Twins finish season at state tourney
The Glacier Twins fell short against the Bitterroot Bucs on Saturday at the American Legion Baseball Montana-Alberta Class A State Tournament in Lewistown, recording a narrow 5-3 defeat in what turned out to be the team’s final game of the season.
Facing the Bucs, Glacier was in a must-win situation in order to stay alive in the tournament. After beating Gallatin Valley 10-9 in their first game of the tournament, the Twins then dropped a close one to the Lewistown Redbirds, 9-6, the following day.
Saturday’s matchup with Bitterroot was a familiar one for the Twins, as they had just defeated the Bucs the previous weekend in the Western A District Championship game. The Bucs opened up the scoreboard first after Blake Hinsdale grounded out, allowing his teammate Zach Christopherson to score.
Following a quiet third inning by both teams, Glacier went off for three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead. The Twins loaded the bases after some wild pitching by Bucs’ starting pitcher Jake Scully. Glacier’s scores came off a single by Trenton Tyree and a sacrifice fly ball by Mason Peters.
Twins players Cade Morgan, Payton Davisson and Tyree each made it home for a run in that inning, recording the only scores of the game for Glacier. Morgan led his team offensively, going 2-for-3 at bat against the Bucs.
Glacier lost the game after giving up three runs to the Bucs in the fifth inning and another one late in the sixth. Morgan hit another single in the bottom of the seventh, but the next three batters failed to make it on base as the game came to a close.
Zach Veneman started off on the mound for the Twins; he struck out eight while giving up four runs on four hits over five innings played. George Robbins and Stevyn Andrachick served as relief pitchers over the final two innings.
Prior to Saturday’s matchup, Glacier led off the tournament with a dramatic, high-scoring affair against the south district’s second seed Gallatin Valley on Thursday. The Twins won the game in walk-off fashion after an error by the Outlaws allowed Devin Beale to make it home for the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Glacier got off to a hot offensive start, scoring eight runs in the second inning. Outlaw starting pitcher Bo Hays was replaced in the inning after allowing four hits and seven runs with a handful of costly errors.
Gallatin Valley narrowed the deficit in the fourth inning, scoring four runs on a slew of hits to cut the Twins lead down 8-4. The Twins tacked on one more run before the Outlaws attempted a comeback in the top of the seventh, evening the score at nine before eventually succumbing to a game ending error in the bottom of the inning.
Glacier totaled 11 hits in the game; Austyn Andrachick, Jack Price and Mason Peters tallied multiple hits for the Twins with Andrachick going 3-for-3 at bat to lead his team.
In the next game, following their victory in the Twins’ tournament opener, Glacier lost to the Lewistown Redbirds A team, 9-6. The game was knotted at six with the Redbirds batting in the top of the sixth inning. The host team rattled off two runs in that inning, adding another in the seventh for which Glacier had no answer.
The Twins’ most significant inning came in the fourth, as they scored five runs. The big hits included a double by Beale and a triple to center field from Veneman, both sending runners across home plate.
Glacier finished the game with seven hits. Veneman and Stevyn Andrachick were the most successful at the plate for the Twins, as Veneman led his team with three hits. The Lewistown Redbirds went on to compete in the championship game on Sunday, eventually falling to the Billings Blue Jays 11-1.
Despite coming up short in the state tournament, the Twins finished out the season 35-21 overall and became the Western District A champions.