Twins come close to Sapa/Johnsrud title

Heading into the seventh inning, the Glacier Twins were looking to break a 2-2 tie and defeat the Crew Athletics 17U squad for a Sapa/Johnsrud tournament title.

Unfortunately for them, the Crew picked the right time to get hot, and the Twins picked a bad time for their only error of the game.

The Crew rattled off five runs, the first sparked by an error in the final inning for the 7-2 victory, sealing the tournament victory.

Glacier scored their two runs in the first inning on a Payton Davisson double, but couldn’t score for the rest of the game.

The Crew scored a single run in the second and sixth inning before their seventh-inning burst.

Despite the loss, the Twins led in hits with six to their opponent’s five. Trenton Tyree and George Robbins combined for five strikeouts over five total innings on the mound.

That loss came immediately after the Twins pulled off their own late-game rally in the semi-finals, defeating the Northwest Premier 18U team.

Both teams remained scoreless until the fourth inning, where the Twins scored one and Premier scored a pair.

Premier added another run in the top of the fifth, but in the bottom of the inning the bats got going for Glacier.

The team scored two in the fifth, with Zach Veneman driving home a run on a single and Mason Peters scoring on a Premier error. Veneman scored on a passed ball to take the lead for the Twins later in the inning.

Veneman had a day on the mound, striking out eight in seven innings.

The Twins had an up and down road to the title game.

On Thursday they opened tournament play with a 9-1 blowout of the Northern Lake Mountaineers, but the following day they dropped a 7-1 game to the Spokane Cannons 18U team.

They got their rhythm back on Saturday, dominating the Billings Expos AA squad 11-0.

That game remained scoreless through two and a half innings, before the Twins exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the third.

They followed that up with a trio of runs in the fourth and ended the game in the fifth by a 10-run run.

Glacier amassed seven hits to Billings’ two.

Jacob Polumbus struck out four, allowed just two hits and gave up no runs on the mound for the Twins.

Then on Monday the team traveled to Missoula for a high scoring battle with the Mavericks AA team, squeaking out a 15-14 victory.

Glacier amassed 20 hits in the game to Missoula’s 16, and scored the go-ahead runs in the ninth inning to seal the victory.

Peters racked up four strikeouts on the mound in six innings, but gave up four runs and eight hits.

Hayden Meehan also added two strikeouts in two innings pitched.

Veneman notched a double, triple, home run and four RBIs in the win.

This week the Twins will get a look at the Kalispell Lakers A squad before heading to Libby for a tournament over the weekend.

They’ll host the Lakers on Wednesday for a 1 p.m. showdown at Memorial Field.