, Wilcox (3), Meyer, Croft (3).
Lethbridge Elks 12,
Billings Royals 7
Lethbridge tied the game at 4-all with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth and sixth.
Then in the top of the ninth, the Elks scored eight runs for a 12-4 edge. The Royal managed to score three times in the bottom half of the inning, but came up short.
Lethbridge Elks 000 211 008 — 12 18 0
Billings Royals 010 300 003 — 7 11 3
WP—Raleigh Ferby; LP—Tucker Smith.
LETHBRIDGE ELKS — Wyatt Tomalty 2-5, Ferby 1-5, Kyle Bloor 4-6, Ty Penner 1-3, Torrin Vaselenak 3-6, Zach Goruk 2-6, Liam Leech 1-4, Skylar Braun 3-5, Lukas Ankermann 1-5.
BILLINGS ROYALS — Brooks Zimmer 3-5, Jayden Kay 2-4, Jarret Leinwand 0-3, Dawson Smith 0-5, Dann Blanchard 1-4, Cole Miller 0-2, Niklas Nordstog 1-1, Cade Torgerson 0-3, Chandler Callicott 1-3, Carson Klompien 2-3, Tyler Frieders 1-1.
2B—Ankermann, Bloor, Penner; Kay, Zimmer; 3B—Kay; HR—Vaselenak; RBIs—Tomalty, Ferby, Penner (3), Leech, Braun; Zimmer, Kay (4), Smith, Klompien.