Twins grab title at Northwest regional tourney
The Glacier Twins celebrate together with their trophy after winning the Northwest Class A American Legion Baseball Regional Championship last week. (Brian Bistodeau photo)
The Glacier Twins pose together with their trophy after winning the Northwest Class A American Legion Baseball Regional Championship last week. (Brian Bistodeau photo)
After a 13-0 thrashing of the Cody (Wyoming) Cubs, the Twins are Northwest Class A Regional American Legion baseball champions.
Glacier capped off their season with a 4-1 run in the tournament, falling to the Bitterroot Red Sox 4-2 after winning six straight against them.
The regional championship is the farthest a Class A team can go in Legion baseball.
Head coach Scott Murray said pitching made a big difference against Cody in the title game.
“They had to play the Red Sox the game before us, so of course they used some pitching up,” he said. “And our coaches decided we were going to keep our ace until the last game. When you’ve got to face Clark-Dickenson and your best pitching is used up, that’s gonna be a problem. Because our guys hit the heck out of the ball.”
The Twins opened the game with three runs in the first inning, then repeated that in the fourth and fifth innings as well. They also scored twice in both the second and third innings.
As a team, Glacier notched 13 hits.
On the mound, Clark-Dickenson held Cody to just one hit while striking out five.
On the offensive side, Ryan Veneman went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and runs scored. Terek Bistodeau went 2 for three for 3 RBIs and three scores, and Dan Seymour and Quintin Schriver also had two RBIs each.
Clark-Dickenson was named tournament MVP for his performance.
“They just flat couldn’t score with Coby on the bump,” Murray said of his ace.
Murray said the championship was a great culmination of a lot of effort and work put in by his players all year.
“It was a lot of fun out there. They’d worked all years along, and we’d battled a lot of injuries. The bumps and the bruises and aches and the pains, they forgot all about that,” he said. “It’s so satisfying. These guys are so talented. We knew that, and we understood how talented they were, and its great they achieved the success they did.”
The Twins finish the season 41-16 with championships at the league, divisional, state and regional levels.
They’ll graduate seven seniors — Thomas Hellwig, Forrest Kobelt, Matt Morrison, Caleb Meehan, Schriver, Seymour and Veneman.
However, Murray said he thinks his underclassmen learned enough from the seniors to take up the mantle next year.
“We’re losing seven seniors, so it’s going to be tough,” he said. “But the group behind them really learned a lot, and I think they’re going to be OK.”
Glacier Twins 322 33 — 13 13 2
Cody Cubs 000 00 — 0 1 0
WP—Coby Clark-Dickenson; LP—Keegan Brown.
GLACIER TWINS — Ryan Veneman 3-4, Tom Hellwig 1-4, Clark-Dickenson 1-2, Terek Bistodeau 2-3, Jack Schwaiger 1-2, Matt Morrison 1-2, Dan Seymour 2-3, Quintin Schriver 2-4, Caleb Meehan 0-3.
CODY CUBS — Keegan Brown 0-3, Jordan Wasia 1-2, Jared Grenz 0-2, Cooper Brown 0-2, Connor McLeod 0-2, Tristan Blatt 0-1, Jack Harris 0-2, Tyler Grenz 0-1, Hayden Bronnenberg 0-1, Devyn Engdahl 0-1.
2B—Hellwig, Schriver, Bistodeau; 3B—Veneman; RBIs—Veneman (2), Hellwig, Bistodeau (3), Morrison, Seymour (2), Schriver (2).