Glacier Twins beat Missoula, split games in Helena tournament
Glacier Twins' Tristan Butts pitches in a game against the Missoula Mavericks on Wednesday, June 21 in Whitefish. (Whitney England/Whitefish Pilot)
The Glacier Twins American Legion Baseball team out of Whitefish and Columbia Falls took down Missoula twice last week before heading to Helena for the Cloninger Classic.
Against the Missoula Mavericks, Glacier won the first game of a doubleheader 11-1 and the second game 4-1.
During game one, the Twins scored in almost every inning. To get the scoring started in the first, Tristan Butts singled scoring one run and Mikey Glass singled on a line drive, sending Stevyn Andrachick home. The Twins had a big three-run inning in the bottom of the sixth to seal the game. In the sixth, Jake McIntyre and Josiah Ruther each had RBIs.
Sam Hall was the pitcher for Glacier in the game. He surrendered one run on two hits, striking out four, over six innings.
The second game of the day was much closer. The Twins led by just one run, 2-1, heading into the sixth inning. Glacier kept Missoula scoreless in the top of the inning and the Twins managed a couple of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Ruther singled on a ground ball and on an error McIntyre scored. Another error by Missoula, after AC Chilson hit a round ball and reached first, sent Ruther across home plate.
Butts started on the mound, giving up one run on four hits, striking out four and walking one, over six and two-thirds innings.
The Twins traveled on Thursday to play in the Cloninger Classic in Helena. In their first game, Glacier defeated the Bozeman Bucks A 6-1, but the next day they fell to Billings 8-6. The Twins were scheduled to play Idaho Prime 16U and the Bonneville Bees on Sunday, but scores are unavailable.
The score was close, knotted at 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth against Bozeman. Andrachick’s 2-run double on a 3-1 count helped put Glacier ahead. Glass then singled to send Andrachick home and go up 4-1. The Twins added two runs in the sixth to further the lead.
Against Billings, the Twins rallied in the top of the seventh, scoring three runs but the comeback came up short. Andrachick and Butts both hit RBIs and a sacrifice fly by Hall scored another.
The twins had 14 hits. Glass started as pitcher with Maddox Muller coming in as relief.
Glacier improved to 10-2 overall.
The Twins were scheduled to play Cranbrook at home on Tuesday after press time. Then the team will head to Spokane, Washington for a tournament over the weekend.