Legion Baseball Tournament

M's roll; Loggers fall short

By CARL HENNELL Hagadone News Network

The Mission Valley Mariners are tracking towards their first state championship; the Libby Loggers have been relegated to just hosts.

A packed and boisterous crowd at beautiful Lee Gehring Field Wednesday witnessed the first round of the 2007 American Legion Baseball Class A State Tournament. Unfortunately for the hometown crowd, the Loggers lost to Dillon in the opening-round nightcap, 5-3, in a well-played and quick-paced game.

The Mariners advanced with a 10-2 victory over Gallatin Valley, improving to 56-7 on the season. They played Vauxhall, Alberta, Thursday night at 7:30 for a berth into the undefeated semifinal.

Vauxhall beat Laurel, 9-3, in the opening round's second game. The Spurs are 32-4 on the season after going undefeated in Northern A play.

The other winners' bracket game will be Dillon (56-7) against Richland County (38-18) at 4:30 p.m.

Richland County beat a young Great Falls team, 20-9, in the tourney's opening game.

Thursday's loser-out games started at 10 a.m. when Laurel (33-18) played Gallatin Valley (39-19). The Loggers (23-27) played Great Falls (32-22) at 1 p.m.

The tournament continues through Sunday with the state champion advancing to the northwest regional in Anchorage, Alaska.

Mission Valley 10,

Gallatin Valley 2

Dillon 5, Libby 3

All fans were on the edge of their seats in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Trailing 5-1 heading into their final at bats, the Loggers loaded the bases with no out and the top of their order coming up. But they could get only two runs.

Trailing 1-0, the Cubs tied the game with an unearned run in the third. They took the lead for good on an RBI single by No. 8 hitter Jake Schmit in the fourth. Leadoff hitter Joel Rogers added a sacrifice fly in the inning and the Cubs never looked back. They scored another unearned run in the sixth and scored their fifth run of the game in the eighth on back-to-back wild pitches.

Tim Goins started for Dillon on the mound and spread three hits through the middle seven innings to earn the compete-game victory and improve to 19-1.

Matt Schad got the Loggers on the board in the first inning with an RBI single. Zach Rowan had a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth and Steve Bertelsen got another RBI on a fielder's choice.

Dillon 001 210 010 — 5 12 5

Libby 100 000 002 — 3 7 2

Tim Goins and Jackson Berkram. Derek Benefield and Kasey Basso. W — Goins (19-1). L — Benefield.

LIBBY (23-27) — Zach Rowan 1-5, Steve Bertelesen 0-5, Richard Brumbaugh 1-5, Matt Schad 1-3, Basso 0-4, Ryan Stapley 0-4, Kory Volkers 1-3, Chris Herbig 1-3, Nate Peltier 2-4.

RBIs — Dil. 3 (Goins, Schmit, Rogers), Lib. 3 (Schad, Rowan, Bertelsen). 2B — Dil. 2 (McRae, Waltner), Lib. 1 (Brumbaugh). SB — Dil. 2 (Plutt, Howard), Lib. 0. SAC — Dil. 1 (Rogers), Lib. 1 (Volkers).

DILLON (56-7) — Rogers 1-5, Chance Plutt 1-5, Zach McRae 1-4, Tim Goins 1-4, Jackson Berkram 2-4, Drake Waltner 3-4, Alan Howard 1-3, Jake Schmit 1-4, Kirk Taylor 1-4.

Vauxhall 9, Laurel 3

Tied 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning, Vauxhall erupted for seven runs and never looked back.

Vauxhall 000 270 000 — 9 12 3

Laurel 002 000 001 — 3 8 1

Cole Stober and Zach Rhodes. Clay Graber, Joe Binstock (5) and Keenan Weatherford. W — Stober (8-0). L — Graber.

VAUXHALL (32-4) — Ryan Hutchinson 1-6, Ty Sparrow 1-4, Rhodes 2-5, Jaden Odland 1-4, Brendan Miller 2-5, Brock Levins 2-5, Mike Brown 2-4, Mitch Schaafsma 1-4, Clay Turcato 1-5, Brent Deunk 1-4, Colton Laboucane 1-1.

LAUREL (34-17) — Binstock 2-4, Jade Stricker 2-5, Graber 0-3, Chris Mjelstad 1-3, Dillon Boeshans 1-4, Weatherford 1-4, Bruce Baird 0-1, Taylor Roberts 0-3, Kenan Lausch 1-3, Ken Cooper 0-1.

RBIs — Vau. 6 (Odland 3, Turcato 2, Miller), Lau. 3 (Stricker 2, Binstock). HR — Vau. 2 (Odland, Miller), Lau. 0. SB — Vau. 2 (Miller, Brown), Lau. 0. SAC — Vau. 1 (Sparrow), Lau. 0.

Richland County 20, Great Falls 9

The Sidney-based Patriots held leads of 6-1 and 11-4 before the 15- and 16-year-old Stallions got to within two, 11-9, after the sixth inning.

Richland 213 032 162 — 20 19 7

Great Falls 101 205 000 — 9 14 1

Kraig Balcer, Chad Williams (5), Kelsey Brown (6), Joel Kessler (9) and Kessler, Trent Thomas (9). Dustin Schultz, Brady Kangas (4), Austin Lartch (8) and Alex Waltari. W — Williams. L — Schultz.

RICHLAND COUNTY (38-18) — Balcer 4-6, Brown 4-6, Williams 0-3, Thomas 2-5, Kessler 2-6, Josh Nollmeyer 1-5, Chris Lee 1-4, Brett Zadow 3-5, Jordan Nesper 2-4.

GREAT FALLS (32-22) — Spencer Thomsen 0-5, Aaren Remus 1-4, Waltari 3-5, Jake Mansch 1-4, Schultz 1-3, Lartch 0-0, Aaron Stucker 1-4, Jake Bleskin 3-5, Kangas 1-4, Skyler Smith 3-4.

RBIs — RC 20 (Brown 5, Balcer 3, Thomas 3, Nollmeyer 3, Lee 2, Zadow 2, Nesper 2), GF (Thomsen 2, Remus 2, Mansch 2, Schutlz 2, Kangas). 3B — RC 1 (Nesper), GF 0. 2B — RC 1 (Thomas), GF 1 (Mansch). SB — RC 4 (Brown 2, Balcer, Thomas), GF 3 (Stucker, Mansch, Remus). SAC — RC 2 (Kessler, Brown), GF 2 (Remus, Thomsen).