Loggers win district title; advance to state tournament

Bring on the State tournament.

The Libby American Legion baseball team survived a competitive four-day Western A District tournament in Florence to claim the championship and advance to this weekend’s State Class A Tournament in Vauxhall, Alberta. The Loggers defeated Bitterroot in the deciding game on Sunday, 11-7, in 11 innings.

“The kids just jelled together at the right time,” Libby coach Kelly Morford said. “There was a lot of bending but no breaking. We were down in a lot of the games but the guys had confidence and kept battling back.”

Libby (25-23) had to battle back from a 12-2 mercy-rule loss in the first championship game earlier in the day. Since it was the Loggers’ first loss of the double-elimination tournament, a second championship game was played.

“In that first game, they kind of ran away with it,” Morford said. “We weren’t too concerned because we knew we were in better shape pitching.”

Colt Cannon started the second championship game and went nine complete innings. Locked in a 7-7 tie with the Red Sox, Morford went to reliever Rory Hendrickson in the 10th.

“Our depth in our pitching is probably our biggest advantage in tournament situations,” Morford said. “Mission Valley is probably the only team that could match up with our pitching. Our hitting, we didn’t hit for a whole lot of power but we just kept finding holes with our ground balls and line-drive singles.”

Ryan Stapley went 2-for-6 with a double, home run and two RBIs. Bertelsen and Hendrickson each had three hits. Those three players were responsible for eight of Libby’s 17 team hits.

In the loss to the Red Sox in the first game, Dustin Morningstar and Bertelsen each collected two hits. Bertelsen started at pitcher and suffered the loss.

Libby is scheduled to play Lethbridge in the first round at State. Complete brackets were not available by presstime.

Libby 13,

Mission Valley 8 (Sat.)

Heading into the tournament, more than a few considered Mission Valley to be the favorite. The Loggers proved they could already play with Mission Valley by splitting a doubleheader with the Mariners a week earlier. Now facing each other in the winner’s bracket, Libby stunned its fellow No. 1 seed by scoring 10 runs in one inning en route to a 13-8 victory.

The Loggers’ big blast occurred in the top of the fifth. Derek Benefield and Hendrickson combined their talents on the mound and allowed eight hits between them against the talented Mariner lineup. Benefield got credit for the victory by going the first six innings. Hendrickson then recorded his fourth save.

Morningstar collected three hits in the victory. Chris Herbig, Bertelsen and Hendrickson each had two hits. Matt Schad drove in four runs while Benefield had three RBIs.

Libby 8,

Bitterroot 4 (Fri.)

The Loggers broke open a close game with three runs in the top of the fourth inning to defeat the Red Sox, 8-4, in a winner’s bracket game. Bitterroot committed four errors to help the Libby cause.

Nate Peltier, Hendrickson and Schad all contributed from the mound. Peltier picked up his fifth win of the season against two losses. Morningstar led the way offensively by going 2-for-4.

Libby 8,

Missoula 5 (Thur.)

Libby put together a four-run sixth inning to get past Missoula, 8-5, in the opening round.

Hendrickson hit a two-run single in the top of the sixth for the Loggers. He ended up going 3-for-6 with two doubles. Cannon went 3-for-4 and scored a pair of runs.

Bertelsen got the start at pitcher and took a no-hitter into the fifth inning. He fanned three, walked three and allowed five hits in his 6 2/3 innings of work.