Loggers rally past Lakers; Reichel gets win for 4-3 effort
<p>Will Reichel on the mound top of three vs. Kalispell A 6-28-13</p>
<p>Right fielder Cameron Burkes with a running catch for the third out top of the fourth vs. Kalispell A 6-25-13.</p>
<p>Luke Haggerty doubles on the 1-2 pitch bottom of the first with one out vs. Kalispell A 6-25-13</p>
Libby Logger right-hander Will Reichel gladly shared his success with teammate and ace hurler Jared Winslow on Tuesday night, as the home nine picked up a 4-3 American Legion baseball victory over the Kalispell Lakers.
Reichel came as close as anyone can to pitching a complete game, throwing all put one pitch en route to the victory. However, the tiring Reichel yielded to Winslow who picked up the save with minimal effort, throwing a single strike for a groundout that ended the game.
“It was a good win, and we had no errors,” Reichel said. “(We) hit pretty well. Yeah, Jared and I’ve been playing together for a long time. It’s all good.”
The win was the third for the Loggers this season against the Lakers, and it improved their conference record to 9-4 and 22-12 overall. The game was delayed for about an hour because of rain. The double-header nightcap was canceled because the rain resumed. It has been rescheduled for 5:05 p.m. July 3.
“It was a good game,” Logger coach Kelly Morford said of the back-and-forth leads held by both teams. “I could see Will was tiring, so that’s why we called Jared in.”
The hard-throwing Winslow warmed up his entire repertoire of pitches, tossing curves, off-speed and the fastball, but it was one pitch that tallied the final out.
“We knew they’d be thinking heat, so we thought about throwing the curve. But in the end, you got to go with Jared’s best pitch — the fastball,” Morford said.
The plan worked to perfection.
Center fielder Brett Thomas, the Lakers’ third hitter in the lineup, misconnected on the Winslow heater and grounded weakly down the third-base line where Micah Germany cleanly fielded the ball and threw to first base for the game-ending put-out.
Reichel threw 109 pitches, 69 for strikes. He struck out six and walked six. Winslow’s lone pitch was dead-red for a strike, garnering him the save.
Kalispell’s Walker Malmin, who relieved starter Levi Brennaman, was tagged for the loss.
“They have a good ballclub,” said Lakers’ coach Travis Krause. “A couple of plays here and a couple there, and this game could have turned out differently. We’re 16-15 (record). We’re kids playing against young men. Their guys are older, but we’ve played them tough each time. We could just as well be 3-0 against them as 0-3.”
The Lakers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, but Libby came back with a pair in the bottom of the inning to take a lead they held until the fifth inning.
Libby padded their lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth, but the Lakers came back to tie the game in the top of the sixth with a pair of tallies. The score remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when Libby retook the lead, 4-3, the eventual final score.
Libby outhit the Lakers 7-6 with Reichel, Oliver Grupenhoff, Andrew Haggerty and Isaak Jones each picking up a hit. Germany got a pair of hits and an RBI. Grupenhoff, Haggerty and Jones also picked up RBIs.
The hitting star for the Lakers was Zack Sands, who went 3-for-3 and picked up an RBI. Jordan Engle got two hits and picked up two RBIs for the Lakers.
The Loggers next games are during the Miles City tourney June 27 to 30.