Red Sox rattle Loggers

WHITEFISH - Man, those Bitterroot Red Sox can swing the bats.

They had 19 hits on Friday as they defeated the Libby Loggers 13-6 in the winner's bracket game of the Western A District American Legion baseball tournament.

"They really swing the sticks well. If you are going to beat a team like that, you are not going to be able to make the defensive mistakes that we did," said Libby coach Kelly Morford of the Red Sox.

The Loggers didn't do badly offensively. They had nine hits themselves.

But they just couldn't match the Red Sox firepower.

"We hung around there for a little bit. But we just couldn't get anything going offensively early and then we made a few mistake pitches and a few errors defensively and they just kept adding one, two or three runs per inning. We just couldn't stop the bleeding," Morford said.

"A lot of things we did (Thursday), we didn't do today," he said.

The Loggers had some early chances as the Red Sox made some early mistakes, too. Libby had runners on second and third in the first inning, but didn't get anyone home.

Libby did lead briefly - 2-1 in the top of the third inning on Joe Coker's two-run home run to left field.

But from there, the Red Sox slowly pulled away.

They added three runs in the bottom of the third, one more in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the sixth.

At one point in the seventh, they were up 11-2.

But the Loggers kept plugging away. That paid off for them with four runs in the eighth.

Catcher Clay Smith was the first to get aboard - he drew a walk. Then with two outs, Eric Riddle ripped a single to score Smith, the first of four straight Libby hits.

"I was glad to see us come back in the eighth inning and score four runs and give ourselves a chance to win. Now we'll put that one behind us and come out ready to play (today)," Morford said.

Libby was led by Joe Coker at the plate, 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs, Chris Herbig was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Riddle was 2-for-4 with an RBI.

For the Red Sox, it was shortstop Matt Hamlin leading the way. Hamlin was 5-for-5 with a double, Austin Allen was 2-for-5 and Clint Crossman was 3-for-5 with four RBIs. Andrew Shook was 1-for-4 with a home run.

The Loggers take on the Kalispell Lakers at noon today. Should they win that one, they will play the winner of today's 9 a.m. game between the Missoula Mavericks and the Bitterroot Bucs at 7 p.m.

"We still have a chance to do what we want to do and get to the state tournament. We just have to win an extra game now. So, we just have to come back (today) ready to play," Morford said.

The Loggers and Lakers split earlier this season.

"They can swing the sticks, too. They finished the season well and they played well today against Kootenai Valley. We just have to regroup and get after it (today)," he said.

Libby 002 000 040 - 6 9 3

Bitterroot 013 123 12x - 13 19 3

Eric Riddle, Zach Watson (5), Joe Coker (6) and Clay Smith. Ryan Weigle and Austin Allen. W - Weigle. L - Riddle.

Libby - Dustin Morningstar 1-5, Chris Herbig 2-4, Colt Cannon 1-5, Joe Coker 2-5, Derek Willis 0-5, Clay Smith 1-3, Micah Germany 0-1, Zach Watson 0-2, Adam Stapley 0-1, Eric Riddle 2-4, Eric Grotjohn 0-3, Tate Wilson 1-1. HR - Coker. 2B - Morningstar. RBI - Morningstar 2, Herbig, Coker 2, Riddle.

Bitterroot - Andrew Shook 1-4, Rodee Anderson 0-1, Tyler Tintzman 1-5, Matt Hamlin 5-5, Austin Allen 2-5, Wes Sherman 2-5, Beau Nordberg 1-2, Mike Stanford 2-5, Clint Crossman 3-5, Ryan Weigle 2-5. HR - Shook. 2B - Hamlin, Weigle. RBI -ÊShook, Nordberg, Stanford 2, Crossman 4, Weigle.