Badrock Baseball 14U champs again
The Badrock Baseball 14U team pulled the hat trick recently at Kalispell’s Firecracker Baseball 15U Tournament. Badrock was the champion of the Mother’s Day Tournament, Father’s Day Tournament and most recently, the Fourth of July Tournament.
Badrock started off pool play facing the Calgary Longhorns, winning 10-2. The second game of pool was another Canadian team from Cranbrook, and Badrock won 11-1.
On the second day of the tournament, Badrock faced a tough Kalispell Sluggers team as Jory Hill threw four strong innings allowing three runs on two hits and striking out three. Badrock won 4-3 against the Sluggers. Kalispell Elite was the final pool play game for Badrock who ended this game early with an 11-1 victory.
Badrock was entering the bracket play as the No. 1 seed facing the Bozeman Bucks. Badrock got things moving in the first inning. Jett Pitts stayed hot with the bat, driving a run with two outs in the same frame. The second inning continued to roll for Badrock as the offensive onslaught came from singles by Gustave Alevizos and Drew Queen, putting three more runs on the board.
Talus Piatowski led things off on the mound for Badrock hurling one of the best games in his career. The fireballer lasted six innings, allowing five hits and four runs striking out one. Badrock racked up seven hits on the day. Drew Queen and Will Sisson each racked up multiple hits for Badrock.
Badrock tried to make things interesting with an 8-1 lead committing three errors in the sixth inning. Bear Barker came in to close things down on the mound for Badrock as they headed to the championship game with an 8-4 victory over the Bozeman Bucks.
The championship game was a revenge match for the Kalispell Sluggers. The Sluggers had their hands full though as Jett Pitts was on the mound for Badrock. Pitts went the entire seven-inning game allowing four runs on two hits and striking out one. Badrock was led offensively by Cullen Wallace, Ashtyn Mintz, Gustave Alevizos, Jory Hill and Luke Dalen each collecting one hit to lead Badrock to an 8-4 win over Kalispell.
Badrock wrapped up its season in Washington over the weekend, going 1-3 at the Gonzaga Bulldogs Baseball Steve Hertz Field for two games and at Whitworth for two games.
Coach Ray Queen said they didn’t end the season the way they had hoped, but it was a good experience for the team and altogether, a good inaugural season, as they ended up with a 34-6 record.