Libby Loggers lose to Mariners, Buc indistrict tournament

The Libby Legion Loggers (5-15) lost by a steep 0-11 to the Mission Valley Mariners (13-6) in their first game at 1 p.m. on Wednesday at the 2014 Western A District Tournament in Kalispell. 

To make it to the state tournament in Lewistown, American Legion teams from across the region will bat to the top two spots that will qualify the lucky two teams to advance to the state tournament in Lewistown from July 30 to Aug. 3.

Playing as the away team, the Loggers batted first and Luke Haggerty took the chance to make it to second base, but any possible run was dashed when Grupenhoff struck out. 

The Mariners came back at the bottom of the first inning when Zeke Webster-Yaqui scored, getting the first run in of the game.

The Loggers and Mariners missed more runs through the second inning and not until the bottom of the third did the Mariners throw a strong punch on the diamond and snatched five runs by the fourth inning.

As the first half of the game disappeared and the afternoon peaked, the Loggers tried to make an effort to make it to base but the fight was not strong enough for the Mariners’ offense. The Mariners picked up the slack left from the Loggers in the top of the fourth and earned three more runs, totaling nine runs.

At the bottom of the fifth inning, the Mariners rubbed salt in the Loggers’ wound with two more points, one earned and one unearned.

The sixth and seventh innings saw no runs for either team, but Will Reichel’s hit at the top of the sixth showed a last-ditch effort for the Loggers.

At the end of the game, the Mariners slated 13 hits while the Loggers penciled in two. The momentum from the last game against Sandpoint had dwindled for the Loggers.

Because the Loggers lost to the Mariners, they played against the Bitterroot Bucs at 1 p.m. on Thursday, and the Mariners went on to play the Missoula Mavs. The Bitterroot Bucs lost to the Missoula Mavs 9-11 on Wednesday. 

With a slow start that met several single hits but no runs, the game against the Bucs gained some speed at the top of the third inning when Matt Willis stole home with Cameron Burkes at bat. But the Bucs came back with two runs at the bottom of the third.

Willis batted steady in the fourth, and Dylon Lane scored to round up the inning.

With Bo Zeiler first at bat, though, the Bucs again threw a response punch by taking in four more runs before the fifth. The Loggers gained some end-of-season momentum and gained four runs in the fifth inning helped out by Haggerty’s fine-tuned bat, but the momentum died soon with no more runs for the Libby team.

The Bucs came flying back into the field at the bottom of the eighth inning with the end in sight and threw shade at the Loggers by taking in seven more runs, to end the game at 16-6, closing the gate to the Loggers. 

The Loggers will not proceed to the state tournament in Lewistown after losing both games.