From raking hits to taking hits, the Kalispell Lakers A team found its way to the basepaths on Saturday, sweeping a pair of games for the second straight day at the John R. Harp Tournament at Griffin Field to claim a spot in the championship game.

The Lakers topped off play with a combined no-hitter against the Calgary Redbirds, with Jaycob Serrano and Ryan Symmes teaming up to allow only four runners on base in a 12-0 blowout in five innings.

Kalispell jumped on the overmatched 15U team from up north, scoring on a pair of singles in the first inning. The second saw the first two batters draw walks and Tyler Kitch knock in both with a single. Two batters later, Eric Seaman got his second RBI single in as many at-bats to give the Lakers a 4-0 lead.

The healthy lead was all Kalispell needed needed, and pretty conventional in form, but the Lakers mostly took the bases the hard way against Calgary — by wearing pitches.

The Lakers were hit five separate times in the contest, including a run of three batters in four at-bats in the third inning, setting up a five-run frame that blew the game open. Against Cranbrook earlier in the day, the Lakers took three more hits, a total of eight in two games.

“That’s something they work hard on: protecting the box, hanging in there and finding ways to get on base,” Lakers A coach Jesse McFarland said. “It’s something they’re working on and they’ve come a long ways with it. They did a great job with it today.”

The Lakers were locked in early against Cranbrook, hitting three doubles in a six-run first inning. They scored five more in the second, with Brady Peiffer and Randy Stultz each picking up bases-clearing hits while batting around yet again.

Even with the generous scoring, Kalispell had to hang on as its own pitchers struggled with control issues. The Lakers hit five batters and walked six more in the contest. Cranbrook closed to within one run in the final inning but ran out of time.

“Our guys are doing things the right way,” McFarland said. “There’s still a few things we need to clean up, but for the most part, it was a good day.”

Kalispell will play Medicine Hat in the championship game at 3:15 p.m. today. Medicine Hat swept a pair of games to move to 3-0 in the tournament. The Knights will play Calgary at 12:30 p.m. today in their last game of pool play.

“It’s exciting, Medicine Hat is a great team, they’ll be a really tough opponent,” McFarland said. “I think it’ll be a good challenge for these guys and a good game to go into right before our final stretch in the conference season.

“We’ve talked about it all year. We want to be playing our best baseball going into these final two weeks. I feel like we’re about there.”

Kalispell Lakers A 11, Calgary Redbirds 0

Calgary 000 00 — 0 0 3

Kalispell 135 3x — 12 6 1

Nick King, Brett Knibbs (4) and Adham Young. Jaycob Serrano, Ryan Symmes (4) and Keaden Morisaki.

CALGARY — Dale Bratz 0-2, Carson Peverett 0-1, Hailey Coumont 0-2, Cory Lawson 0-2, Adham Young 0-1, Will Shudra 0-1, Nathan Barth 0-2, Aiden Gray 0-2, Liam Hennesey 0-2, Jake Rockliff 0-1.

LAKERS A — Ryan Symmes 2-4, Tyler Kitch 1-3, Nathan Vanderbeek 0-0, Keaden Morisaki 0-3, Eric Seaman 2-3, Sam Elliott 0-3, Jaryon Venturini 0-1, Drew Flink 0-1, Adam Joy 1-1, Drew Scherrer 0-1.

RBIs—Symmes, Kitch 2, Vanderbeek, Seaman 2, Joy, Scherrer.

Kalispell Lakers A 11, Cranbrook Bandits 10

Cranbrook 340 102 — 10 7 2

Kalispell 650 00x — 11 12 4

Brandon Thorn, Greg Rebagliati (2), Robert Nickell (5) and Kei Chlopan. Drew Flink, Brady Peiffer (2), Eric Seaman (4) and Clayton Jaques.

CRANBROOK — Cedar Kemp 0-0, Robert Nickell 2-4, Kei Chlopan 2-2, Tyler Thorn 1-4, Linden Maggasin 0-1, Noah Rennette 1-4, Rylan Detchevery 0-2, Dan Mercandelli 0-3, Carson Meggison 1-2.

LAKERS A — Ryan Symmes 0-3, Randy Stultz 2-3, Eric Seaman 1-2, Nathan Vanderbeek 1-4, Jaryon Venturini 2-4, Clayton Jaques 3-4, Brady Peiffer 2-3, Kyle Calles 0-0, Jaycob Serrano 0-0, Adam Joy 1-1, Tyler Kitch 0-1.

2B—Meggison, Thorn, Chlopan. Joy, Stultz 2, Vanderbeek. RBIs—Chlopan 4, Thorn, Rennette. Stultz 3, Seaman, Vanderbeek, Jaques, Peiffer 2, Calles, Joy 2.

Saturday’s Other Scores

Medicine Hat 10, Edmonton 1

Walla Walla 17, Calgary 1

Vauxhall 5, Mission Valley 1

Mission Valley 5, Walla Walla 3

Medicine Hat 5, Ferris 4

Vauxhall 10, Cranbrook 9