Loggers lose two at home

The Libby Loggers Legion baseball team was dominated by the Mission Valley Mariners 16-2 on Tuesday night at Lee Gehring Memorial Field.  

The Loggers committed seven errors in the seven inning game, which was cut short two innings due to the 10-run rule.

Coach Kelly Morford said it has been the same story all year.

“We commit a couple of errors early, and those just lead to more errors,” Morford said. “At this level you need to be able to catch flyouts.”

After two innings of play, the game seemed within the Loggers’ reach.  

The home team was down 2-1, and had just held the potent Mission Valley offense to zero runs in the top of the second inning. 

But the top of the third inning wasn’t as kind. The Mariners began to strike the ball like it was warm-ups, teeing off for four hits and three runs. 

At this point, it was the same old story.

“We show up everyday thinking today is the day it is going to happen,” Morford said. “We just need a little momentum.”

Libby would score again in the bottom of the third inning, closing the gap to 5-2.

Center fielder Luke Haggerty reached base on a bloop single then stole  second base. This sent catcher Oliver Grupenhoff to the plate with a man in scoring position.

Grupenhoff had taken a foul ball to the chin in the first inning, but returned to play.

Grupenhoff lined a double over the infield, scoring Haggerty, but this would be the last offense of the day for the Loggers.

In Libby’s game on Monday night, the Loggers lost 11-7 to the Glacier Twins, who rallied late for the win.

Libby found itself with a 6-5 lead going into the top of the eighth inning, but the Twins’ offense exploded.

Glacier scored four runs, on five hits, and the Loggers finished the  inning with two errors. 

This was the first of two consecutive games with seven errors for the Loggers.

Down 9-6 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the Loggers responded with one run, but they were unable to take advantage of consecutive hits by pitcher Will Reichel and Grupenhoff.

Reichel finished the game with seven strikeouts in his six innings pitched.

The Loggers will compete in the Polson Firecracker Tournament, which starts today and runs through July 6. Their next home game is on Tuesday, July 8 against the Missoula Mavericks.