Mission drops Lakers in 10 innings
Lakers host Kootenai Valley today at 6 p.m.
The Mission Valley Mariners 15-5 record is pretty indicative.
The Class A American Legion baseball team rallied a couple of times Wednesday night - including a three-run ninth inning to send the game into extra innings - to beat the Class AA Kalispell Lakers, 11-9 in 10 innings, at Griffin Field.
"It's a lot of heart," Mission Valley's third-year coach Jamie Hanson said. "This team has come from behind while trailing from large margins a couple of times."
The Mariners may have gotten a little supernatural help against the Lakers.
They call him "Hobbs." And, a la Roy Hobbs in "The Natural," 16-year-old Brandon Roy of Plains delivered for the Polson-based team.
Trailing 7-4 in the sixth inning, Roy took the mound in relief and put up the flood gates on the Lakers' offense for four innings. But he was just as clutch on offense. He picked up an RBI in the Mariners' three-run ninth inning and then had the game-winning RBI single in the 10th inning.
"It was the first pitch, outside fastball, and I just put it into right field," Roy said. "I was just nervous. I just wanted to get a hit."
Roy's game-winning line drive over second base scored Tim Rausch, who came in to pinch run for cleanup hitter Brandon Thompson in the ninth and scored, from second base. Robert Wallace, the Mariners' No. 8 hitter, added an insurance run in the 10th with an RBI double that Roy was thrown out at home for the third out.
He responded by pitching a quick bottom half of the 10th inning to improve his pitching record to 5-1 on the season. He pitched 4 1/3 innings - allowing three hits, four walks and just one earned run while striking out six batters.
"I just throw a curveball and fastball and sometimes a changeup, but I didn't throw the changeup (in this game)," Roy said.
The game's multiple late-inning pressure situations made up for its overall lackluster showing. The teams combined for six hit batters, 16 walks, 10 errors, two catcher's interference calls and 10 unearned runs. The teams equalled each other with 10 hits.
Mission had just two hits entering the seventh inning as Kalispell starting pitcher Zach Davis worked five solid innings. He allowed four walks with three hitters and the two hits while striking out nine. Three of the four runs he gave up were earned. John White relieved him in the sixth and pitched a three-up, three-down inning before running into trouble. He ended up giving up eight hits with two free passes and had five strikeouts. Only two of the runs he gave up were earned. His pitching record fell to 3-4.
"We may be a little fatigued with the conference game against Glacier Wednesday, practice Thursday and then four games in the tournament (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday) with another practice Tuesday," Kalispell coach Ryan Malmin said. "But how can you call it fatigue when we hold them to two hits until late in the game and then commit two errors in the ninth? It was an ugly game."
It was a tough personal game for Malmin, who lives in Polson and teaches at the high school.
"There's been some ragging and there will be some more, but we will play them again," Malmin said.
Fresh off of Glacier's Wooden Bat Tournament championship game victory, the loss dropped the Lakers to 11-10 on the season.
The Mariners had three kids with two hits apiece: No. 3 hitter Jake Bosley, No. 5 hitter Chris Brown - who started on the mound - and Wallace. Wallace had two doubles. Roy and Jon Rausch each had two RBIs in the victory. The Mariners stole seven bases. Leadoff hitter Tim Gauthier and Brown each had two.
Chris Hooley led the Lakers from the No. 8 spot in the batting order. He went 3-for-6 with an RBI double. Sam Freudenberg, who moved way up in the batting order to fill Austin Zapata's No. 2 spot, and Zapata each had two hits.
The game was scheduled as a doubleheader, but Mission asked for it to be rescheduled as one nine-inning game because it has to travel through construction Thursday for a doubleheader Thursday with Class AA Missoula. The Lakers play Class A Kootenai Valley tonight in a doubleheader.
The Lakers next Western AA game is Sunday at home against Missoula.
Mission Valley 010 030 113 2 - 11 10 4
Kalispell AA 100 015 101 0 - 9 10 6
Chris Brown, Jon Rausch (6), Brandon Roy (6) and Jake Whetzel. Zach Davis, John White (6) and Jake Fitzsimmons. W - Roy (5-1). L - White (3-4).
MISSION VALLEY (15-4) - Tim Gauthier 0-3, Eric Locke 0-4, Jake Bosley 2-5, Brandon Thompson 0-3, Tim Rausch 1-1, Brown 2-3, J. Rausch 1-2, Roy 1-3, Tyler Trudeau 0-5, Robert Wallace 2-4, Whetzel 1-4.
KALISPELL (11-10) - Dan Conners 1-5, Sam Freudenberg 2-6, Geoff Hogan 1-4, Fitzsimmons 0-2, Davis 0-3, White 1-2, Austin Zapata 2-5, Tyler Reichhoff 0-4, Chris Hooley 3-6, Tucker Hankinson 0-1.
RBIs - MV 7 (J. Rausch 2, Roy 2, Gauthier, Whetzel, Wallace), Kal. 4 (Hooley, Fitzsimmons, White, Conners). 2B - MV 2 (Wallace 2), Kal. 2 (Freudenberg, Hooley). SB - MV 7 (Gauthier 2, Brown 2, J. Rausch, Thompson, T. Rausch), Kal. 2 (Fitzsimmons, Conners). SAC - MV 3 (Brown, Bosley, Gauthier), Kal. 2 (Fitzsimmons, Hankinson).