HELENA — Day 2 of the 24th annual Keith Sell American Legion Baseball tournament is in the books. Below are wrap-ups from each of Thursday’s games. For the Day 1 wrap-up, please click here.
Lethbridge Elks 12, Glacier Twins 10
The Lethbridge Elks scored five runs in the first inning on the way to a 12-10 win over the Glacier Twins Thursday morning.
In the first three innings, Lethbridge scored eight runs behind multi-hit days for Ty Wevers, Brendan Schulz, and Zach Trempner.
In the bottom of the third and fourth innings, Glacier bounced back to put up five and three runs, respectively, to tie the game at 8-8. Each team scored another run in the seventh inning to knot the game at 9-9.
Lethbridge’s Wevers scored S. Braun on a sacrifice fly, and Schulz doubled to center to bring in two more Elks to make the game 12-9 headed into the bottom half of the inning.
The Twins scored one run on a sacrifice fly, but that was all they could muster before losing 12-10.
The Glacier Twins will play Calgary at 11:30 a.m. and Eastside at 2 p.m. on July 5.
Great Falls Chargers 3, Lethbridge Elks 2
The Great Falls Chargers scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to win 3-2 and stymie the Elks’ effort to win both of their games Thursday,
Andrew Paradise went a perfect 3-for-3 with a run and a walk for the Chargers, while Hunter Houck pitched seven stellar innings of two-run baseball, giving up only four hits.
The Lethbridhe Elks threatened to score in the bottom of the seventh after Houck hit Wevers and a Logan King to open the bottom half of the seventh. Wevers was caught stealing third, and Houck settled in to get Thomas Little to ground into fielders choice and Kalem Haney to fly out to center and end the game in favor of the Chargers.
The Lethbridge Elks will look to bounce back against Eastside at 4:30 p.m. and the Great Falls Chargers will play the Helena Senators on July 5 at 7 p.m.
Calgary Bandits 13, Butte Miners 0
The Bandits beat the Miners 13-0 behind 12 hits and solid performances on the mound by Bentley Carter and Joel Portz.
Blake Davidson led the charge for the Bandits going 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and two runs batted in.
The Calgary Bandits will play the Bitterroot Bucs in the opening game of Day 3 at 9 a.m. on Friday. The Butte Miners will look to bounce back against the Lethbrige Elks at 4:30 p.m.
Bitterroot Bucs 7, Eastside BC 3
The Bitterroot Bucs scored seven runs in the last four innings of play in Game 4 to beat Eastside, 7-3.
Colby Kohlman had a day to remember for the Bucs going 4-for-4 with two triples, a walk and three runs batted in.
Eastside’s three runs came in the second inning behind four walks, a hit by pitch and a bunt single by Michael Puttick but failed to match the Bucs second-half surge en route to the 7-3 loss.
The Bucs will face the Bandits on July 5 at 9 a.m.
Helena Senators 12, Eastside BC 0
Game 2 for Eastside was not much better as Rudy Barkley threw a perfect five-inning game for the Senators to win 12-0.
Barkley needed only 55 pitches to down Eastside, striking out three. The Senators broke open the game scoring six runs in the first inning on six hits and three Eastside errors. The Senators added five more runs in the top of the fifth inning to end the game by mercy rule in the fifth inning.
Helena will host the Great Falls Chargers for a conference game, which is not subject to tournament rules, at 7 p.m. Friday.
