Bigfork Babe Ruth loses out in second round of tournament
Bigfork's Babe Ruth Baseball team ended their winning season with two untimely losses in the Glacier League post-season tournament last weekend.
Bigfork won their game during the first round of play against Columbia Falls team Backroom 7-6 on June 7, but lost their next two games in the double-elmination tournament after holding a 12-2 record at the end of regular season play.
Their first loss of the tournament came at the hands of Whitefish's Sports Medicine team. Bigfork was up 6-5 going into the seventh inning, but they committed several errors in the final inning and allowed Whitefish to score six runs.
"We had the game won, but in the seventh inning, with two outs, we committed an error and the flood gates opened," said Bigfork Babe Ruth Head Coach James LaFontaine.
Bigfork tried to use their final at-bat to play catch up, but was only able to score one run.
Kyle Parker pitched the first three-and-one-third innings and allowed one hit, two runs and three walks. Luke LaFontaine took over for the next three innings and gave up two hits, two runs and two walks. Mitchel Harsh pitched the final one-and-two-thirds innings during which Whitefish got four hits, six runs and two walks.
Harsh made up for it at the plate, though. He was three-for-four and was walked once and scored four runs. Parker helped lead the team offensively as well, scoring one run and brining in three RBIs off of two hits in his five trips to the plate.
Bigfork met Columbia Falls' Les Schwab team Friday night and took a 10-6 loss. Columbia Falls led 5-1 after the second inning and Bigfork chased them the rest of the game. They had narrowed the gap by the fifth inning, but Columbia Falls put up five runs in the sixth to push the game out of reach for Bigfork.
"Just like Thursday's game we committed too many errors and that cost us the game," coach LaFontaine said.
Luke LaFontaine pitched the opening three innings and gave up two hits, five runs and three walks and struck out four batters. Parker pitched the next three and allowed four hits, five runs and one walk while striking out three. Harsh pitched the final inning and didn't allow Columbia Falls to get any hits, runs or walks.
At the plate, Brett Sward put up two runs for Bigfork off of a walk and hitting two-of-three. Luke LaFontaine was four-for-four with one run scored and two RBIs.
Bigfork was missing one of their standout players, Cody Dopps, who was on vacation, for both games.
"I think missing Cody, who is not only a great player, but a great leader as well, really hurt us," coach LaFontaine said.
They were down an additional player during Thursday's game when Ryan Hayes had to come out of the game after being hit by a pitch, which left the team with just nine players and no substitutes.
"We had to move people around to positions they weren't used to to accommodate and we committed some errors because of that," coach LaFontaine said.
The tournament ends the Bigfork team's season, which they finished with a 13-4 record. They were 12-2 during the regular season and were the regular season champions.
"We had four players that had never played baseball before so for our team to be regular season champions is a huge accomplishment," coach LaFontaine said.
Three Bigfork Babe Ruth players will continue their baseball season on the Glacier League All-star teams. Dopps and Sward made the 15-year-old team and Luke LaFontaine made the 14-year-old team. They have their first games this weekend in Eureka and will play in the Guy Houston Tournament June 26-28 in Columbia Falls.
Thursday
Sports Medicine—1-1-0-0-2-1-6—11
BIgfork—1-0-3-1-0-1-1—7
Friday
Les Schwab—3-2-0-0-0-5-0—10
Bigfork—1-0-1-0-2-2-0—6