Mission Valley wins three straight, advances to state

championship game against Missoula

BONNER - Every year the Mission Valley Rockies get better.

When the Senior Babe Ruth baseball team was established, the team went two-and-out in their first year at the state tournament. Last year, they took third place.

This season they placed second after winning three straight by thumping the competition and falling only to the five-time state champion Missoula Pioneers.

"We're moving up," Rockies manager Alan Anderson said. "We get a little closer every year. We're moving forward."

After falling to the Pioneers 17-5 in their first game of the state tournament last Friday, the Rockies kicked things into high gear and ended up kicking butt along the way.

"We had to go the long road," Anderson said. "I'm proud of these guys and how they played."

Facing elimination on Friday evening, the Rockies had a tall task against a solid Great Falls Hawks team. The team had come in after a very successful regular season and expected to make a trek through the bracket like the Pioneers.

Mission Valley didn't let them do that, defeating them 10-4 and knocking them out of the tournament.

On Saturday, the Rockies were matched up against the Helena All-Stars, in an early afternoon game, and once again their murderous offense showed its power.

Collecting nine hits as a team, Mission Valley built up a 5-1 lead early on with Banks Stocking on the mound. Just a few weeks ago, he wasn't even on the team but the Noxon senior Babe Ruth team had to fold because of low numbers and the Noxon star athlete took his epic baseball mustache to the Rockies.

They sure appreciated it.

He pitched four innings of one-hit ball for the Rockies and was 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI.

"Without these new guys I don't know if we would have gotten as far as we did," Anderson said. "I'm not trying to play down what our original players did, but these new kids really contributed a lot."

In the top of the fourth, the wheels fell off for Helena. Eric Milner started a six-run rally for the Rocks as he drove home Kasey Bridgewater. A wild pitch later in the inning would score Dakota Matt, then a few batters later Eneas Inmee plated Jeremiah Crawford with a single.

Helena's pitcher, shaken up by the shelling, proceeded to walk the next four batters giving Mission Valley three runs. When the frame finally ended, the Rockies had an 11-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, Helena couldn't answer, giving

Mission Valley even more momentum heading into the fifth.

They got two runners on with one out before Ryan Anderson stepped up to the plate.

Anderson took a 2-1 ball and crushed it over the left field fence for a three-run homer to give Mission Valley additional insurance.

Inmee came in to relieve Stocking and struck out two to give the Rockies the 14-2 victory and move them into the semi-finals matchup against the Great Falls Sparkies later Saturday afternoon.

"He's the kind of kid that can throw really hard," Anderson said of Inmee.

The Sparkies struck first again Mission Valley, plating a run off a throwing error in the top of the first but the Rockies' bats quickly got down to business.

Banks Stocking singled to score Dakota Matt,and then Eneas Inmee hit a home run with Stocking on base to bring in two more runs and give Mission Valley the 3-1 lead.

In the top of the third, a wild pitch and passed ball would allow the Sparkies to tie things up and then a ground out drove in a run for the 4-3 lead.

However, the Rockies again showed their propensity to responding.

Inmee doubled, and then a fielding error allowed two Rockies players to score. Then during the next at-bat, a passed ball opened home plate for Inmee.

Leading 6-4 going into the top of the fourth, Helena couldn't answer and the table was set for the Rockies. In the bottom of the fourth, Eric Milner tripled to right field to score Matt, and a huge rally began. A passed ball allowed Milner to run home. After a walk by Jeremiah Crawford and a single by Stocking, the Sparkies changed pitchers.

Inmee gave the new pitcher a not-so-welcoming double that plated two runs, then a double by Ryan Anderson scored another. Later in the inning, Nick Barners flew out to score Anderson.

Kasey Bridgewater hit a two-run open shortly thereafter and Helena was forced to switch pitchers, twice in one inning. Mission Valley led 14-4. The Sparkies would score two in the fifth and then three in the top of the ninth. The Rockies elected to go for the outs rather than the close plays at home and gladly traded their large deficit for a sure win. Relief pitcher Eric Milner shut the game down by getting Helena to ground out twice, and then he struck out the final batter for the 14-9 win.

That put the Rockies in the championship game against the Pioneers, where they fell 12-0.

"It was obvious today we were a little tired," Anderson said after the loss. "We knew coming into this game, with them being the powerhouse they are, that this was going to be a battle."

An ultra-tight strike zone and four errors nipped Mission Valley in the game. Tyler Entzel held the team to two hits. Stocking pitched one inning, but an injury while batting kept him off the mound and then Jeremiah Crawford took over the duties for the Rockies.

"Pitching-wise, during the tournament, I was very happy," Anderson said. "We did have some arms that were fairly fresh."

The Pioneers had nine hits in the game but never had a huge blowout inning - just consistent runs here and there to take the state championship.

PIONEERS 12, MV 0

P - 123 - 024 - 12

M - 000 - 000 - 0

MV - 2 hits.

Rockies batting - Dakota Matt 1-3, Eric Milner 1-2, Eneas Inmee 0-3, Banks Stocking 0-2, Jeremiah Crawford 0-2, Ryan Anderson 0-1, Nick Barnes 0-1, Riley Whitworth 0-1, Warren Wood 0-2, Riley Grogan 0-1

R Pitching - Banks Stocking (1 IP), Jeremiah Crawford (4 IP), Eneas Inmee (1 IP)

MV 14, HELENA 2

M - 023 - 63 - 14

H - 010 - 01 - 2

MV - 9 hits

Rockies batting - Dakota Matt 1-3, Eric Milner 0-3, Jeremiah Crawford 1-3, Banks Stocking 3-4, Riley Whitworth 0-2, Ryan Anderson 1-2, Riley Grogan 4 walks, Nick Grogan 1-2, Kasey Bridgewater 0-2, Eneas Inmee 2-2, Warren Wood 0-1

HRs - Anderson. RBIs - Stocking, Nick Grogan 2, Bridgewater, Anderson 3.

R Pitching - Stocking (4 IP), Inmee (1 IP)

MV 14, G-FALLS 9

G - 103 - 020 - 3 - 9

M - 303 - 800 - x - 14

Mission - 11 hits.

Rockies batting - Dakota Matt 1-2, Eric Milner 1-3, Jeremiah Crawford 1-2, Banks Stocking 2-2, Eneas Inmee 3-3, Ryan Anderson 1-2, Riley Grogan 1-2, Nick Grogan 0-1, Kasey Bridgewater 1-3, Nick Barnes 0-2. HRs - Inmee, Bridgewater. Doubles - Inmee.

Anderson. RBIs - Inmee 4, Bridgewater 2, Barnes, Milner, Stocking, Anderson.

R Pitching - Riley Grogan (5 IP), Eric Milner (2 IP)