Glacier All-Stars win state baseball championship

For members of the U-14 Glacier All-Stars baseball team, it was deja vu all over again.

By defeating Bozeman 10-4 in the championship game on Sunday, the Glacier All-Stars won Montana Babe Ruth baseball championship.

"This is back-to-back for these kids. They won it last year as 13-year-olds," coach Eric May said. "Three of the last four years, they've won it. They are a good bunch of kids."

Glacier defeated Mission Valley 6-1 in the semifinals. Bozeman won the other bracket with a 2-0 victory over Great Falls.

Bozeman led the championship game 2-0 after three innings, but Glacier got its bats going in the fourth.

Logan Harwood led off the fourth inning with a bunt single. The Bozeman pitcher then walked Jace Kalbfleisch, and another bunt single by Shane Marcial filled the bases.

Peter Seymour then hit into a fielder's choice. Bozeman elected to throw home, but Harwood slid in safely, knocking the ball out of the catcher's hand.

Jake May, up next, doubled off the left center field wall to score two more runs. Cooper Olson added a single, and Colin King followed with a 2-RBI single.

By the time the final out of the inning was recorded, Glacier led 6-2. The boys added four more runs in the fifth.

"Pretty exciting stuff. The kids were ecstatic," coach May said.

The win was made more impressive by the fact that Glacier had to wait through two rain delays and that Bozeman had beaten the Glacier team twice already this year, including the first game of the tournament.

"When it really counted, we got the better of them," May said.

The victory means Glacier will move on to regional baseball in Moscow, Idaho, during the first week of August.

"These kids, they've been to these regional tournaments. They're used to it. They've seen the talent and we've won some games," coach May said.

May also reported that Glacier was awarded the sportsmanship award for the tournament.

"That really says a lot about these kids," he said.