Twins trip Mariners, make West A District championship

MISSOULA — George Robbins’ RBI double answered a Mission Valley rally, sparking the Glacier Twins to a 7-3 win over the Mariners Saturday, and into the West A District Legion championship.

The win guarantees Glacier (47-13) a spot in the State A tournament that begins Thursday in Havre. The top two teams in the West advance.

Mission Valley (34-16) fell into a loser’s bracket semifinal against either the Kalispell Lakers (24-26) or Missoula Mavericks (27-29), at 10 a.m. today. The winner of that takes on the Twins at 1 p.m. at Lindborg-Cregg Field.

The Lakers and Mavs battled in Saturday’s nightcap; that game had not been decided at press time.

The Lakers stayed in the hunt with an 8-4 win over the Libby Loggers Saturday; the Mavericks eliminated the Bitterroot Bucs 11-3.

Twins 7, Mariners 3

Robbins’ fifth-inning double scored Jacob Polumbus, who’d walked, and an error on the Mariners’ center fielder let Mikey Glass in as well for a 4-3 Glacier lead.

The inning — helped along by three walks — continued with Robbins scoring on a fielder’s choice by Hayden Meehan and Meehan coming in when Taylor Bryan’s fly ball to right was misplayed for an error.

The rally came after the Mariners got back-to-back RBI doubles from Alex Muzquiz and Dawson Dumont in the top of the fifth to go ahead 3-2.

Glass added an RBI single in the sixth for Glacier’s seventh run. The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the third when Stevyn Andrachick hit an RBI triple and then scored on Jacob Polumbus’ sacrifice fly.

Andrachick had three hits and scored twice. Glacier hitters collected nine walks, three to Zach Veneman. .

Veneman got the win on the mound, throwing six strong innings. He gave up four hits and a walk, struck out seven, and allowed two earned runs. Robbins took over in the seventh and closed it out.

Mariners 100 020 0 - 3 4 2

Twins 002 041 x - 7 8 2

Bryson Fisher, Darrien Williams (5) and Espn Fisher. Zach Veneman, George Robbins (7) and Danny Dunn.

MISSION VALLEY MARINERS — Xavier Fisher 1-3, Alex Muzquiz 1-4, Dawson Dumont 1-3, EFisher 0-3, Eric Dolence 0-2, Ethan McCauley 0-3, Dylan Davis 0-3, Daniel Kelsch 0-2, Trevor Lake 1-3.

GLACIER TWINS — Mason Peters 0-3, Stevyn Andrachick 3-4, Venaman 0-1, Jacob Polumbus 0-2, Mikey Glass 2-3, Robbins 2-3, Danny Dunn 0-3, Hayden Meehan 1-2, taylor Bryan 0-2.

2B — XFisher, Dumont, Muzquiz, Andrachick, Robbins. 3B — Andrachick. RBI — Muzquiz, Dumont, Andrachick, Polumbus, Glass, Robbins, Meehan.

Lakers 8, Loggers 4

Henry Smith had two hits and scored twice and Ostyn Brennan had two hits and drove in three for the Lakers, though the key run might have come via a double steal.

Haiden Bunyea stole second while Brennan came home to put Kalispell up 5-1 in the sixth. That was all the runs the Lakers needed, though they got a 2-run double from Brennan to go up 8-1 in the seventh.

Libby pushed across three runs in its half of the seventh — Caden Williams and Aydan Williamson hitting RBI singles — before the rally fizzled. The Loggers ended up 17-26.

Fletcher Postlewait threw into the seventh inning to get the victory. He allowed two earned runs on four hits and two walks. He struck out five.

Lakers 001 211 3 - 8 8 4

Loggers 010 000 3 - 4 6 1

Fletcher Postlewait, Adam Nikunen (7) and Ostyn Brennan. Caleb Moeller, David Bailey (7) and Rusty Gillespie.

KALISPELL LAKERS A — Henry Smith 2-3, Brennan 2-5, Haiden Bunyea 0-3, Jackson Nelson 0-2, Postlewait 0-4, James Moody 2-3, Kane Morisaki 0-2, Aaron Crutsinger 1-3, Odin Erickson 1-3.

LIBBY LOGGERS — Tucker Masters 0-4, Caden Williams 2-4, Tripp Zhang 0-2, Aydan Williamson 1-4, Landon Haddock 0-3, Hunter Lindsay 1-3, Gillespie 1-4, Kiye Jenkins 0-1, Hunter Hoover 0-1, Aiden Rose 1-3, Bailey 0-0.

RBI — Brennan 3, Bunyea, Moody, Crutsinger, Williams, Willliamson, Gillespie.

Late Friday

Twins 13, Loggers 12

This might have been the game of the tournament, with Veneman driving in three runs to help Glacier to a 13-8 lead, then coming in to slam the door on the Loggers’ seventh-inning rally.

Libby took advantage of two errors, two walks to score four times: Aydan Williamson had a 2-run single and Haddock’s RBI base hit narrowed the gap to 13-12.

Veneman then came on and struck out the last two batters to end the game.

Williamson drove in five runs for Libby, which led 6-2 at one point. Masters scored three runs for Libby, while Haddock had four hits and three RBIs.

Peters’ 3-run double started the Twins back from a 6-2 deficit; Veneman’s base hit and subsequent outfield error put them ahead for good 7-6.

Veneman later scored on a passed ball to cap a 6-run inning. That made a winner of Michael Glass, who threw three innings of relief, allowing one run.

Late Friday

Loggers 321 002 4 - 12 11 4

Twins 110 641 x - 13 13 4

Williams, Masters (5), Williamson (6) and Gillespie, Lindsay (6). Polumbus, Glass (2), Meehan (5), Bryan (7), Veneman (7) and Dunn.

LOGGERS — Masters 0-4, SWilliams 2-4, Zhang 1-3, Williamson 3-4, Bailey 0-0, Haddock 4-4, Gillespie 0-3, Lindsay 0-1, Hoover 1-3, Buckner 0-2, Rose 0-4.

TWINS — Peters 1-4, Andrachick 1-3, Veneman 3-3, Polumbus 2-4, Glass 2-4, Robbins 1-4, Dunn 2-4, Meehan 1-4, Bryan 0-2.

2B — Meehan, Peters. RBI — Williamson 5, Haddock 3, Zhang, Hoover, Peters 3, Veneman 3, Polumbus, Glass, Meehan.