Twins, Lakers to square off; Mariners slam Bucs in 7th
FLORENCE — Liam Rech’s RBI double broke a 3-3 tie and sparked a six-run sixth inning by the Kalispell A Lakers Wednesday, in their 9-4 win over the Cranbrook Bandits at the Western A District Legion tournament.
The Lakers (31-24) moved into a second-round game with the Glacier Twins (24-11) Friday at 2:30 p.m. The Twins beat Libby 4-1 Thursday. The Twins and Lakers split two doubleheaders, home and away, last week.
In Thursday’s other games, the Bitterroot Red Sox beat the Missoula Mavericks 1-0 in 12 innings, before Mission Valley rode Wyatt Wadsworth’s grand slam to a 7-6 win over the Bitterroot Bucs.
Lakers 9, Bandits 4
Rech’s double followed walks to Max Schara and Brady Buckmaster, and two more walks followed — including one to Kyler Croft that drove in a run for a 5-3 lead.
Tanner Votja added a two-run single, George Schwan drove in another run with a base hit and a passed ball pushed the gap to 9-4.
That backed the pitching of Cale Brink, who allowed six hits, two walks and two earned runs in 5 1-3 innings, and Schwan, who got the last five outs.
Croft also doubled and Votja finished with three RBIs. Schwan and Dillon Wink had two hits each and Wink drove in two runs.
Twins 4, Loggers 1
Maddox Miller and Michael Muller combined on a one-hitter, and the Glacier Twins used RBIs from Dawson Juntunen and Matthew Mitts to subdue the Loggers (7-33).
Miller allowed the hit, along with one unearned run, in five innings of work. He walked five and struck out two. Muller finished up, striking out two in two innings.
Kellen Kroger and Juntunen had two hits each, with Kroger coming around on an error for the Twins’ second run, in the third inning. Jack McIntyre popped a double in the win.
Ian Thom scored Libby’s run in the fourth inning, reaching on an error and coming around on a walk, a hit by pitch and Kale Riddle’s RBI groundout.
Pitcher Aidan Rose went six innings for Libby, allowing eight hits, a walk and two earned runs. He fanned five.
Red Sox 1, Mavericks 0
Atticus Southwell’s RBI single finally ended this one with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning.
Cash Lawrence threw seven shutout innings for the Red Sox, and Brandon Brenneman added five more scoreless innings of relief. The two combined for two strikeouts, both by Lawrence.
Devin Leary allowed just one hit and three walks in 10 innings for the Mavs; he threw 104 pitches.
Mariners 7, Bucs 6
Wadsworth’s home run capped a seven-run seventh inning for the Mariners, who scored all their runs with one out partly thanks to three Bitterroot errors.
Back-to-back errors led it runs and pared the gap to 6-3, leaving the bases loaded for Wadsworth, who hit out a 2-1 pitch.
Cody Haggard and Brayson DuMont also drove in runs for the Mariners. Cymian Kauley got the win for his one inning in relief of Landon Shoemake.
Jake Roth went 4-for-4 with an RBI and run scored for the Bucs; pitcher Mason Arlington pitched well into the seventh inning, allowing four hits, five walks and one run. He fanned seven.
Western A Tournament
July 25-28, Florence
Thursday
Kalispell Lakers 9, Cranbrook Bandits 1
Glacier Twins 4, Libby Loggers 1
Bitterroot Red Sox 1, Missoula Mavericks 0
Mission Valley Mariners 7, Bitterroot Bucs 6
Friday
Game 5: Cranbrook Bandits (19-18) vs. Libby Loggers (7-33), 8:30 a.m.
Game 6: Missoula Mavericks (32-33) vs. Bitterroot Bucs (25-13), 11:30 a.m.
Game 7: Kalispell Lakers (31-24) vs. Glacier Twins (25-11), 2:30 p.m.
Game 8: Bitterroot Red Sox (27-10) vs. Mission Valley Mariners (25-16), 5:30 p.m.
Saturday
Game 9: Loser 7 vs. Winner 6, 8:30 a.m.
Game 10: Lower 8 vs. Winner 5, 11:30 a.m.
Game 11: Winner 7 vs. Winner 8, semifinal, 2:30 p.m.
Game 12: Winner 10 vs. Loser 9, 5:30 p.m.
Sunday
Game 13: Loser 11 vs. Winner 12, semifinal, 10 a.m.
Game 14: Winner 11 vs. Winner 13, championship, 1 p.m.
Game 15: If necessary, TBD