Twins win Canadian Days

The Glacier Twins are Canadian Days champions. The Twins bounced back from a four-run deficit in the fifth inning to defeat the Kalispell Lakers 9-6 in the championship game on Sunday.

"This is a big win for the Glacier Twins," head coach Bill Sapa said. "I'm just proud of the kids, the way they've handled this season. They've been fighting their way. We've got a lot of work to do, but we're making a lot of progress."

Sapa said he used a lot of players in a lot of different situations. Everybody contributed and made it a team effort, he said.

"These kids have been working hard and they've earned this," he said.

Jeremy Neilsen was 2-for-4 for the Twins on Sunday with a double and an RBI.

The Lakers took the early lead with five runs in the second inning. Glacier hit the first batter that inning, then gave up a couple of singles and some walks. But things didn't get exciting until the fifth inning — that's when Sapa was ejected.

"When I got thrown out, that really fired the kids up," Sapa said.

Four hits, two hit batsmen and one walk later, the Twins had a 3-run lead.

Wade Martinson was the winning pitcher for the Twins.

"I've got to give Wade a lot of credit. He throws strikes, he works ahead of the hitters and he got himself two wins on the weekend," Sapa said.

The Twins (6-3) play host to the Lakers on Thursday.

"They're a good ball club. They're well-coached. They're going to be up to play us on Thursday," Sapa said.

Twins 10, Mariners 6

Glacier Twins 001 202 05 — 10 13 2

Mission Valley 202 010 01 — 6 5 1

Cody Hill and Jeremy Nielson; Spencer Trawick and Riley Grogan. W — Hill (5 hits, 5 strikeouts, 7 walks, 2 hit batters), 3-0. L — Trawick.

GLACIER TWINS — Nielson 2-4, Chris King 1-4, Wade Martinson 2-4, Kyle Knox 2-4, Adam Pisk 1-3, Jake Walp 0-2, Brandon Prescott 1-3, Willie Roche 1-3, Cody Elek 1-1, Hill 2-4.

MARINERS — Kalib Gillingham 0-4, Tyler Linse 1-4, Tim Rausch 1-4, Derek Rathe 2-3, Chris Alfiero 0-3, Riley Grogan 0-2, Westyn Kiehn 1-3, Xavier Morigeau 0-4, Cory Hardy 0-2.

2B—Nielson, Martinson; HR—Rausch; RBIs—Rausch (2), Rathe; Nielson, King, Knox, Hill (4).

Twins 10, Cardinals 8

Glacier Twins 017 11 — 10 6 NA

Edmonton 422 00 — 8 11 6

WP — Wade Martinson; LP — Nick Smiley.

TWINS — Jeremy Nielsen 0-2, Kyler Blades 0-1, Kyle Knox 2-3, Kyle Yogadine 0-2, Chris King 2-3, Adam Pisk 0-1, Brett Prescott 0-2, Cody Elek 0-2, K. Gross 2-3.

RBI — Gross (3), Knox (2), Blaes, King, Pisk, Prescott.

CARDINALS — Tommy Muhlenthaler 3-4, Jacob Spinks 1-1, JJ Grimm 0-4, Cameron Leflar 2-2, Jeremy Harasymchuk 0-1, Andrew Mirasly 2-3, Sam Siddall 1-2, Matty McGee 1-2, Kevin Czarnecki 1-2.

HR — Muhlenthaler; RBI — Spinks (2), Muhlenthaler, Leflar, McGee.

Athletics 10, Twins 9

Sherwood 102 040 21 — 10 NA NA

Glacier Twins 023 040 00 — 9 6 NA

ATHLETICS — Padon Brenholen 2-3, Brett McElroy 1-3, Spencer Imeson 4-5, TJ Bennett 1-3, Jordan Penner 1-2, Levi Medwid 0-3, David Paquette 0-4, Callen Kenyon 1-4.

RBI — Imeson (2), Kenyon.

TWINS — Kyler Blades 0-4, Chris King 1-4, Jeremy Nielsen 0-5, Wade Martinson 1-4, Kyle Knox 1-2, Kyle Yogadine 1-3, Adam Pisk 1-3, Cody Elek 0-2, Trevor Miller 1-2.

Glacier 9, Lakers 6

Lakers 050 01 — 651

Glacier 100 17 — 971

Mike O'Connell, Matt O'Brian (5) and Greg Seaman. Brandon Prescott, Wade Martinson (2) and Jeremy Neilsen. W — Martinson (2-0). L — O'Connell.

Lakers — Dean Stimpson 0-2, Ben Sansaver 1-3, Mike O'Connell 0-2, Pat Hergesheimer 2-3, Toby Liechti 0-1, Matt O'Brian 1-3, Joe Pistorese 1-3, Greg Seaman 0-2, Brian Eickert 0-2.

2B — Hergesheimer, Pistorese. RBIs — Hergesheimer 1, O'Brian 1

Glacier — Jeremy Nielsen 2-4, Chris King 1-2, Willie Roche 1-2, Kyle Knox 0-3, Chris Gross 0-1, Adam Pisk 0-2, Kyle Yogadinski 0-2, Cody Elek 2-3, Cody Hill 1-3, Kyler Blades 0-1.

2B Nielsen 1. RBI — Neilsen 1, King 2, Knox 1, Pisk 2, Elek 1, Hill 1.

Hot bats and tight pitching drop Loggers

The Glacier Twins AA team came out swinging against the Libby Loggers A team on May 13, winning 13-3 in American Legion baseball play. The Twins are now 3-2 overall.

Twins pitcher Josh Schaat threw a one-hitter. He pitched all seven innings and is the first Twins hurler to go the distance this season in five games. He had seven walks and hit one batter.

"He had good stuff, but he also worked behind a lot of hitters," Twins coach Bill Sapa said. "When he threw the ball for strikes, he was tough."

His teammates recorded 16 hits in the victory and had three errors. Wade Martinson, 3-for-4, and Chris King, 3-for-5, were the big hitters. Both slammed doubles as Martinson drove in three runs and King two. Jake Walp and Schaat contributed with two hits apiece.

"We've been swinging the bat pretty well," Sapa said. "We're averaging close to 15 hits a game. We need to tighten up our pitching a little bit, and our defense."

Libby 001 100 1 — 3 1 2

Glacier 501 201 4 — 13 16 3

Chris Herbig and Clay Smith; Josh Schaat and Cody Elek. W — Schatt (7 strikeouts, 1 hit, 7 walks, 1 hit batter), 1-0. L — Herbig.

LIBBY — Eric Stevenson 0-3, Herbig 1-3, Colt Cannon 0-4, Joe Coker 0-2, Smith 0-3, Adam Stapley 0-1, Zach Watson 0-3, Spencer Koskela 0-2, Eric Grotjohn 0-2.

GLACIER — Kyler Blades 0-3, Jake Walp 2-2, Chris King 3-5, Wade Martinson 3-4, Kyle Yogodzinski 1-4, Devyn Rocker 1-3, Chris Gross 0-0, Elek 1-2, Willie Roche 0-2, Schaat 2-4, Carl Talsma 1-4.

2B—Walp, King, Martinson; RBIs—Herbig; Walp, King (2), Martinson (3), Roche (2), Schaat (2), Talsma.