Twins heats up at Sapa-Johnsrud tourney
Matt Baldwin / Whitefish Pilot Glacier Twins players Willie Roche, left, and Kyler Blades cross home plate in the sixth inning of an 8-1 victory against the Lethbridge Elks at the Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament on July 9.
The Glacier Twins made an inspirational run at the Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament in Whitefish last weekend, finishing in second place after falling to Lethbridge 0-11 in the championship game.
The Twins started the tourney on fire, winning the first three games by outscoring their opponents 20 to 8.
In the opening game, the Twins dropped Spokane behind the pitching arm of Trevor Miller. Miller delivered seven strikeouts and allowed just six hits against the Blue Devils. Kyler Blades went 2-for-3 with a double to lead the Glacier bats in the 6-4 win.
On Thursday, Glacier's Kyle Knox allowed just four hits, and the Twins found their offensive stroke against the Lethbridge Elks, scoring eight runs and tallying 13 hits to win their second game of the tournament.
The Twins moved three runs across the plate in the fourth inning, led by Miller's RBI double to center and an Adam Pisk RBI-single.
Blades was impermeable at second base, diving to tag out an Elks' base runner for the final out in the fourth inning and knocking down hard-hit balls throughout the game to keep Lethbridge's scoring in check.
Blades led off the fifth inning with a single followed by a Cody Elek base hit. Miller knocked in Elek with an RBI-single to extend the Twins' lead.
Knox helped his pitching cause in the sixth with a base hit to start off another strong offensive inning by Glacier. Willie Roche followed Knox's single with a base hit of his own to center field. Blades ripped an RBI to center, scoring Knox, then stole second base on a passed ball. Elek capped off the morning's scoring with an RBI-single to score Blades and Roche.
The Twins finished the game with 13 hits, eight runs and no errors.
Later in the evening, the Twins tallied its third consecutive win of the tourney by dropping the Pullman Patriots 6-3. The Twins put two runs on the board in each of the first three innings to take an early edge. Roche knocked in two runs with a double and Chris King batted in another to lead the Twins offense.
The championship game was a rematch of Thursday's contest with the Lethbridge, this time with the Elks' cruising to victory in defense of their tournament title. Glacier was held to just one hit, as the Elks' Mitch Maxwell pitched a shutout game.
The Twins finished the tourney with a record of 3-3.
Glacier 010 313 0 — 8 13 1
Lethbridge 000 001 0 — 1 4 2
Kyle Knox and Cody Elek; Pat Mclean, Mcveau (7) and Sheldon Haughian. W — Knox (4 hits, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks). L — Maclean.
LETHBRIDGE — Kym Barthel 0-2, Cole Stober 0-2, Mark Clauson 1-3, Tanner Grandberg 1-3, Mitch Maxwell 1-3, Haughian 0-2, Derek Grubel 0-2, Mclean 1-3, Ryan Aiken 0-2, Cole Lencucha 0-2, Dillon Houghton 0-1.
GLACIER — Willie Roche 2-4, Kyler Blades 2-4, Elek 2-3, Chris King 2-4, Jeremy Nielsen 1-3, Trevor Miller 1-4, Adam Pisk 2-4, Devyn Rocker 0-1, Zack Maassen 1-3, Knox 1-3.
2B—Maassen; RBIs—Pisk (2), Miller (3), Blades.
Glacier 222 000 0 — 6 6 2
Pullman 100 200 0 — 3 3 2
Willie Roche, Adam Pisk (5) and Jeremy Nielsen. Brent Druffel and Zach Young. W—Roche. L— Druffel.
Glacier — Roche 1-3, Kyle Knox 0-1, Kyler Blades 0-3, Cody Elek 0-1, Chris King 1-3, Nielsen 1-3, Trevor Miller 0-2, Pisk 1-3, Zach Maassen 1-2, Devyn Rocker 1-2. 2B — Roche, King; RBIs—Roche (2), King.
Pullman — Brent Druffel 0-2, Tyler Druffel 1-3, Joe Johnson 0-2, Dustin Huber 0-3, Jake
Druffel 1-2, Roby Spooner 0-3, Bernie Druffel 1-3, Zach Young 0-2, Andrew Tietjen 0-1, Nate Jacobs 0-3. RBI—Johnson.
Lethbridge 011 45 — 11 9 1
Glacier 000 00 — 0 1 3
Mitch Maxwell and Ryan Aiken; Kyle Knox, Kyler Blades (5) and Jeremy Nielsen. W — Maxwell. L — Knox.
LETHBRIDGE — Kim Barthel 1-3, Mark Clauson 1-2, Patrick Mclean 0-0, Tanner Grandberg 2-3, Spencer Farrell 1-3, Maxwell 2-4, Dillon Houghton 1-2, Tyson Hudson 1-2, Aiken 0-2, Sheldon Haughian 1-1, Tyler Czech 0-2, Derek Grubel 1-1.
GLACIER — Willie Roche 0-2, Blades 0-2, Cody Elek 1-2, Chris King 0-2, Jeremy Nielsen 0-2, Adam Pisk 0-2, Conner Watrude 0-2, Zack Maassen 0-2, Devyn Rocker 0-0, Knox 0-1.
2B—Grandberg, Aiken; HRs—Houghton, Maxwell; RBIs—Houghton, Grandberg (2), Barthel (2), Clauson, Maxwell (2), Grubel, Haughian.