SANDPOINT — While the mantra says revenge is a dish best served cold, for the Sandpoint Sasquatch 17U, it was best served on a sweltering day on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille, cruising past the Libby Loggers A 18U 8-5 on Monday evening. 

Sandpoint returned to Memorial Field for their home finale against the Libby Loggers 18U, who beat them in the last game of the Big Bucks Tournament 13-3 on June 28. From the jump, it was apparent that history would not repeat itself, thanks to Priest River High star Broden Collins. 

Collins delivered a masterful three innings from the mound to start the game for Sandpoint, fanning seven of the 13 batters he faced and only allowing one hit and one walk. Sasquatch head coach Tyler Lehman said Collins was in his zone, throwing strikes, making him so tough to hit. 

"He's a gamer, he likes throwing, and he'll do it anywhere," Lehman said of Collins. 

With the Loggers all but shut down offensively, the Sasquatch went to work and immediately capitalized. A hard-hit ball from John Holman skied to centerfield, which was more than enough to drive in Soren Caprio for Sandpoint's first run of the game, and landed Holman on third for the team's first of three triples. 

Sandpoint added two more runs on top of that, thanks to an Austyn Young double and an error by Libby's catcher, which allowed Brennen Wyman to score. By the time that Collins was pulled due to pitch count after three innings, the game seemed to be firmly in Sandpoint's grasp. 

With Collins out of the game, Libby's offense came to life, working four straight walks off Trevor Tadic to score their first run of the game. A Logger groundout scored another runner, quickly changing the tune of the game to a 3-2 battle, barely in favor of Sandpoint. 

That's the way it stayed for two innings, until Sandpoint High's Daniel Holman ripped a ball down the right field line and past the fence for a home run. The Sasquatch bench took notice, working two walks and benefitting from an error to load the bases. 

On the seventh pitch of his at-bat, Sandpoint High Chase Miller launched the team's second triple to left field to clear the bases and extend the Sasquatch lead to 7-2. Capitalizing on his stellar day from the bump, Collins followed up Miller with a triple of his own to make it 8-2. 

"We worked in practice doing rounds of BP where we'd throw a decent velo at them, then do a round after that with slower stuff just getting them used to seeing different velocities because that's something we struggled with this year," Lehman said. "They did great today, seeing a little slower arm and staying down on everything, not trying to do too much with it." 

Andrew Aexel, who came in to relieve Tadic, slowed the Loggers' offense just enough through the next two innings, only allowing two more runs. Wyman followed him up in the final inning but quickly found himself in a bases-loaded jam with no outs. 

Wyman delivered the first pitch to the Loggers' Hunter Rooney, and the loud crack of his metal bat rang through the crowd. The Sandpoint High rising junior quickly had his prayers answered, though, as the ball found the glove of Holman, who delivered a double play and limited the damage to just one run. 

One batter later, the Sasquatch got their revenge to even the series with the Loggers at 1-1. The victory moves Sandpoint to 9-13-1 in the summer season with 12 games remaining. 

"[We were] just playing within ourselves, throwing strikes on the mound. That's honestly all it is, if we do that, we win games," Lehman said. "When you're playing in tournaments, it's hard to do that consistently when you're getting to your eighth, ninth pitcher, and now when you're throwing the guys that usually throw, it looks a little different." 

Libby 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 — 5 5 1 

Sandpoint 2 1 0 0 5 0 X — 8 8 1 

PITCHING 

SP — Collins: 3.0IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 7K. Tadic: 0.1IP, 1H, 2R (1ER), 3BB, 0K. Aexel: 2.2IP, 2H, 2R (2ER), 3BB, 0K. Wyman: 1.0IP, 1H, 1R (1ER), 2BB, 0K. LL — Woody: 4.1IP, 5H, 6R (6ER), 6BB, 2K. Hall: 1.2IP, 3H, 2R (0ER), 0BB, 2K. 

BATTING 

HITS: SP — Collins 2, Caprio 2, Miller 1, D. Holman 1, J. Holman 1, Young 1. 2B — Young 1. 3B — Collins 1, Miller 1, J. Holman 1. HR — D. Holman 1. LL — Nagle 1, Holzer 1, Foulke 1, Crow 1, Gilmore 1. 2B — Crow 1. RBI: SP — Miller 3, D. Holman 1, J. Holman 1, Young 1, Collins 1. LL — Crow 2, Woody 1. 

    Daniel Holman takes his helmet off and sprints toward his teammates to celebrate his home run against the Libby Logger at Memorial Field on Monday. Holman's home run ignited a fifth-inning rally that pushed the Sasquatch past the Loggers in the team's home finale.