Twins back in their usual spot — at State
The Glacier Twins got a late start to their Legion season, thanks to the first year of baseball as a high school sport in Montana.
They ended up in their usual position, with a berth in the Montana/Alberta State A tournament that begins Wednesday in Laurel. It’s their fourth straight appearance and seventh in 10 seasons.
“We have been playing real well lately,” Twins coach Kevin Slaybaugh said Tuesday, a day before his team was opening the tournament with a 10 a.m. game against the Butte Miners. “The hope is that we are going to peak this weekend.”
The Twins (28-9) are coming off an 11-10 win over the Mission Valley Mariners in the West A District championship — a game notable in that it jumped the team’s earned run average all the way to 2.59.
“Our pitching is deep, so we should be in good shape if we can get deep into this tournament,” Slaybaugh said. Kellen Kroger, owner of a sparkling 1.01 ERA, will start against Butte, the runner-up in the South District.
There has been little crossover in the West and South Districts, though the Twins — who draw from Columbia Falls and Whitefish — can avenge Whitefish’s 10-2 loss to the Butte Bulldogs during the high school season on April 13.
Mikey Glass has been a team leader for Glacier, and is hitting .355. Leadoff man Maddox Muller checks in at .359.
“We have been quality at-bats and that helps us move runners,” Slaybaugh said. “I’m very proud of how hard the guys have worked to get to this point.”
The Twins are chasing their third State A title, to go with wins in 2014 and 2018. They were runners up in 2021.
Mission Valley (24-15) is another late-starting team — quite a few of state baseball champion Polson Pirates fortify the Mariners’ roster — that has had a stellar Legion season. The Mariners face the South A champion Belgrade Bandits in Wednesday’s second game, at 1 p.m.
The Laurel Dodgers are the host team, and backed it up with 52 wins in 60 games this season; they and the Billings Blue Jays represent the East District. The Havre Northstars and Lethbridge Miners represent the North A.
The tournament concludes Sunday. Pairings can be found in Scoreboard, Page B2.