WHITEFISH — The Glacier Twins held late leads in each of their opening games at the Sapa-Johnsrud Memorial Tournament on Thursday, but defense and pitching fell apart in the last inning of each, leading to a pair of tough losses.

The Twins had things rolling in the second game, holding a 7-2 lead in the sixth inning on the Spokane Cannons. The lead was bolstered by a strong pitching performance from Austin Robins on the hill, who had given up just one earned run and five hits in five innings to that point.

Glacier picked up the lead in the fourth, when with two outs the team rallied for three straight hits, including a two-RBI single from Dakota Bridwell to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.

A run in the fifth and four more in the sixth gave the Twins a big advantage entering the bottom of the sixth, allowing Robins to take a seat with a five-run cushion.

But pitching fell apart for Glacier in relief. The Twins gave up three walks, two hits and a hit batter in the first six batters of the inning, capped by a two-RBI double from Spokane’s A.J. Iris to score the fourth run of the inning.

Then the defense fell apart. Two consecutive errors in the infield scored another two runs before the Twins were able to record a strikeout and a lineout to third base. The next two batters picked up singles with two outs, the last, scoring two more runs to give the Cannons nine runs in the frame before wimpering out with a putout to second base.

The disastrous inning all but ended the contest for the Twins, who put two on in the top of the seventh but failed to score again, losing 11-7.

Four Glacier batters were 2 for 4 from the plate, and both Bridwell and Tristin Steinwand had two RBIs.

“We ran out of pitching,” Glacier manager Bob Rupp said.

“Austin Robins pitched a great game. We had to go through our earlier game with a couple extra pitchers we didn’t plan on using. It hurt us.”

It was the same story in the first game for the Twins.

Glacier scored runs in the fourth and sixth innings to take a 4-2 lead on the Calgary Redbirds entering the seventh inning, but five hits and a sacrifice bunt to lead off the frame scored three runs and gave Calgary the lead. The Redbirds would steal home for a fourth run in the inning to take a 6-4 lead.

All three batters for Glacier in the bottom of the inning grounded out to end the game.

“We had them beat, then we booted the ball two or three times, they scored a couple more runs and it was done with,” Rupp said.

“Defensively, we didn’t play like we can. We were just kicking the ball around, letting it get through. If we play defense like we can play, we win this game.”

The Twins play Lethbridge at 7:30 p.m. today. The Elks beat Spokane 9-0 in the tournament opener on Thursday.

“We’re swinging the bats well,” Rupp said. “We just need to tighten things up on defense.”

Redbirds 6, Twins 4

Calgary    000    200    4    —    6    8    5

Glacier    101    101    0    —    4    5    3

WP— Sakon. LP— Smith.

CALGARY — Anderson 0-4, Woods 2-2, Rowland 1-4, Persian 1-4, Hanley 1-4, Enders 1-2, Helfrich 2-4, Tecklenberg 0-2, Lawson 0-2.

GLACIER — Colton Gove 1-4, Tristin Steinwand 0-3, Kyler Howke 0-4, Vincent Smith 0-4, Austin Robins 1-4, Jesse Walburn 1-2, James Ratzlaff 0-3, Tyler Murphy 1-3, AJ Wetsch 1-2.

2B— Woods, Helfrich. RBIs— Hanley 2, Helfrich 2; Howke 1, Murphy 1.

Cannons 11, Twins 7

Glacier    000    214    0    —    7    11    2

Spokane    010    019    x    —    11    10    5

WP- Ford. LP- Joy.

GLACIER — Colton Gove 1-4, Chris Joy 0-1, Tristin Steinwand 1-3, Austin Robins 0-4, Vincent Smith 2-4, Jesse Walburn 2-4, James Ratzlaff 2-4, Tyler Murphy 1-4, Dakota Bridwell 2-4, AJ Wetsch 0-1.

SPOKANE — Bryce Williamson 0-4, Ryan Maley 1-2, AJ Iris 3-4, Randy Edwards 2-3, Conner Boyle 0-4, Brett Mowery 0-4, Trent Ferster 0-2, Jake Pottratz 2-4, Brian Hill 2-3.

2B— Steinwand, Muprhy; Iris 2, Hill. RBIs— Steinwand 2, Robins, Smith, Walburn, Bridwell 2; Williamson, Maley, Iris 3, Edwards, Pottratz, Hill 3.

First Game

Bitterroot Bucs 4,

Mission Vly. Mariners 2

Second Game

Bitterroot Bucs 13,

Mission Vly. Mariners 9

POLSON — The Bitterroot Bucs used a couple of big innings to sweep the mission Valley Mariners in a doubleheader on Thursday night.

The Mariners, leading 2-1 in the top of the seventh allowed the Bucs to score three runs in their final at-bat dropping the opener 4-2.

Alex Killian went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI and teammate Zeke Webster-Yaqui, 1 for 4, also had an RBI and a double.

Jared Young had a multi-hit game, going 2 for 3 from the plate.

Game 2 was tied at three heading into the sixth inning.

The Bucs scored eight runs to put the game out of reach.

Mission Valley answered with four of their own but it was not enough to avoid the sweep.

Killian doubled and drove in a run in the nightcap. Trevor Paro was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs. Webster-Yaqui and Derek Peel also had mutli-hit games, both going 2 for 4 at the plate.

Game 1

Bitteroot Bucs     000     001     3 — 4 5 2

Mission Valley     001     010     0 — 2 7 1

Kyle Norman, Tyler Scheffer (7) and Austin Ray. Bransen Krebs, Ryan Pablo (3), T.J. Olson (7) and Alex Killian.  L — Pablo.

BITTEROOT — Austin Ray 1-3, Tyler Nixon 1-4, Brennen Fisher 0-2, Alex Draper 1-3, Kody Lane 0-2, Nate Loranger 0-1, Justin Horveth 0-2, Chase Conner 1-1, Joe Johnson 0-2, Dave McCoy 0-3, Tanner Lehr 1-3.

MISSION VALLEY — Ryan Pablo 0-3, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 1-4, Alex Killian 3-4, T.J. Olson 0-3, Bradley Pichler 0-4, Derek Peel 0-3, Jacob Harrod 0-1, Jared Young 2-3, Trevor Paro 1-2.

2B — Ray, Webster-Yaqui, Killian. RBIs — Draper, Conner, Webster-Yaqui, Killian.

Game 2

Bitterroot Bucs     001 208 2     — 13 16 1

Mission Valley     010 114     2     — 9 13 2

Chase Conner, Tyler Scheffer (6), Tyler Nixon (7) and Austin Ray. Jarod Harrod, Aaron Rasmussen (5), Brennen Abromeit (6) and Alex Killian. W _ Conner. L — Harrod.

BITTEROOT — Austin Ray 3-4, Tyler Nixon 2-4, Kody Lane 0-2, Kyle Norman 0-1, Joe Johnson 3-4, Alex Draper 3-4, Justin Horveth 0-0, Brennan Fisher 1-5, Dave McCoy 1-4, Nate Loranger 2-3, Kyle Crossman 1-3, Tanner Lehr 2-4.

MISSION VALLEY — Ryan Pablo 1-5, Zeke Webster-Yaqui 2-4, Alex Killian 2-3, T.J. Olson 1-3, Bradley Pichler 1-3, Jared Young 1-2, Derek Peel 2-4, Bransen Krebs 1-3, Trevor Paro 2-3.

2B — Ray, McCoy, Crossman, Pablo, Killian, Pichler, Paro. RBIs — Ray 2, Nixon 2, Johnson, Draper, Horveth, Fisher, McCoy 2, Loranger 2, Pablo, Webster Yaqui, Killian, Pichler, Young, Krebs, Paro 2.

Wednesday’s Late Boxes

Bitteroot Bucs 14, KalispeL Lakers A 0

Lakers A     000     00     —     0 2 4

Bucs     272     3X     —     14 13 1

Micah Benson, Toren Bowden (3) and Tiler Whiteaker. Noah Baney and Kaden Beller. W —Baney. L — Benson.

KALISPELL — Brooks Krause 0-3, Keaton Mohl 0-2, Leif Ericksen 0-2, Tiler Whiteaker 0-2, Jayson Combs 0-2, Robert McCarvel 1-3, Pat O’Connell 0-2, Quinn Barber 1-2, Logan DeCock 0-2.

BITTEROOT — D. Reed 2-3, D. Whitfield 0-1, L. Lueck 1-1, J. Finley 0-0, B. Zeiler 1-2, L Mccord 1-1, K. Beller 3-4, B. Schaff 1-3, J Chimo 0-1, R. Lesoine 1-3, K. McGee 0-1, C. Sage 1-1, S. Thoresen 1-2, D. Gavlack 1-1.

2B — Lueck, Beller (2), HR — Sage. RBIs — Reed, Lueck 2, Zeiler, Mccord, Beller 3, Schaff 1, Sage 2.

Bitteroot Bucs 7, Kalispell Lakser A 0

Lakers A     000     000     0     —     0 4 1

Bucs     101     311     X     —     7 4 0

Quinn Barber, Brooks Krause (4) and Tiler Whiteaker. Brad Schaff and Beller.

W — Schaff. L —Barber.

KALISPELL — Micah Benson 0-2,  Keaton Mohl 2-3, Leif Ericksen 0-3, Tiler Whiteaker 0-3, Jayson Combs 0-3,  Pat O’Connell 2-3, Logan DeCock 0-3, Tucker Cronk 0-2, Gunnar Marsh 0-2

BITTEROOT — D. Reed 0-3,  L. Lueck 0-0, B. Mccullough 0-0,  B. Zeiler 0-1, L. Lecoure 0-1, K. Beller 1-2, R. Lesoine 0-3, D.Mccaulley 0-1, N. Baney 1-3, K. McGee 0-2, C. Sage 0-1, D. Whitfield 1-1, S. Thoresen 1-2, D. Gavlack 0-1.

HR — Beller. RBIs —Lueck, Beller 3, Whitfield, McGee.