Twins battle at Sapa-Johnsrud
<p>Glacier shortstop Colten Parker snags a line drive Saturday against the Spokane Expos at the Sapa-Johnsrud Tournament in Whitefish.</p>
Glacier Twins A coach Bob Rupp likes how his boys are playing heading into the final week of the regular season. Even after posting a 1-5 record at the Sapa-Johnsrud Tournament last weekend at Whitefish, he’s optimistic his team is peaking at the right time.
“We competed every game,” Rupp said. “I saw them grow. They’re getting better at what they do.”
The competition at the Sapa-Johnsrud was stacked this year, with the Spokane Cannons, Spokane Expos, Lethbridge Elks and Butte Miners in attendance.
Glacier lost to Butte 9-1 on Thursday, then fell to the Spokane Cannons 4-3 on Friday.
The Twins notched their lone win in a decisive 7-3 victory over the Spokane Expos Saturday morning. Vinny Smith picked up the win on the mound. Colten Parker, Smith and Skylar Warner each had two hits in the outing.
Later in the afternoon Glacier fell 8-7 in a tight game with the Lethbridge Elks. The Cannons shut out the Twins 5-0 in seeded play Sunday, the final day of the Tournament.
The Butte Miners beat the Cannons in the championship. Glacier won the tournament last season.
Hitting and pitching weren’t an issue for Glacier, Rupp said, but fielding errors plagued the team all weekend.
“We made some errors throughout,” Rupp said. “We hit the ball well, but they went right to people.”
Rupp said injuries forced a number of Twins to play out of position. Ryan Veneman, Rupp noted, has played every position this year expect first base.
He commended the Glacier pitchers for facing down the big hitters from Spokane and Lethbridge.
“Our pitchers have a tendency, when they get rolling against a weaker team, to survive by just throwing,” Rupp said. “They couldn’t do that this week. They actually had to pitch. Lethbridge and Spokane can hit the ball. I thought our pitching decisions were really good.”
Rupp said he likes facing the tougher teams leading up to the District Tournament, which begins July 20 in Florence.
“I scheduled it this way,” he said. “The Sapa-Johnsrud is perfect in the schedule with a week left, then we roll into the tourney. Hopefully, we keep it rolling.”
Glacier (29-18) returned to league play on Tuesday with a doubleheader at the Libby Loggers A. They travel to Mission Valley Thursday, then host the Missoula Prospects in a doubleheader Friday at 4 p.m. Glacier faces the Kalispell Lakers A on July 16, then again at home on July 17 at 7 p.m. to close the regular season.