COULEE CITY — The ACH Legion A baseball team split its doubleheader Tuesday against the Tri-County North Stars A and Cheney Summer Hawks teams. They were defeated 7-3 by the North Stars but bounced back and ended Tuesday with a 12-11 win over the Hawks.  

“The first one was pretty competitive, and then the second one, we won on a walk-off,” head coach Hunter Lee said. “So that was a fun experience. It was a little bit closer than we would have liked, but it was good to come out with a win.” 

According to Lee, their first game, where they lost, was a lot closer than the final score let on. The North Stars scored one run in the bottom of the first inning. From there, both teams would go scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning. Up until that point, it was a defensively driven game.  

In the bottom of the fifth, the North Stars erupted for six runs and increased their lead to 7-0. The Legion A team would respond in the top of the sixth inning by scoring three runs. However, after holding their opponents scoreless in the bottom of the inning, they could not capitalize in the top of the seventh and suffered a 7-3 loss.  

“That's twice now against that team where it’s been a really close game, late into the game, and then just one bad inning, and things don't go your way,” Lee said.  

Despite the loss, Lee said, the pitching was strong against the North Stars. Jordan Balderas pitched all six innings, striking out 10 batters. The Legion A team also stole a few bases in the first game; Nolan Grindy and Jackson Elder each recorded a stolen base. According to Lee, their loss did not come down to one specific reason.  

“It was a little mix of everything, some errors, some balls not bouncing our way, things like that,” he said.  

The Legion A team regrouped quickly to play the Cheney Summer Hawks team later that afternoon. According to Lee, the loss in the first game motivated the team’s desire to win their second game.  

“It was a league game, so we really wanted to win it. The first one was, too, but after dropping one league game, we really wanted to win the second one,” he said.  

This game ended up being a shootout between the two teams. In each of the first two innings, the Legion A team would score four runs, while the Hawks scored only one run that came in the top of the second inning. Heading into the third inning, they led 8-1.  

In the top of the third inning, the Hawks exploded offensively for eight runs and took a one-point lead. From there, Legion A would have to chip away at the box score. In the bottom of the next two innings, they would score one run each and regain the lead by one point.  

The Hawks responded in the top of the fifth inning with two runs and retook the lead once again. Legion A tied the game in the bottom of the fifth with another single-run inning. Heading into the sixth inning, Legion A would have to stop the Hawks' offense first. Led by Cade Carstensen, they were able to keep the Hawks scoreless.  

Carstensen started the bottom of the inning with a walk and stole second base shortly after. According to Lee, Jase Frederick hit a line drive to the right center gap that scored Carstensen for a walk-off win. Legion A was victorious with a final score of 12-11.  

“We just stuck with it, and the boys kept playing hard, and we ended up coming out on top. So, it ended up being a good result,” Lee said.  

On Saturday, the Legion A baseball team heads to Sandpoint, Idaho, to play the North Idaho Lakers in a doubleheader. According to Lee, it will be an important pair of games to win in order to secure the top four in their league as they begin to think about the playoffs.  

“Just from looking at records, we both have a very similar record, and we're both fighting for fourth place right now. So, we're going into this game on Saturday, knowing these are really big games coming up to close out a regular season,” he said.  

Box Scores 

ACHL: 0 0 0 0 0 3 0  3
TR-C:   1 0 0 0 6 0 *  7 

CHNY: 0 1 8 0 2 0  11
ACHL:  4 4 1 1 1 1  12