GREAT FALLS – Western A champion Mission Valley and runner-up Libby both dropped their openers at the State A American Legion baseball tournament Thursday afternoon.
The Loggers fell 17-13 to Laurel while Mission Valley lost to Glasgow 4-3.
Gallatin Valley beat Vauxhall, Alberta, 7-6 in the other day game. Host Great Falls and Belgrade are playing the night game.
Gallatin Valley 7, Vauxhall, Alberta 6
Tanner Johnson and John Holmes drove home two runs apiece in the Outlaws’ opener.
Gianfranco Filippini went the distance to earn the win. He allowed 12 hits and struck out 10.
Laurel 17, Libby 13
The Loggers fought back from a 9-0 hole to tie the game at 10-10 in the seventh inning, only to see the Dodgers score seven runs in their final two at-bats to pull out the win.
Will Reichel had four of Libby’s 16 hits and drove in two runs. Jared Winslow and Oliver Grupenhoff each had three hits. Micah Germany drove home three runs.
Blake Studiner drove in four for Laurel, while Jordan Henke had three hits and three RBIs.
Libby 000 005 530 – 13 15 7
Laurel 360 001 34x – 17 17 3
Jared Winslow, Andrew Haggerty (2), Will Reichel (8), Luke Haggerty (8) and Oliver Grupenhoff. Jordan Henke, TJ Schmidt (7), Kenneth Nilles (8), Jay Dempster (8) and Kameron Fisher. W – Dempster. L – A. Haggerty.
LIBBY – L. Haggerty 2-4, Reichel 4-6, Winslow 3-6, Micah Germany 1-3, Grupenhoff 3-4, Nicholas Robertson 1-5, A. Haggerty 1-5, Joshua Foote 1-5, Cameron Burkes 0-2, Collin Johnson 0-1.
LAUREL – Kenneth Nilles 1-6, Dempster 1-5, Henke 3-4, Kyle Melby 0-0, Dakota Cortese 1-5, Schmidt 1-4, Anthony Panella 2-5, Daylor McFate 2-4, Austin Cannon 0-0, Blake Studiner 3-5, Fisher 2-6.
2B – Grupenhoff, Robertson, Panella. 3B – Dempster, Panella. RBIs – Reichel 2, Winslow, Germany 3, Grupenhoff, Robertson 2, A. Haggerty 2, Foote, Henke 3, Cortese, Schmidt 2, Panella 2, McFate, Studiner 4.
Glasgow 4, Mission Valley 3
Glasgow erupted four all of its runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull out the win over the Western A champs.
Grant Legare had a two-run double in Glasgow’s three-run seventh inning that gave the Reds a 3-2 lead.
The Mariners tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom half of the inning when Cole McArthur doubled and scored on a single by Brad Pichler.
Zach Rodgers’ RBI single in the eighth provided the winning run for the Reds.
Dalton Molzhon pitched the first seven innings for the M’s, allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out seven. Robert Gauthier was tagged with the loss in relief.
Glasgow 000 000 310 – 4 7 3
M. Valley 000 101 100 – 3 7 3
Walter Dalbey and Jes Hanks. Dalton Molzhon, Robert Gauthier (8) and Jack Humphreys. W – Dalbey. L – Gauthier.
GLASGOW – Grant Legare 2-5, Hanks 0-4, Tom Leland 2-5, Wacy Ortman 0-4, Andy Gardner 0-3, Gage Legare 0-3, Zach Rodgers 2-3, Griffin Bengochea 1-4, Jonathan Koessl 0-3, Dalbey 0-0.
MISSION VALLEY – Justin Evertz 1-4, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 0-4, Gauthier 1-3, Chrs Clary 1-4, Jacob Young 1-4, Humphreys 0-4, Cole McArthur 2-4, Brad Pichler 1-3, Molzhon 0-4.
2B – Gr. Lagare, McArthur. 3B – Young. RBIs – Gr. Legare 2, Rodgers, Gauthier, Young, Pichler.
