Cardinals defeat 19U Lakers in extras
Finn Mellander lines up to bat during Game 1 of the District 1 championship game against Moscow at War Memorial Field.
(Photo by JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY)
LIBBY — The NI Lakers 19U found itself down 4-1 to the Claremont Cardinals on Friday heading into the bottom of the sixth inning in Libby, Montana.
The Lakers would go on to score three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game at four runs apiece.
A scoreless seventh inning sent the game into extra innings.
The Cardinals scored one run in the eighth which was enough to seal the 5-4 victory.
To start things off in the bottom of the sixth, Claremont’s pitcher walked Zach Leverich and Mick Koch back-to-back.
Both Leverich and Koch walked on full counts.
Alex Leverich was the next Lakers’ batter to enter the box.
Following a foul and a called strike, Leverich was down 0-2 early.
After a pitch that was a little outside, Leverich took the ball and belted it right down the third base line for an RBI single.
The knock would go on to score his brother Zach, to put the Lakers down 4-3.
Ethan Butler was next up to bat for the Lakers; he would end up going down on strikes.
During Butler’s at-bat, however, Leverich stole second.
Trevor Brackett would line out during the next at-bat to put the Lakers in a 2-out hole.
Cameron Garcia was next up to bat with two outs.
Garcia went after the first pitch and ended up hitting an RBI single down the second base line to score Koch.
After Koch crossed the plate, the Lakers officially tied the game at four runs apiece.
The three runs scored in the bottom of the sixth were the first runs scored for the Lakers since the bottom of the first.
Finn Mellander hit an RBI single to center field to score Zeke Roop, making it a 1-0 ball game.
Mellander has been hitting the ball extremely well recently.
During the past five games he has seven hits with six RBI.
Against the Cardinals, Mellander went 1-for-4 with an RBI,
The Cardinals brought home a single runner every inning from the third until the fifth to take the 3-1 advantage.
Roop got the start on the mound and dished out 105 pitches. He went a full six innings, giving up four runs on nine hits, striking out seven.
Roop went 1-for-4 at the dish with an RBI and a double.
Koch came in relief of Roop and pitched just two-thirds of an inning where he had zeros across the board.
The NI Lakers 19U falls to 3-5 overall on the season and will next face off against the Biteroot Bucs at 11: 15 a.m. on Saturday, in Libby.