12U All Stars earn back-to-back state titles

Whitefish's 12U All Stars won the Cal Ripken state championship 11-7 over Belgrade last weekend in Livingston, marking back-to-back titles for the young baseball team. Nearly the same group of players emerged last year as Montana's top team in the 11U league.

"We only lost three kids from last year," coach Blair LaGrandeur said. "It's basically the same core of guys."

After beating Glendive 10-1, Gallatin Valley 12-4 and edging Hamilton 3-2 in pool play, Whitefish earned a No. 1 seed in the final bracket. The All Stars romped over Glendive again 11-1 in the quarterfinals and cruised past Hamilton 10-0 to get into the title game. There they faced the No. 3 seeded team from Belgrade.

Logan Freeman led off a scoring drive against Belgrade in the second inning with single. AJ Wetsch followed with another single, setting up an RBI hit from Joey Walp. Power-hitter Jed Nagler then crushed a three-run homer to put Whitefish up 4-0.

The All Stars gave up the lead right away, as Belgrade tied it up at 4-4 in third.

In the fourth, Walp led off with double, setting up Nagler for a two-run homer, his second of the game. Jesse Walburn then hit another two-run homer to put the All Stars up 8-4.

"The long ball was huge for us," LaGrandeur said. "We've got some real bangers."

With the score at 8-5 in the fifth, Chris Park reached on an error and Walburn singled. Luke May then stepped up and knocked a three-run homer for a commanding 11-5 lead.

Whitefish sealed the deal in the sixth with an impressive double play that started in the outfield. With one out and runners on for Belgrade, Walp caught a fly ball in deep center. He threw it in to Wetsch at second base where Wetsch faked a throw to home to stop a runner at third. When he faked, a Belgrade runner at second jumped off base and Wetsch easily tagged him out for a double play to end the game.

Jed Nagler was named MVP of the game.

"Jed is much stronger this year," LaGrandeur said. "A lot of the kids have gotten bigger and stronger. When you've got Luke, Jesse, Jed and AJ in the line up, that's a lot of power."

LaGrandeur also pointed to the pitching unit, including Walburn, May, Nagler and Cooper Donahue.

The team will travel to Kelso, Wash., on July 29 to play in the Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament where LaGrandeur expects the team to be competitive.

"Last year, we went to the Northwest regional," LaGrandeur explained. "It was a brand new experience for these guys, and the talent jumps up dramatically. We were a little bit in awe last year. But this time, I'm really optimistic. We've got great pitching and the long ball. I think we can go back now and know how to compete at that level."

The team will host a car wash at Mike's Conoco on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. to raise funds to help offset travel expenses to Washington.

Coaches: Brent Wetsch

Blair LaGrandeur

Darren Turgeon

Players:

00 Luke May

1 Joey Walp

2 Logan Freeman

• Cooper Donahue

4 AJ Wetsch

5 Matt LaGrandeur

7 Chris Park

11 Ethan Lockwood

17 Cole Turgeon

21 Jed Nagler

41 Brooks Krause

99 Jesse Walburn