Twins have a pretty good tourney
For the Hungry Horse News
It was a small margin that separated the Glacier Twins from the best of the best at last week's 21st annual Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament.
The Twins didn't make Saturday's championship round, but they did come an eyelash from slipping past eventual champion Spokane the previous day. In all, Glacier used a power surge to post victories over Redmond and Helena and eventually recorded a 2-3 overall mark.
The Spokane Bandits trounced Billings 11-2 during Saturday's title affair. Perhaps the highlight of the tourney for the Twins came in the form of an 8-7 victory over Redmond in their opener.
Glacier needed eight innings to post the narrow win. The Twins also took Spokane to extra innings on Friday. However, the Bandits got a clutch RBI single from catcher Kenny VanSickle in the 10th for a thrilling 5-4 victory .
The Twins capitalized on solid starting pitching and some power at the plate for an 11-1 win over Helena last Thursday. Glacier was bolstered at the plate by all-star Billy Marcial, who belted three hits in at least two tourney games.
Marcial provided Glacier with an early boost against Redmond with a solo homer to lead off the first inning. The Twins got off to a rough start in their opener, yielding five runs to Redmond in the top of the first. But Marcial's homer gave the team a lift.
Glacier trailed 6-2 in the fourth, but scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning to make things interesting. The Twins added single runs in the fifth and sixth frames to knot the game at 7-all.
That opened the door for Glacier's offense in the last half of the eighth. The Twins loaded the bases for Jared Krueger, who promptly walked to force in the winning run. Glacier rapped 15 hits in the game, including Marcial's 3-for-5 performance. Marcial singled twice and homered. Ryan Stultz broke out his power stroke with a homer and a double, while Byron Whitcomb, Jesse Paulson, Chase Kolodejchuk and Jeremy Howard each had two hits in the win.
The Twins ran into a hot hitting Kalispell team later that night. The Lakers touched Glacier starter Marty Richter for three runs in the first and third to grab a quick 7-0 lead. Glacier pulled to within 7-3 after a two-run fifth, but Kalispell iced the win with a three-run sixth.
Glacier lost to Chino Wednesday and pounded Helena Thursday, before turning in a solid effort against Spokane Friday afternoon. The Twins received a gusty pitching effort from Justin Cooper, who limited the powerful Bandits lineup to its lowest offensive total of the tourney.
Spokane broke open a pitcher's duel between Cooper and Andy Greenslit when Kyle Krustangel drilled a three-run homer in the fourth to end a scoreless game. Krueger drove in a run in Glacier's fourth to make it a 3-1 game.
However, the Twins' hopes appeared dim after Spokane went ahead 4-1 in the fifth. But Glacier rallied in the sixth through several clutch hits. Marcial cracked a two-out single for his third hit of the game to get things going. From there, Morgan Phelps singled and Paulson made it 4-2 with a base hit that plated Marcial.
Krueger then came through with a two-run single that tied the game. Glacier had opportunities to ice the game away with runners in scoring position on two occasions, but couldn't push a run across.
In the 10th, VanSickle lined a single to center to plate the winning run and Krustangel pitched a scoreless 10th to pick up the win in relief.