Twins make West A championship; Lakers still alive

FLORENCE — Nolan Amerman’s two-run triple started a seven-run fifth inning for the Glacier Twins Saturday, in a 7-4 win over the Bitterroot Red Sox that landed them in the championship of the West A Legion district tournament.

The Twins (30-11) will face either the Red Sox or Kalispell A Lakers for the title at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Lakers won twice Saturday, beating the Bitterroot Bucs 11-6 and the Cranbrook Bandits 16-6 to stay alive.  

The Lakers (33-25) and Red Sox (28-11) square off at 10 a.m.  

With the Mission Valley Mariners hosting the State A tournament beginning Wednesday in Polson. The tournament champion will grab the West A’s other spot into state.  

Cranbrook beat the Mariners 12-6 earlier Saturday. 

Twins 7, Red Sox 4

There was one on and two out in the fifth when the Twins suddenly couldn’t make outs. A walk to Kellen Kroger preceded Amerman’s triple, putting Glacier in front 2-1; after Jake McIntyre reached on an error, scoring Amerman, Maddox Muller walked and Michael Miller thumped an RBI double to left. 

Muller scored on a passed ball and two walks later, Dawson Juntunen’s two-run single capped the rally. 

Muller threw six innings on the hill, then gave way to Stevyn Andrachick after giving up a two-run home run to the Red Sox’ Atticus Southwell. Andrachick had a 1-2-3 inning, fanning two. 

A Lakers 16, Bandits 6

A 13-run third inning — Cale Brink and Kyler Croft each drove in four runs in the frame, during which 17 Lakers came to the plate — put Kalispell in command.  

Brink and Croft hit two-run singles the first time through the order, and then each hit a two-run double as the gap grew to 10-1, then 12-1. Bransen Holzer had two hits in the inning as well. 

Brady Buckmaster had two hits and scored three times for Kalispell, while Beau McEwen went the distance on the mound. He scattered eight hits and four walks in five innings, and struck out two. 

A Lakers 11, Bucs 6

Votja had a three-run triple that put Kalispell up 6-4 in the fifth inning, and Tait Orme’s two-run double put the Lakers up five on the Bitterroot Bucs in the top of the seventh. 

Orme had three hits and four RBIs; he had a sacrifice fly in the third inning as the Lakers began eating up a 4-0 deficit; his RBI single in the fifth closed the gap to 4-3. 

Brink drove in two runs and he, Buckmaster, Holzer and Dillon Wink each scored two runs. 

George Schwan pitched 5 2-3 innings giving away to Croft when the Bucs closed to 8-6 (just two runs were earned). 

Jake Roth homered and doubled for the Bucs (26-14). 

Bandits 12, Mariners 6

Mission Valley’s first three hitters — Cole Wadswoth, Landon Shoemake and Dawson DuMont — combined for eight hits and two doubles, and it wasn’t enough. 

The Bandits matched the Mariners’ 12 hits, took advantage of four errors got five RBIs from Vinny Fiorentino.  

Wyatt Wadsworth added two hits and an RBI for Mission Valley. DuMont had a double, as did Cole Wadsworth, and scored twice.