Wolf Point wins Ed Gallo tourney, Twins 3rd
Photo by Allison Money / Daily Inter Lake Above, Glacier Twins players and coaches quickly try to cover the field during the start of another thunderstorm in Whitefish on June 17. The first game on the second day of the Ed Gallo Tournament was postponed because of the rain.
The Glacier Twins A team started out strong in the 20th annual Ed Gallo Tournament at Memorial Field in Whitefish. The Twins defeated the Kootenai Valley Rangers, of Eureka, 14-5, on June 16 and defeated Spokane 9-4 the next day.
They suffered their first loss in the tournament on June 18, losing to the Pullman Posse, of Pullman, Wash., 5-2.
Rain continued through the week, making for a soggy field.
On Friday, the Twins lost to the Wolf Point Yellow Jackets after five innings, 14-4. Wolf Point was invited to the tournament at the last minute after a team dropped out and barely had a full roster.
Unsure where his team would get the traveling money or sleep for the night, Yellow Jacket coach Jack Sprague loaded the players onto Amtrak and sent them to Whitefish.
"I didn't know if we could do it, but great people in Wolf Point raised some money, we got the train tickets, caught the train and rode it out," Sprague said.
Whitefish High School offered to house the team for the week, and suddenly the Yellow Jackets started playing like they were back home.
A few days and 463 miles later, Wolf Point found itself in the championship game. They had lost their opening game to the Kalispell Lakers on June 18 but went on to win three straight.
In their game against the Twins, Wolf Point jumped out to an early lead. But the Twins' Chris King hit an RBI double in the first and Michael Heeter nailed a RBI triple in the second to knot the game at 2-all.
In the third inning, however, the Yellow Jackets drenched the Twins' spirits with four hits and a number of savvy at-bats that turned into walks, and eventually the nine runs that Glacier couldn't make up.
Wolf Point went on to win the tournament after defeating the Kootenai Valley Rangers, 1-0 on Saturday. The Twins took third place after downing the Pullman Posse, 10-2.
Wolf Point Yellow Jackets 209 03x x - 1 4 9 2
Glacier Twins A 110 01x x - 4 5 2
Curt Zimmerman and Brian Vine. Zach Maassen, Mike Heeter (3) and Jeremy Nielson. WP — Zimmerman. LP — Maassen.
WOLF POINT — Nolan Harris 1-3, Adam Denny 1-3, Walker DeWitt 1-2, Chris Kurokawa 2-2, Brian Vine 1-2, Joe Miller 1-3, Tom Leland 1-3, Manny Brown 1-2, Brew Baldry 0-3.
HR — DeWitt; 2B — Kurokawa; RBI — Miller 3, Vine 2, Leland 2, DeWitt, Harris, Kurokawa, Brown
GLACIER — Devyn Rocker 0-2, Carl Talsma 1-3, Jeremy Nielson 0-2, Chris King 2-3, Kyler Blades 0-2, Zach Maasen 0-1, Brynn Thomas 0-2, Michael Heeter 2-2, Kris Gross 0-2.
3B — Heeter; 2B — King 2; RBI — King 2, Heeter 2.
Lakers outlast Twins in rematch
Just when the Kalispell Lakers appeared to be on track for another blowout victory of its rival, the Glacier Twins picked themselves up and made it a game.
The surging Lakers needed nine innings to fend off the Twins one last time this season, winning 10-6 in a AA American Legion baseball showdown at Griffin Field on Saturday.
The Lakers have now won six-straight conference games and improved to 21-9 overall and 8-2 in conference. They finished the season series with Glacier 4-0 and 5-1 including tournament play. However, both teams could face each other again at the Sapa Johnsrud Tournament in Whitefish starting July 7.
With two outs in the ninth inning, the Twins, 6-17 and 0-10, loaded the bases, but Kalispell relief pitcher Ben Sansaver recorded the strikeout to squash the rally.
"I was proud of the way the kids played with heart and hung in there," Twins coach Bill Sapa said. "Kalispell's got a great ball club, and we hung in there with them. We had chances and had a few miscues and didn't take advantage, and when they had their chances they did, and you got to give them the credit."
The Twins' Devyn Rocker went 2-for-2 with an RBI and Trevor Miller had an RBI double and turned in a solid relief appearance that settled down the Lakers' offense and held them to three runs in five innings.
Glacier Twins 100 320 000 — 6 9 3
Kalispell Lakers 043 200 01x — 10 11 1
Kyle Knox, Trevor Miller (3) and Cody Elek. Mario Venturini, Ben Sansaver (7) and Zach Brosten. WP — Venturini 7-0 (6 innings, 0 strikeouts, 9 hits, 6 walks); LP — Knox
GLACIER — Cody Elek 0-4, Jeremy Nielsen 1-5, Chris King 2-3, Wade Martinson 0-4, Devyn Rocker 2-2, Adam Pisk 0-5, Kyler Blades 2-3, Willie Roche 1-4, Kyle Knox 0-1, Trevor Miller 1-2.
2B — Miller; RBI — Elek, Nielsen, Martinson, Rocker, Roche, Miller.
KALISPELL — Dean Stimpson 1-5, Ben Sansaver 1-4, Michael O'Connell 1-5, Pat Hergesheimer 1-3, Zach Brosten 1-4, Mat O'Brien 2-3, Toby Liechti 2-4, Joe Pistorese 2-4, Bryant Eickert 0-3.
3B — Hergesheimer; 2B — Sansaver, Stimpson; RBI — Liechti 3, Hergsheimer, Brosten, Eickert, Pistorese, Stimpson.