Big inning, big rain: AA Lakers top Twins ahead of downpour, cancellation
MISSOULA – First came the rally, then the deluge – and then the Missoula County Health Department rained on the rest of the Mavericks Memorial American Legion tournament.
Ethan Diede’s two-run triple sparked a seven-run fifth inning by the Kalispell AA Lakers Friday, and when the frame ended they were up 10-4. Then the skies opened up.
In under nine minutes Lindborg-Cregg Field was unplayable; it was in that time span that tournament officials received an email from the county to shut the tournament down.
The Lakers can consider themselves tournament champions since they went 3-0, including the win over Glacier.
The Twins got two games in Friday, but lost leads in both: In their opener they led Northern Lakes 8-1 before losing 9-8 in 10 innings.
Kalispell AA Lakers 10,
Glacier Twins 4
Diede’s triple came with the Lakers trailing 4-3 and having fanned seven times against Glacier starter Zach Veneman.
Two of the strikeouts were by Diede, but he hit the next pitch he saw through the gap.
“I was just thinking, ‘Make and adjustment and hit the ball to right-center,’ ” Diede said. “(Veneman) has always been a good tempo pitcher. He keeps the ball moving, pitches fast – that’s when he’s in his groove.
“To get him out of that groove we needed to slow it down, take our time.”
After Diede’s gapper Connor Drish walked and Caden Willis was hit by a pitch. Luke Halland followed with a two-run single, and Danny Kernan drove in Willis with a base hit.
Ben Corriveau, who’d led off the inning with a double, capped it with a two-run single.
“It would be nice to do that anytime we wanted,” Lakers coach Ryan Malmin said. “It was a slow start for us. Offensively we were a little passive in the box and struck out too many times – didn’t put the ball in play.”
Until the fifth the Twins showed no ill-effects from their earlier loss, getting three straight singles to open the game and loading the bases again with one out in the second inning.
The truly big inning escaped the Twins - Mason Peters and Zach Veneman providing run-scoring groundouts. And in the top of the fifth Stevyn Andrachick hit a bases-loaded single to right but Kalispell was able to cut down runner Jacob Polumbus at the plate, Caden Willis to Danny Kernan to Gage Brink. That left the score 4-3.
Then Kalispell’s offense exploded for starter Jack Corriveau, who scattered seven hits and six walks. He fanned three.
“I got a little frustrated – just a couple things didn’t go my way,” Corriveau said. “But I tried to let my defense work behind me and they kind of just kept me colm. I was able to get throughit and put some zeroes up later in the game.”
“Jack was being a bulldog,” Diede said. “Just shutting them down and doing what it took.
“We were pretty flat in the dugout early in the game and we finally picked it up. One hit led to the next and one walk led to the next. Big things happen.”
The Lakers and Twins were set to play Saturday, but now head back to the Flathead Valley.
Glacier 120 01 - 4 7 2
Lakers AA 200 17 - 10 9 2
Zach Veneman, Mason Peters (5) and Austyn Andrachick. Jack Corriveau and Gage Brink. WP – Corriveau. LP – Veneman.
GLACIER – Steven Andrachick 2-3, Mason Peters 2-3, Cade Morgan 1-2, Payton Davisson 0-3, Zach Veneman 1-3, Austyn Andrachick 0-3,, Devon Beale 1-2, Jacob Polumbus 1-2, Jack Price 0-1.
LAKERS – Jack Corriveau 0-3, Gage Brink 0-2, Ethan Diede 1-3, Connor Drish 0-2, Caden Willis 1-2, Luke Halland 2-3, Danny Kernan 2-3, Kobe Burland 1-3, Ben Corriveau 2-3.
2B – B.Corriveau. 3B – Diede. RBIs – S. Andrachick, Peters, Veneman, Halland 3, Diede 2, B. Corriveau 2, Kernan.
Northern Lakes 9,
Glacier Twins 8
In the first game in Missoula, the Twins fell when Jack McDonald’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th drove home the game-winner for the club out of Sandpoint, Idaho.
The hit scored Trevor Vanderer, who’d reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second.
Glacier had the bats going early, with Jacob Polumbus collecting a double among three hits and driving in three, and Payton Davisson adding a double and two RBIs. Peters, Venevman and Trenton Tyree all had a pair of knocks.
Vanderer, Colton Aragon and Tristan Clift all had three hits for the Mountaineers.
Glacier 042 200 000 0 - 8 14 0
N. Lakes 100 330 100 1 - 9 13 3
Trenton Tyree, Mason Peters (4), Cade Morgan (5) and Austyn Andrachick.
Tristan Clift, Scott Pete (4) and Colton Aragon. WP – Pete. LP – Morgan.
Rigby, Idaho 10, Lakers A 7
At Memorial Field the visiting Rigby Trojans scored five runs in the sixth to take the win.
Caleb Morgan and Elijah Owens had three hits each for the Lakers. Owens drove in two runs, as did Morgan, who had a double and a triple.
Carver Van Aken added two hits and drove in a run.
The Lakers committed seven errors, leading to five unearned runs. Max Holden started and went four innings on the mound for Kalispell, scattering six hits.
He gave up four runs and struck out one.
Rigby 040 015 - 10 9 3
Lakers A 102 130 - 7 11 7
Batteries unavailable.