Glacier 14U makes noise at regional tourney

The Glacier Babe Ruth 14U baseball team showed their moxy at the Pacific Northwest Regional Tournament last week, taking third.

The boys opened the tournament July 30 in Columbia Falls with a 5-4 win over Twin Cities. That win was capped by a game-saving diving catch by left fielder Brandon Thomas to end Twin Cities, Wash., comeback bid in the bottom of the seventh.

The team then lost to West Linn, Ore., later in the day 11-4.

But the boys didn’t let the loss get them down.

The next day they walloped Calgary 12-0 in Columbia Falls, as pitcher Austin Green threw a no-hitter through five innings, and gave up just one hit in the sixth as the game ended on the 10-run mercy rule.

On Friday, the boys beat Moses Lake, Wash. in a squeaker, 11-10. Glacier had an 8-2 lead going into the fifth, but Moses Lake stormed back to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth as David Brown ripped a two-RBI base hit to re-take the lead.

Max Smyley pitched a perfect seventh inning of relief to preserve the win. Thomas was stellar out in left field again, nabbing another diving catch in the early innings. Logan Kolodejchuk had a great overall tournament behind the plate, hitting at least .500.

That win advanced them to the semifinals Saturday in Columbia Falls, where they faced the Spokane Inland Select All-Stars. Spokane had just a couple of players on the bench, but they had excellent pitching a fielding and beat Glacier 6-3.

Glacier had its chances in the game — Smyley was called out at home a very close play at the plate, and the boys had a few mental mistakes that led to errors, but overall, it was an excellent baseball game. Glacier out-hit Spokane, 12 to nine.

“Most of the time the host team is the whipping boy,” said coach Chad Green after the semifinal. “We definitely were not. What more can you ask of a team? I’m very proud of all of them.”

Kalispell also made it to the semifinals, losing to West Linn, Ore. Spokane won the tournament, dropping West Linn in the final, 9-4 to advance to the U14 World Series in Ocala, Fla. Aug. 15-22.