Mariners still hanging around
POLSON — The Twins are in and the Mariners are still hanging around.
Cole Wadsworth’s eighth-inning run-scoring single gave the Mission Valley Mariners a 6-5 win over the Glacier Twins Saturday, at the State A Legion baseball tournament at O’Malley Park.
The win means three teams are 3-1 in the tournament: Because Glacier won its winner’s bracket semifinal on Friday, it gets a bye into Sunday’s championship.
The Mariners (28-20) will battle the Gallatin Valley Outlaws at 11 a.m., with the winner facing the Twins roughly 45 minutes after the first game ends.
Gallatin Valley (43-23) eliminated the Billings Cardinals 5-2 earlier Saturday.
Mariners 6, Twins 5
Mission Valley jumped ahead with a five-run first inning, helped along by four walks — one of them intentional — and a hit batter. Cole Haggard’s two-run single put the Mariners up 2-1, and the gap grew with a bases-loaded walk to Wyatt Wadsworth before Cymian Kauley was hit by a pitch. Aiden Gfroerer then hit a sacrifice fly.
Glacier (30-12) got three runs back in the second inning, on a two-run single by Stevyn Andrachick and an RBI single from Nolan Amerman. The Twins drew even on Amerman’s bases-loaded single in the sixth — Dawson Juntunen scored, but Andrachick was out at the plate, trying to come in from second base.
The Twins outhit the Mariners 10-5 — Amerman and Matthew Mitts had three hits each — but the Mariners got two big ones late: Kauley doubled and with two out Wadsworth got him home with a single.
That offset some solid pitching from the Twins’ Treyson Murphy, who came in with nobody out in the first and threw 7 2-3 innings of three-hit ball, with four walks and two hit batters. He had four strikeouts.
Kauley also got the win on the bump, throwing two scoreless innings of relief.
Twins 130 001 00 - 5 10 1
Mariners 500 000 01 - 6 5 3
Matthew Mitts, Treyson Murphy (1) and Dawson Juntunen. Chad Atkinson, Cymian Kauley (7) and Holden Emerson.
GLACIER TWINS — Stevyn Andrachick 1-3, Kellen Kroger 2-5, Nolan Amerman 3-4, Jake McIntyre 0-4, Maddox Muller 0-3, Michaell Miller 0-4, Mitts 3-4, Murphy 0-3, Juntunen 1-3.
MISSION VALLEY MARINERS — Cole Wadsworth 2-5, Landon Shoemake 0-3, Dawson DuMont 0-0, Cole Haggard 1-3, Emerson 0-3, Brayson DuMont 0-3, Wyatt Wadsworth 0-3, Kauley 1-3, Aiden Gfroerer.
2B — Kauley. RBIs — Andrachick 2, Amerman 2, McIntyre, Haggard 2, C.Wadsworth, W.Wadsworth, Kauley, Gfroerer.
Outlaws 5, Cardinals 2
This one went to extra inning as well, with Cade Miller’s three-run double in the ninth being the difference for Gallatin Valley.
Lucas Peterson also had an RBI double for the Outlaws, while Oliver Prill had one for the Billings Cardinals.
Nick Albro pitched into the sixth inning for the Outlaws, allowing four hits, six walks and both Cardinals runs. He fanned six. Aaron DeFrance got the final eight outs, two by strikeout.
Carson Steinmetz threw seven strong innings for the Cardinals (58-13), with three hits, three walks and one earned run allowed. He struck out three.
State A
July 31-Aug. 4, Polson
Wednesday’s Games
Belgrade Bandits 6, Miles City Mavericks 3
Gallatin Valley Outlaws 5, Billings Cardinals 0
Glacier Twins 4, Lethbridge Miners 2
Mission Valley Mariners 11, Vauxhall Spurs 1
Thursday
Lethbridge 20, Miles City 4, loser out
Billings Cardinals 6, Lethbridge 4, loser out
Glacier 9, Belgrade 5
Gallatin Valley 8, Mission Valley 2
Friday
Billings Cardinals 11, Belgrade 1
Mission Valley 1, Lethbridge 0
Glacier 7, Gallatin Valley 4
Saturday
Gallatin Valley 5, Billings 2, 9 innings
Mission Valley 6, Glacier 5, 8 innings
Sunday:
Game 14: Gallatin Valley (43-23) vs. Mission Valley (28-20), 11 a.m.
Game 15: Glacier Twins (31-12 vs. Winner 14, 45 minutes after first game ends