Sapa-Johnsrud opens with Lakers, Twins losing games

WHITEFISH - Kalispell's Class AA American Legion baseball team opened the nine-team Sapa-Johnsrud 22nd Annual Memorial Tournament Tuesday against a team that looked like - and played seemingly as well as - the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They call themselves the Spokane Dodgers and nearly all of the kids looked like they spend time in the weight room - plus they had the genetics to boot. With names like Vucinich, Lupinacci, Gianukakis and Simmelink, it was easy to think of the team playing for Tommy Lasorda's and Mike Piazza's Italian World Baseball Classic team.

But they didn't intimidate the Lakers.

Trailing 6-0 with Spokane's big lefty pitcher Nate Burgher throwing a two-hitter going into the sixth inning, the Lakers tied the game when Stephan Malkuch hit a grand slam. The Dodgers, though, scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning for a 7-6 victory.

The Class AA Glacier Twins capped the tourney's opening day with a 20-7 loss to the Spokane Blue Devils. Details of the Twins' game were not reported by the Daily Inter Lake's press deadline.

The five-day tournament continues today at 9 a.m. with Calgary facing Williston, N.D., at Memorial Field in Whitefish. Kalispell plays Chino, Calif., at Sapa-Johnsrud Field in Columbia Falls at 10 a.m. The Twins play the nightcap, starting at 8 p.m., against Calgary at Memorial Field.

The tournament is divided into two divisions - the American and National divisions. There will be four games Sunday in the Championship Round, which pits equal-seeded teams from each division against each other. The first four days of the tournament are round-robin games.

The American Division comprises four teams: the Glacier Twins, Spokane Blue Devils, Calgary Blues and Williston Keybirds. The National Division is made up of five teams: the Kalispell Lakers, Lethbridge Elks, Chino Reds, Redmond High Desert and Spokane Dodgers. One team from the National Division will be eliminated before Sunday.

Saturday night, the tournament has a home run derby and skills contest. Four players from each team will participate in an infield hot hands contest. Two players from each team will compete in an outfield accuracy toss. Two players from each team will go at it in a speed base running contest. And two players will participate in a home run derby. Individual awards will be presented in each contest.

The tournament is named after Ray Johnsrud and Jimmy Sapa. Johnsrud was born in 1968. Sapa was born in 1967. Both lived in Columbia Falls and were killed in a car-train accident while traveling to baseball practice in 1984.

Spokane 7, Kalispell 6

Tied 6-6 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Spokane's cleanup hitter Tanner Hamilton (who bats like and wears the Los Angeles Dodgers Jeff Kent's No. 12) smacked an 0-2 curveball into a linedrive to left field that scored No. 3 hitter Jeff Purser from second base for the winning run.

The game was lopsided until Malkuch golfed a fastball over the center field wall for his first career grand slam.

Spokane plated three runs in the first inning, with two runs coming on a fly ball that was dropped by Tucker Hankinson in right field, and two runs in the second inning. The Dodgers had 10 hits in the first two innings off Kalispell starting pitcher Geoff Hogan and then loaded the bases with no out on three straight singles in the fourth inning. All the while, the Lakers were being two-hit by Burgher until the sixth inning.

Then the Lakers' John White, who is the only member of the team who lives in Bigfork, took over.

White relieved Hogan on the mound with the bases loaded and no out in that fourth inning and held the Dodgers to just one run - and that come off a sacrifice fly. As the Lakers' No. 3 hitter, White led off the sixth inning with a single and got another hit in the inning as Kalispell batted around the order in the six-run inning.

"White was pretty dominating in this game," Kalispell coach Ryan Malmin said. "He shut the door on them from the mound and got the job done from the plate as well.

"If there hadn't been that two-run error in the first inning, we'd have won. That game-winning hit was tough. (White) just left (the pitch) over the plate. It was an 0-2 curveball that he just left too close for the hitter to get his bat on. But that is such a tough pitch to make. Throwing a curveball for a ball is tough to do when that's what you're trying to do."

There was only one error in the game. Spokane outhit the Lakers, 12-10. The Lakers stranded eight base runners - including three in scoring position in the fifth and sixth innings - to Spokane's seven.

Burgher got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning before the Lakers chased him off the mound in the sixth.

The Lakers loaded the bases and got one-out RBI singles from Nos. 7 and 8 hitters Ryan Laughlin and Tucker Hankinson. Then with two outs, Malkuch delivered.

"He (Burgher) started me off with a fastball at the eyes and then threw a fastball at my ankles and got a called strike," Malkuch said. "The third pitch was in the exact same spot and I ripped. I knew it was gone right away. I should have flipped the bat into the air."

Purser, Spokane's center fielder, chased it straight back to the wall and climbed the wall but couldn't reach it. It was the Spokane Falls Community College baseball player's second home run of the season - and White knew he was going to hit it even before Malkuch stepped into the batters box.

"Kuchie is going ya-ya," he said.

Spokane Dodgers coach Jeff Simmelink said he has been coaching this group of boys since they were 13-years-old and the entire team is made up of 17-year olds. They won the Ed Gallo Tournament last summer and have been coming to the area tournaments for a while. The team is not an American Legion team. It is sponsored by the American Amateuer Baseball Congress as a Connie Mack team and has members from all over Spokane. Two of them have already been identified by major colleges for scholarships.

"But they are still 17-year olds who can fall asleep for an inning or two," Simmelink said. "That's what happened to us in the sixth inning. We should have been out of the inning on at least two of those plays."

The Dodgers top four hitters - Shea Vucinich, Ryan Simmelink, Purser and Hamilton - all had two hits. Purser was 2-for-2 with a three RBIs, three stolen bases and a sacrifice. Hamilton was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a sacrifice. The team improved to 25-13 on the season.

Dan Conners and White each had two hits for the Lakers, who dropped to 27-23 on the season.

Kalispell 000 006 0 - 6 10 1

Spokane 320 101 x - 7 12 0

Geoff Hogan, John White (4) and Ryan Laughlin. Nate Burgher, Dale Beach (6) and Vinny Lupinacci. W - Beach (3-3). L - White (n/a).

KALISPELL (27-23) - Stephan Malkuch 1-3, Dan Conners 2-4, White 2-4, Hogan 1-3, Zac Ford 0-3, Zach Davis 0-0, Austin Zapata 1-4, Ryan Laughlin 1-3, Tucker Hankinson 1-3, Jake Fitzsimmons 0-1, Chris Hooley 1-2.

SPOKANE (25-13) - Shea Vucinich 2-3, Ryan Simmelink 2-4, Mark Purser 2-2, Tanner Hamilton 2-3, Lupinacci 1-4, Beau Brett 1-2, Alex Reyes 0-2, Beach 0-3, Paul Smith 2-3.

RBIs - Kal. 6 (Malkuch 4, Laughlin, Hankinson), Spok. 5 (Purser 3, Hamilton 2). HR - Spok. 0, Kal. 1 (Malkuch). 2B - Kal. 0, Spok. 1 (Lupinacci). SB - Kal. 0, Spok. 4 (Purser 3, Vucinich). SAC - Kal. 0, Spok. 2 (Hamilton, Purser).