Glacier Prep goes 2-2 in Regional BR Tournament

By DAVID ERICKSON / For the Hungry Horse News

The Glacier Prep All-Stars, riddled with injuries, fell to Meridian, Idaho, 8-4 on Friday at this year's 13-year-old Pacific Northwest Regional Babe Ruth Tournament, in Kelso, Wash.

"We were just running on fumes at the end," head coach Eric May said. "We were down to eight healthy bodies. We had to send Logan Harwood out to play center field with a broken arm. He's also our fastest guy, so we had him running bases as well. His swing was actually better with the cast on."

The loss ended Glacier's nice run at the regional tournament. They finished pool play in the American Division with a 2-2 record. There were 10 teams at the tournament, and nine were state or province champions from the Northwest and Canada. The host team from Kelso was a third-place team, but they were a strong team as well. The top two teams from each pool advanced to the semifinals, and Glacier Prep fell a win short of qualifying.

"It was a good week of baseball," May said. "We were right there. I was talking to a couple of the commissioners, guys who have been around baseball for 40 years, and they said this was one of the best Montana teams they had ever seen. It was nice to hear them say that."

Colin King led Glacier with two singles and a stolen base in the loss to Meridian. May said Meridian threw their ace pitcher at Glacier instead of saving him for the championship bracket, which ended up costing the Idaho team later.

"They couldn't use their best pitcher when they advanced, so they lost," he said. "It's kind of nice when you get that respect. They knew they had to use their best guy against the Montana team."

May said his kids had a memorable season, both on and off the baseball diamond.

"It was great to see the kids from Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Bigfork making friends with each other," he said.

Although they didn't take home any hardware, it can't diminish the accomplishments of the team, which won the Montana state tournament last month to qualify for the regional tournament.

The Glacier boys suffered several injuries to key players during the regional tournament. Shortstop Jace Kalbfleisch broke his hand last Tuesday in a game against Hazel Dell Metro, from Vancouver, Wash., as he was diving for a pop fly. Kalbfleisch was also the team's leadoff batter and ace pitcher.

Dyllon Parker broke the pinkie finger on his throwing hand on Monday, and Logan Harwood suffered a broken arm on Monday. Harwood played four innings on Wednesday against Dell Metro with a cast on his arm. Second-baseman Nick LaGrandeur suffered a pulled hamstring on Tuesday as well.

The All-Stars beat Dell Metro 12-7 on Thursday. Glacier scored five times in the fourth inning. Colin King and Austin Martin had two singles each for Glacier.

May said he was impressed at how well his kids played against the elite teams at the tournament, especially considering the size of the boys they were up against.

"These kids were just horses," he said. "I would look at some of those teams, and I was like, 'There is no way those kids are 13.' But our kids had a lot of confidence."