Bigfork All-stars place fourth

By FAITH MOLDAN

Bigfork Eagle

The baseball team formerly known as the Semitool Reds donned new uniforms and a new name at the 2007 Firecracker Tournament in Kalispell June 29-July 1.

The Bigfork All-stars won their first three games but lost their last two. Bigfork beat Libby 3-0, Lethbridge 1-0 and Invermere 8-2 before falling to Whitefish 13-1 and Kalispell 2-0. The team finished fourth overall at the tournament.

The All-stars went into Sunday's championship play as the number one seed, a great accomplishment for the team according to coach James Lafontaine.

"They did well. I was proud of them," Lafontaine said.

The team's defense, which was solid in the other four games, fell apart against Whitefish. The team committed "a lot of errors," Lafontaine said. Bigfork scored in the bottom of the fifth inning on a deep fly ball by Josh Sather. His hit scored Mitchell Harsh for the All-stars' only run. Harsh was 6-13 at the plate during the tournament and Sather went 6-15.

Bigfork came close to a win in its second game of championship play, but two unearned runs put the tight game out of reach for the All-stars.

"We had our chances in the top of the sixth," Lafontaine said. Bigfork was unable to score the baserunners and the All-stars lost 2-0.

Bigfork shut out its first two opponents — Libby and Lethbridge — with 3-0 and 1-0 wins.

The All-stars used good pitching and defense to shutout Libby. Bigfork scored in the top of the sixth inning and sent the Libby batters down in the bottom of the inning to finish the game out with a 3-0 win. Jake and Josh Mitich combined for 11 strikeouts and two hits in the game. The defense committed one error in the game.

The game against Lethbridge was even tighter than the Libby game. Bigfork's only run was scored by Luke Lafontaine in the bottom of the third inning with two outs. Lafontaine had singled and stole second base on a double steal. Jake Mitich hit a fly ball to the second baseman, who dropped it and allowed Lafontaine to score from second base. He went 7-13 during the tournament and scored four runs. Bigfork's defense held Lethbridge scoreless for the 1-0 win. The Mitich brothers pitched again, allowing four hits and 15 strikeouts.

Jake Mitich drove in more than half of Bigfork's runs against Invermere. He had five RBIs on his two homeruns. He hit his first homerun, a three-run shot, in the first inning and another, a two-run homer, in the second inning. Bigfork won 8-2. Mitich finished the tournament 8-13 with two homeruns and five RBI.

"Everybody was making plays," Lafontaine said of the All-stars in that game.

Jeremiah Frankling was 7-13 at the plate and scored one run for the Bigfork All-stars. Lafontaine said that the team is really coming together, with good defense from Wyatt Fisher at second base and Colton Wild at first. Wild also recorded a couple of hits in the tournament. Dillon Hilling and Ryan Buschang added to the team's defensive efforts in the outfield as well.

Bigfork plays Thursday, today, at 4 p.m. in Whitefish at the district tournament against Columbia Falls. The All-stars also play Friday at 11 a.m. versus Libby and Friday at 4 p.m. against Mission Mountain.