Twins fall short against Red Sox to end season

The Twins’ Derrick Kastella beats out a throw to first against the Cranbrook Bandits Saturday afternoon. (Daniel McKay photos/Whitefish Pilot)

The Twins’ Thomas Hellwig dives back to first after a pick off attempt by the Red Sox Saturday night at Memorial Field.

by Daniel McKay
Whitefish Pilot | July 25, 2017 4:55 PM

The Twins Thomas Hellwig dives back to first after a pick off attempt by the Red Sox Saturday night at Memorial Field.

After scoring two runs in the top of the fourth inning of a deadlocked 0-0 game against the Bitterroot Red Sox on Saturday night, things were looking good for the Glacier Twins.

Then the Sox got going.

Twins pitcher Tyler Murphy opened the bottom of the inning with two hit batters and allowed a three-run homer to Bitterroot’s Fisher. By the time Murphy and the Twins defense returned to the dugout, five runs had scored for the Red Sox and the momentum had shifted.

“I think the Red Sox could be, again, the best team in the state,” head coach Scott Murray said of his opponent. “Those are guys that you don’t want to let get a couple runs here and a couple runs there, because it’s pretty tough to catch up. That was a tough break.”

The Twins couldn’t recover in the loser-out game in the Western A District Tournament, failing to score in the final three innings, and their season concluded while Bitterroot moved on.

Last year the two teams met in the state championship, with the Red Sox winning the title while the Twins finished second.

Coby Clark-Dickenson and James Sampson-Keck led the Twins with two hits each. The Twins tacked on seven hits total for the game, matching their opponent, but had three costly errors on the game.

The Red Sox won the tournament with a 3-0 shutout of the Kalispell Lakers A on Sunday. Both teams will advance to the state tournament in Three Forks.

Earlier in the day the Twins dominated the Cranbrook Bandits 16-6, a strong follow-up to a shocking upset by the Lakers A the night before.

Greyson Bistodeau went 3-4 and Clark-Dickenson 2-3 at the plate, with five RBIs for Bistodeau. Skyler Warner got the win on the mound for Glacier.

The Lakers followed a trend of upsets in the tournament with a close 5-4 win over the Twins on Friday night.

The Twins, who had gone 4-0 against the team in the season, gave up the deciding run in the seventh after tying the score at 4 runs apiece in the fifth.

Tyler Kitch scored the game-winning run for the Lakers after the Twins overthrew the first baseman on a double play attempt.

Thomas Hellwig and Derek Kastella both went 2-3 at the plate with three RBIs total.

The Twins opened the tournament on Thursday with a 13-3 win over the Mission Valley Mariners.

Glacier finishes the season 38-16.

Murray said despite the season’s outcome, he was still happy with how the team performed this summer. This was the final season for a handful of seniors on the team, which includes Kastella, Greyson Bistodeau, Gunner Marsh, Murphy and Sampson-Keck.

“Obviously everybody was disappointed, but we had a good season,” Murray said. “I guess when you get my age, it’s like, ‘Life isn’t all about the money you’ve got in your 401k or the car you drive or going to state.’ It’s all about the relationships.”

“It was a pretty close team. They loved each other and played hard together. You’ve got to look at the good things and not the bad things when the season is over early like that,” he added.

Red Sox 8, Twins 2

Glacier 000 200 0 — 2 7 3

Bitterroot 000 503 x — 8 7 2

WP—Omlid; LP—Murphy

GLACIER — G. Bistodeau 1-3, Hellwig 0-4, Veneman 0-3, Clark-Dickenson 2-4, Kastella 0-2, Murphy 0-1, Sampson-Keck 2-3, Seymour 1-2, Marsh 1-2, Terek Bistodeau 0-3.

BITTERROOT — Rothie 1-4, Goligoski 0-2, Nixon 1-3, Omlid 0-3, Brown 0-2, Fisher 2-3, Catavach 0-2, Grenfell 2-2, Jones 1-3.

2B—Marsh; Rothie; HR—Fisher; RBIs—G. Bistodeau, Kastella, Marsh; Rothie, Goligoski, Nixon, Fisher (2), Jones.

Twins 16, Bandits 6

Cranbrook 014 01 — 6 9 4

Glacier 080 62 — 16 13 2

WP—Skyler Warner; LP—Ryan Detcheverry.

CRANBROOK — Cedar Kemp 1-2, Detcheverry 0-0, Tatsuki Ishihara 0-3, Robert Nickell 1-3, Linden 0-0, Greg Rebadiati 1-2, Carson 1-3, Jake Bromley 1-2, Ryley Dochame 0-1, Quinn Grist 1-1, Parker Thomson 0-2, Brenden Bird 3-3.

GLACIER — Greyson Bistodeau 3-4, Tom Hellwig 1-3, Ryan Veneman 1-2, Coby Clark-Dickenson 2-3, Derek Kastella 2-4, Tyler Murphy 2-3, Zach Veneman 0-2, James Sampson-Keck 0-0, Nathan Hader 0-0, Dan Seymour 1-2, Jack Schwaiger 0-1, Gunner Marsh 1-2.

2B—G. Bistodeau, Murphy; 3B—Clark-Dickenson; RBIs—Ishihara (2), Bromley, Bird; G. Bistodeau (5), Veneman (2), Clark-Dickenson (2), Kastella (2), Seymour (2), Marsh (2).

Lakers 5, Twins 4

Kalispell 100 300 1 — 5 6 3

Glacier 200 110 0 — 4 6 1

WP—Wesley Walker; LP—Coby Clark-Dickenson.

KALISPELL — Tyler Kitch 1-3, Cole Crosby 1-4, Taylor Morton 1-4, Nate Vanderbeek 1-4, Clayton Jaques 0-2, Logan Siblerud 0-3, Nate Kelly 0-3, Brandon Jordan 1-3, Adam Joy 1-3.

GLACIER — Greyson Bistodeau 1-3, Thomas Hellwig 2-3, Ryan Veneman 0-4, Clark-Dickenson 0-4, Derek Kastella 2-3, Tyler Murphy 1-2, Dan Seymour 0-2, Gunner Marsh 0-2, James Sampson-Keck 0-1, Terek Bistodeau 0-3.

2B—Vanderbeek, Joy; G. Bistodeau, Hellwig; HR—Murphy; RBIs—Vanderbeek, Kelly, Joy; Hellwig, Kastella (2), Murphy.

Twins 13, Mariners 3

Mission Valley A 000 012 — 3 4 7

Glacier Twins A 071 104 — 13 13 2

WP—Ryan Veneman; LP—Xavier Fisher.

MISSION VALLEY — Karsten Krebs 1-1, Izyk Gillingham 0-2, Tyson Petticrew 1-3, Jacob Harrod 0-3, Davis 1-3, Bryant Hales 0-1, Tyler Kelsch 1-2, Gabe Mergenthaler 0-2, Eric Dolence 0-1, Brendon Blood 0-2.

GLACIER — Greyson Bistodeau 0-4, Tom Hellwig 1-3, Veneman 2-5, Coby Clark-Dickenson 2-4, Derek Kastella 0-2, Nathan Hader 1-1, Jack Schwaiger 0-1, Tyler Murphy 1-3, Dan Seymour 0-3, Gunner Marsh 3-4, Terek Bistodeau 3-4.

2B—Clark-Dickenson, Veneman; RBIs—Petticrew, Hales, Kelsch; G. Bistodeau, Hellwig (3), Veneman (2), Clark-Dickenson (2), Murphy, Marsh, T. Bistodeau.