Bucs hold off Mariners for Western A Dist. title
The Daily Inter Lake
The Bitterroot Bucs held off several late-inning threats by the Mission Valley Mariners to post a 6-5 victory Sunday and capture the Western A District Tournament American Legion baseball title at Griffin Field.
Mission Valley, 50-16 overall, stranded five runners in the final three innings and had runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but couldn't bring them home.
Both teams did all their scoring in the first five innings.
Bitterroot's Tony Isbell belted a two-run home run in the third inning to give Bitterroot a 5-2 lead.
Mission Valley's Eric
Locke doubled with the bases loaded and two outs to drive in the first two runs of the game the Mariners. That gave Locke a team high 21 doubles for the season.
Tyler Trudeau went 3-for-5 for Mission Valley.
The Bucs and Mariners faced off six times during the regular season with the Bucs winning four times. Three of those victories were by one run.
Mission Valley and Bitterroot advance to the state tournament in Billings. The Mariners play Thursday at 9 a.m.
The state tournament winner advances to regional play in Wyoming.
The Mariners advanced to face the Bucs by slamming the Bitterroot Red Sox earlier in the day, 16-2.
Tim Gauthier smashed the first pitch of the ballgame for a home run to left field.
Brandon Thompson, connected on a two-run shot in the second inning, also to left field. Thompson has 13 home runs on the season.
Locke doubled twice and drove in two runs.
Will Gordon went 3-for-4 and had a team-high five RBIs.
Chris Brown also went 3-for-4 for the Mariners.
Championship Game
BUCS 6, MARINERS 5
Bitterroot 122 100 000 - 6 10 4
Mission Valley 021 020 000 - 5 8 5
Cam Edmon, Tony Isbell (8) and Derrick Stephens; Locke, Tim Rausch (5) and Whetzel; W - Edmon. L - Locke, 7-2 (5 hits, 1 strikeout, 4 walks).
Bitterroot - Phil Perez 4-5, Matt Perez 1-5, Jeremiah Hanna 1-4,Isbell 1-4, Edmon 1-4, D. Lind 0-3, Aaron Blackwell 0-5, D. Groble 0-4, Stephens 0-3.
Mission Valley - Gauthier 0-5, Locke 1-3, Gordon 1-5, Thompson 0-4, Brown 2-3, Trudeau 3-5, J. Rausch 1-4, Robert Wallace 0-2, T. Rausch 0-3, Whetzel 0-3.
2B-Edmon; Locke, Trudeau; HR-Isbell; RBIs-Isbell (2); Locke (3), Trudeau, J. Rausch.
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MARINERS 16, RED SOX 2
Bitterroot 000 020 0 - 2 4 5
Mission Valley 5(11)0 000 x - 16 12 1
Luke, Dan Eccles (1), Z. Henninger (2), Tyler Gillespie (6) and Lucky Barrett; Brandon Roy and Jake Whetzel. W - Roy, 9-3 (4 hits, 1 strikeout, 5 walks). L - Luke.
Bitterroot - Jessie Gardner 1-2, J. Miller 1-4, Barrett 1-3, Eccles 0-4, Gillespie 1-3, Luke Root 0-3, Henninger 1-1, C. Laine 0-2, Hamlin 0-2.
Mission Valley - Tim Gauthier 1-2, Eric Locke 2-4, Jake Bosley 2-4, Brandon Thompson 1-5, Chris Brown 3-4, Tyler Trudeau 0-3, Will Gordon 3-4, John Rausch 0-4, Whietzel 1-3.
2B-Gillespie, Henninger; Locke (2), Bosley, Brown, Gordon (2); HR- Gauthier (1), Thompson (13); RBIs-Gardner; Gauthier, Locke (2), Bosley, Thompson (2), Brown (2), Gordon (5), Rausch.