Mariners trip Loggers, still alive at West A tourney

HAMILTON — Down 6-0, the Mission Valley Mariners rode a grand slam from Holden Emerson to victory Saturday, overtaking the Libby Loggers for a 7-6 win at the West A District Legion baseball tournament.  

The win moved the Mariners (28-16) into a Saturday’s loser’s bracket semifinal against the Cranbrook Bandits (22-14). 

The Bandits were shut out by the host Bitterroot Red Sox 10-0 in the winner’s semifinal. 

In earlier games, Libby ousted the Glacier Twins 14-2 and Mission Valley beat the Missoula A Mavericks 5-4. 

Mariners 7, Loggers 6 

Bransen Holzer had some big hits while Libby (15-20) scored twice in the first, second and fourth innings. Tanner Wolfe’s RBI single put the Loggers up 2-0; Holzer hit a two-run single in the second and a two-run home run in the fourth. 

The Mariners got a Hunter Luedtke RBI base hit in the fourth, then took advantage of two walks and a Libby error in the fifth. That brought up Emerson, who homered to left to cut the gap to 6-5. 

Paxson DuMont scored the tying run in the same inning: He walked and eventually came in on an error. Two more Libby errors set up Jason Leishman’s RBI single in the top of the seventh and the Mariners led 7-6.  

Liam Jackson came on in relief and retired the Loggers in order. 

Loggers 14, Twins 2 

Ian Thom homered, Mason Crow hit a three-run double and Libby used a pair of 5-run outbursts to put away the Twins. 

Boe Miles and James Woody combined to limit the Twins to six hits, in a game that ended after five innings under the run rule. Miles allowed five hits and one run in his four innings and fanned four. Woody struck out two Twins. 

Crow’s double cleared the bases and put the Loggers up 12-1 in the fourth inning. Thom’s home run came to lead off the second and made it 2-0; a wild pitch and Kale Riddle’s RBI groundout made it 4-0.  

Three straight singles, the last by Derek Juntunen, got the Twins on the board in the third inning. The Loggers answered by sending 10 men to the plate. Thom hit a two-run single as Libby pulled away. Jordan Griffin’s RBI double made it 9-1.  

Mason Muller and Ryan Bott had two hits each for the Twins, who ended up 10-28. Bott had a double. 

Mariners 5, Mavericks 4 

Noah Agliano’s RBI single pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the seventh for Mission Valley. 

Cody Haggard led off the inning with a double, moved up on Luedtke’s bunt and scored on a passed ball. Luedtke had reached on an error on his bunt; he moved up on the passed ball and came in on Agliano’s single two pitches later.  

The Mariners trailed 4-1 going to the bottom of the sixth but got two of those runs thanks to a two-out error on the Mavs, on Cole Wadsworth’s grounder.  

Jake Heiser pitched 6 1-3 innings for Mission Valley, allowing six hits, two walks and four runs. He fanned two. Jason Leishman got the final two outs in the seventh. 

Red Sox 10, Bandits 0 

Bitterroot pitchers Cash Lawrence and Trevyn Bakken limited Cranbrook to one hit over five innings, and Boedy Tadvick homered and drove in four runs. 

Tadvick’s bases-loaded grounder scored the third run of the fifth inning and made it 10-0, ending the game under the run rule. He hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning that made it 7-0 and drew a bases-loaded walk that made it 3-0 in the second. 

After the walk, Jude Widmer hit a two-run double. The Red Sox (37-2) took advantage of six walks and three hit batters issued by Cranbrook pitching. 

Stellaen Damery had the Bandits’ lone hit, a single off Lawrence to lead off the fifth inning. Lawrence also walked four and struck out eight. Bakken got the final two outs. 

West A Districts 

July 23-26, Hamilton 

Thursday 

Libby Loggers 10, Missoula Mavs 4 

Cranbrook Bandits 15, Kalispell Lakers 2 

Mission Valley Mariners 10, Glacier Twins 0 

Friday 

Glacier Twins 12, Kalispell Lakers 5 

Cranbrook Bandits 10, Mission Valley Mariners 9 

Bitterroot Red Sox 5, Libby Loggers 2 

Saturday 

Mission Valley Mariners 5, Missoula Mavs 4 

Libby Loggers 14, Glacier Twins 2 

Bitterroot Red Sox 10, Cranbrook Bandits 0, semifinal 

Missoula Valley Mariners 7, Libby Loggers 6, fourth place 

Sunday 

Game 11: Cranbrook Bandits (22-14) vs. Mission Valley Mariners (28-16), loser third, 11 a.m. 

Game 12: Bitterroot Red Sox (37-2) vs. Winner 11, championship, 2 p.m. 

Game 13: If necessary, 5 p.m.