All-stars second at state

COLUMBIA FALLS - The Mission Mountain 12-year-old All-Stars won five straight during the State West Tournament en route to a second place finish last weekend in Columbia Falls. In the tournament, the team scored 93 runs and fell to Whitefish 14-4 in the championship game.

"We were pleased with how we ended up," head coach Lennie Hales said.

The team started pool play with a 16-8 loss to Columbia Falls, but bounced back with a 15-3 victory over East Helena.

Their bats then exploded for a 28-4 blowout over Corvallis.

In the single elimination round, the All-Stars matched up with Corvallis again, winning 15-2.

Then things started to get tight.

They avenged their loss to Columbia Falls with a 17-15 victory, and then faced Helena for a chance to play in the championship game.

Against Helena, Alex Moran pitched a complete game and kept the high-scoring opponent in check.

"He pretty much won that game with his pitching," Hales said. "They were baffled for awhile."

Since pitchers are limited to six innings every two games, there was some question as to if he could pitch the full game.

"The other team was questioning if he could stay in or not," Hales said.

Moran was able to stay in and led his team to the 6-4 victory and a spot in the championship game against Whitefish.

"Our bats went cold in the championship game," Hales said. "Their ground balls went through the holes, ours didn't."

The All-Stars were leading 3-0 but Whitefish scored seven runs in the third and cruised from there.

"We could not get a rally," Hales said.

They lost 14-4, but ended up winning the sportsmanship award for the tournament.

"Our players were having so much fun meeting new kids," Hales said.

He said that they were nothing but supportive to the teams that they defeated and would even cheer them on from the stands when they were playing someone else.

"They're good kids," Hales said. "Nothing negative."