The Daily Inter Lake

WHITEFISH - The Bitterroot Red Sox are the American Legion Western A district baseball champions.

The Red Sox defeated the Mission Valley Mariners twice on Monday - 7-4 in a game suspended Sunday because of lightning and rain and 16-6 in a second championship game.

"They were a little bit frustrating," said Mission Valley coach Jami Hanson of the Monday games.

"But as a coaching staff, we're just extremely proud of our kids. A month ago, people kind of wrote us off for anything. So, where we came from and where we finished, I'm extremely proud of our kids," he said.

"It was kind of a bittersweet ending to the tournament. We just have to remember where we came from," he added.

"We had a pretty decent run there at the end. The kids have been competing at every tournament," he said.

The Mariners, second in the Western A, will take on Laurel at 8 a.m. Thursday in the state tournament at Three Forks.

Mission Valley played Laurel one time this summer in Kalispell.

"They beat us pretty well," Hanson said.

"They swing the sticks pretty well," he said.

"But I also strongly feel it's anybody's tournament," he added.

Red Sox 7, Mariners 4

Bitterroot 002 001 103 - 7 7 2

Mission Valley 000 012 100 - 4 8 3

Jake Lindquist, Trevor Brown (7) and Austin Allen. Tim Rausch, Justin Evans (3), Derrick Rathe (6) and Xavier Morigeau.

Red Sox - Andrew Shook 2-3, Rodee Anderson 0-5, Matt Hamlin 1-4, Austin Allen 2-3, Wes Sherman 0-3, Beau Nordberg 0-4, Mike Stanford 2-5, Logan Connors 0-3, Ryan Weigle 0-3. 2B - Austin Allen, Mike Stanford 2. RBI - Andrew Shook 1, Allen 2, Stanford 1, Connors 1.

Mission Valley - Justin Evertz 0-5, Tyler Linse 1-3, Tim Rausch 1-4, Derrick Rathe 1-4, Kyle Bagnell 1-3, Kaileb Gillingham 1-2, Xavier Morigeau 1-4, Cory Hardy 0-5, Justin Evans 2-4. 3B - Tim Rausch, HR - Xavier Morigeau. RBI - Rausch 1, Morigeau 2.

Red Sox 16, Mariners 6

Bitterroot 510 500 5 - 16 131

Mission Valley 000 060 0 - 6 126

Trevor Brown and Allen. Rathe, Josh Rustad(4), Justine Evertz (7), William Wallace (7) and Morigeau.

Red Sox - Shook 0-4, Anderson 4-5, Hamlin 2-3, Allen 2-4, Sherman 1-3, Nordberg 3-5, Stanford 0-5, Connors 0-3, Weigle 1-4. RBI -Anderson 2, Hamlin 2, Allen 3, Sherman 1, Nordberg 3.

Mission Valley - Evertz 1-4, Linse 0-3, Rausch 2-3, Matt Detwiler 2-4, Bagnell 1-4, Gillingham, 2-4, Morigeau 0-3, Hardy 3-4, Evans 1-4. RBI - Evertz 1, Rausch 1, Bagnell 2 Gillingham 1, Morigeau 1.

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