Glacier 14-year-olds drop first two at regional

Games played by the Glacier 14-year-old all-stars in pool play in the regional Babe Ruth tournament in Moscow, Idaho, are ones the players and coaches would like to erase from memory.

Glacier was pounded by Southern Washington, a team from Chehalis, 20-5 in five innings Monday. Unable to completely regroup, Glacier was beaten by Alberta 15-4 in six innings Tuesday.

Team manager Eric May said it was the first time this group of players have ever been defeated in games by the 10-run rule.

A combination of shoddy fielding, inability to hit the cut-off man on balls hit to the outfield and pitching control problems all contributed to Glacier's woes, according to May.

Glacier led Chehalis 3-2 after one inning, but fell behind 8-3 in the second. Chehalis erupted for 12 runs in the third inning to put the game away. Glacier had 14 hits, more than Chehalis collected, but defense was Glacier's downfall.

"It was ugly, but the kids never gave up," May said. "We could never recover."

Jace Kalbfleisch started on the mound, pitching well early, but lacked defensive support. Austin Martin, Luke LaFontaine and Cooper Olson also saw mound duty.

Shane Marcial led Glacier at the plate, going 3-for-3.

May said he saw one fielding mistake after another in the loss to Alberta.

"It wasn't meant to be," he said.

Martin pitched well into the third inning, but tired in the heat, according to May. Nick LaGrandeur and Olson also threw for Glacier.

Glacier had only five hits but collected a number of walks, stranding 12 runners on base. Jake Slaybaugh had a triple in the game.

At 7 p.m. PDT Wednesday, Glacier was pitted against Moscow. After Thursday off, Glacier plays Coos Bay/North Bend on Friday. Only the top two from each pool advance to Saturday's bracket play.