Red Sox top Twins for Western A title

The Bitterroot Red Sox took advantage of huge offensive outbursts in the first and final innings to win the Western A district championship over the Glacier Twins, 13-1, at Griffin Field on Sunday.

The two teams met in the semifinals with the Red Sox picking up the win, forcing Glacier to take a slightly longer route to the championship and set up the rematch by beating the Bitterroot Bucs 14-11 Sunday morning.

The Twins rolled out Jake McIntyre to start who did not record an out as Bitterroot jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Kellen Kroger was big in relief for the Twins pitching five innings and striking out six, while allowing zero earned runs.

Red Sox starter Timothy Hickey went 6 1/3 innings while driving in two runs on offense.

McIntyre found himself in a jam early when he walked home a run with the bases loaded to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead with no outs.

Bitterroot followed that up with back-to-back line drive hits to the outfield extending the lead to 4-0 with a two RBI double by Mason Anderson highlighting the rally.

Twins manager Kevin Slaybaugh made the move to his bullpen to bring Kroger to the mound in relief with no outs and runners on first and third. Kroger settled things down by striking out the first batter he faced and managed to get out of the inning without any more damage thanks to a smooth 4-5-3 double play.

The Twins bounced back in the bottom of the first when a two out double to right field from Kroger drove in Mikey Glass who reached base on an error bringing the score to 4-1 through one inning of play.

Kroger kept things rolling in the second with two quick strikeouts, but a drop ball third strike and a single to left field put runners on first and second for the Red Sox with two outs. That’s when past balls became a problem for the Twins.

On back-to -pitches the ball got away from Glacier’s catcher resulting in a Red Sox run. Bitterroot tacked on one more when Conner Ekin came around and scored for the Twins.

On back to back pitches the ball got away from Glacier’s catcher resulting in a Red Sox run. Bitterroot tacked on one more when Conner Ekin came around and scored on an error to make it 6-1.

To start the third, Red Sox left fielder Tyler Jones reached first and moved into scoring position after stealing second.

Kroger struck out the next batter he faced, but past balls continued to be an issue for Glacier as the ball rolled to the backstop, advancing Jones to third. Kroger picked up another strikeout for the second out of the inning but a single to left field drove in a run, pushing the score to 7-1 Red Sox.

Despite the deficit, Glacier’s bench was enthusiastic, with loud cheers coming from the dugout as Mason Peters stepped to the plate and roped a lead off single to center. Hickey managed to calm the storm though, getting three straight Twins batters to pop out and end the inning.

Heavy winds started to blow at Flathead Field but Kroger seemed unfazed as he threw a scoreless fourth inning.

Kroger helped his own cause with a leadoff single to left in the bottom half of the inning. An error and single loaded the bases for Glacier when AC Chilson smoked a line drive directly into the glove of Red Sox right fielder Esten Pierce, who fired a dart to first base for a double play that ended the Twins’ rally.

Kroger tossed another scoreless inning in the fifth and Peters made a leaping play at shortstop to end the inning and send the crowd into a frenzy.

Peters stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the inning and drilled a liner to left field when Bitterroot outfielder Tyler Jones laid out to steal a hit from Peters for a highlight reel defensive play of his own. Stevyn Andrachick singled to center, but Hickey got two more quick outs to keep the lead at 7-1 through five.

Michael Miller entered the game in the sixth to pitch for Glacier and hurled a 1-2-3 inning to keep the deficit from growing.

In the seventh the Red Sox blew things open, adding six runs on four hits. Hickey and Elkins then combined to hold Glacier scoreless in the seventh to end the game

Twins manager Kevin Slaybaugh emphasized the team’s “never give up attitude” as a factor in their comeback success following Thursday’s win over Cranbrook and throughout the Western A district tournament.

Red Sox 421 000 6 — 13 11 3

Twins 100 000 0 —1 7 3

Jake McIntyre, Kellen Kroger (1), Michael Miller (6), Matthew Mitts (7), AC Chilson. Tim Hickey, Conor Ekin (7), Paul Brenneman.

BITTERROOT— Tim Hickey 2-4, Aaron Springer 0-3, Sawyer Townsend 1-2, Conor Ekin 1-3, Bridger Huxtable 2-5, Mason Anderson 3-5, Tyler Jones 0-4, Esten Pierce 1-3, Paul Brenneman 1-3.

GLACIER— Mason Peters 1-4, Stevyn Andrachick 2-4, Mikey Glass 1-4, Hayden Meehan 0-4, Kellen Kroger 2-2, Jake McIntyre 0-3, Dayne Tu 0-0, Owen Shilling 1-2, AC Chilson 0-3, Michael Miller 0-1.

2B— Anderson, Huxtable, Kroger. RBI— Anderson 2, Brenneman, Ekin, Hickey 2, Huxtable, Kroger, Pierce, Townsend 2.

Twins 14, Bucs 11

Glass went 4-for-4 and drove in five runs, including a two-run single that capped a third-inning, five-run outburst that put the Twins up 7-4.

The gap grew to 9-4 on AC Chilson’s RBI single in the fourth, 11-5 after Glass singled and eventually scored on a passed ball in the fifth, and 14-9 when Glass hit a single that brought home three runs in the sixth.

Glacier scored in every inning, which came in handy mainly because of the Bucs’ Brodie Hinsdale: He tripled and scored in the first inning; hit an RBI double in the sixth; doubled and scored in the seventh and added a sacrifice fly in the second.

Andrachick doubled, stole a base and scored four times for the Twins. Maddox Muller got the win on the mound, allowing six hits and four runs (two earned) in 3 2-3 innings. He struck out one.

The Bucs ended up 25-24-1.

Bucs 220 014 2 - 11 12 4

Twins 115 223 x - 14 14 4

Drew Scully, Brodie Hinsdale and Jake Roth. Glass, Maddox Muller (2), Meehan (6) and Chilson.

BITTERROOT BUCS — Hinsdale 3-4, Roy Cobs 1-4, Gabe Philbrick 2-4, Troy Larson 0-2, Scully 1-3, Patrick Duchien 0-4, Roth 2-4, Braedon Bahm 1-4, Camden Blair 2-4.

GLACIER TWINS — Peters 2-4, Andrachick 2-4, Glass 4-4, Meehan 1-5, Kroger 1-4, McIntyre 1-3, Muller 1-4, Shilling 0-2, Ruther 1-1, Chilson 1-3, Tu 0-0.

2B — Hinsdale 2, Roth, Andrachick, Peters. 3B — Hinsdale. RBIs — Hinsdale 2, Combs 2, Roth, Bahm, Glass 5, Kroger, Chilson, Andrachick, McIntyre.