Glacier Twins win West A title over Mariners

The Glacier Twins took the long route to a district title, and it could have been longer.

Mikey Glass, Tristan Butts and Jake McIntyre all homered, and the Twins rallied from a 7-5 deficit before holding off Mission Valley 11-10 in the West A District Legion championship Sunday.

The slugfest featured five home runs, including one each from Mission Valley’s Wyatt Wadsworth and Hunter Emerson. The Mariners went into the final unbeaten, so an if-necessary game could have been played Monday. Instead, the Twins (28-9) — who beat the Bitterroot Bucs 6-1 earlier Sunday to make the title game — will take the West’s top seed into the State A tournament that begins Wednesday in Laurel.

The Mariners (24-15), who beat the Twins in winner’s bracket action on Saturday, grabbed the second and final seed out of the West.

In the championship game, Wadsworth’s RBI double sparked a three-run first inning for Mission Valley, before Glass and McIntyre hit two-run home runs in the bottom of the inning, putting the Twins up 4-3.

The Mariners were down 5-4 when Emerson hit a three-run blast to get his team back in front, in the top of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fourth, Glass hit a bases-loaded, RBI single and Butts followed with a grand slam to put Glacier back up, 10-7. Maddox Muller added a sacrifice fly for the Twins in the fifth.

That was just enough cushion because Wadsworth belted a two-out, three-run homer for the Mariners in the seventh. Butts, who came in to pitch in the fifth inning, then got a strikeout to end the game.

Butts and Glass each drove in four runs, and Glass and Muller each scored twice.

For Mission Valley, Wadsworth drove in four runs and scored twice. Espn Fisher, who started the game on the mound and finished it catching, scored three times. Dawson DuMont and Emerson each scored twice.

Earlier that day, the Twins took down the Bitterroot Bucs 6-1 to make the championship game. Butts collected four hits in four at-bats to lead Glacier over the Bitterroot. Glass was on the mound to start, giving up two hits, one run and striking out four over four innings.

The Twins started the tournament out with two wins — one on Thursday over the Libby Loggers 13-3 and one on Friday over the Kalispell Lakers 3-1. Then the Twins fell to Mission Valley 2-6 late on Friday, before recovering to win out the rest of the tournament on Sunday.

The Twins will take on the South District’s No. 2 seed, the Butte Miners, in the State A’s first game Wednesday at 10 a.m.