Rockies reach perfection at tournament

POLSON - For a few moments, it looked like the Polson Pirates might plunder the Mission Valley Rockies' undefeated season. They had knocked off the Ronan Warbirds earlier that day, 13-9, for the right to play in the championship game. They had held the powerful Rockies in check for most of the afternoon after losing 10-0 to them the day before. They had clawed back in the bottom of the seventh to tie things up 3-3.

Things looked like they were going the Pirates' way.

However, the bat of Rockies' Tyler Delaney put a stop to that. The second baseman delivered a clutch single in the bottom of the seventh for the 4-3 walkoff win and the 2010 Mission Valley Babe Ruth Tournament Championship.

"I wasn't doing that good," Delaney said. "The last couple of games I've been getting little grounders to the infield."

Bridger Coffman started the late rally for the Rockies, singling to right and then advancing to second on a balk. Coffman made it to third base on a passed ball. Nick Johnson was then able to draw a walk to bring up Delaney.

"It felt awesome," Delaney said. "I knew right when I hit it that it was a nice hit."

Arms up in the air, the celebration started before he even made it to first base.

"It would have sucked to have lost our last game like that to ruin our undefeated season and have to play another game," Delaney said.

Delaney and Rockies head coach Arnold Sorrell realized that it was a hungry team in the other dugout that they were playing against.

"They came in with nothing to lose and they played a heck of a ballgame," Sorrell said.

The Rockies were able to jump out to a 3-0 lead by the fourth inning and sent in pitcher Dylan Evans in relief of starter Nick Crawford. Crawford pitched four innings and allowed just one hit with three strikeouts. Evans continued the pitching excellence for two more innings until the Pirates made their move in the bottom of the seventh.

The Pirates' Zach Whitaker started the inning off with a single and Ian Ricketts reached base on an error. Aaron Rasmussen followed that up with a single to juice the bases for Brad Cannon. Cannon grounded out, but drove home Whitaker for the Pirates first score of the afternoon. Chris Geibar continued the rally with a single to center to drive home Ricketts and Rasmussen scored on a passed ball to knot things up 3-3.

The Rockies were able to get out of the inning without trailing, but they had to face Geibar on the mound as a relief pitcher. Geibar was instrumental in shutting down the Ronan Warbirds in the third-place game earlier that day. Trailing 13-9 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Warbirds tried to get Geibar to crack in his relief duties. They crowded the plate and put the pressure on in hopes of causing a mistake.

"We were hoping he'd throw some wild pitches," Warbirds head coach Jay Probst said.

However, Geibar had different ideas.

"I knew they were crowding the plate so I kept throwing curve balls," Geibar said.

In that bottom of the fifth, Geibar got one batter to fly out, gave up a hit to Tommy Denalt and hit Chase Rhine with a pitch. It appeared the Warbirds' strategy was starting to work. However, the umpire nixed one hit-by-pitch call when the batters elbow was over the plate and Denalt was thrown out trying to steal third base. Geibar was able to strike out Zeke Webster to end the inning.

He then iced the Warbirds for the rest of the game, including two strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh to secure the 13-9 victory and a spot in the championship game. As the third pitcher, Geibar had saved the day, at least for the moment.

"We had two pitchers that struggled in that game," Polson Pirates head coach Brent Burland said. "That usually does not happen to us."

In the game against the Rockies, Geibar was called to the pitching mound in the bottom of the fourth to relieve Quinn Harlan. Harlan had held the Rockies hitless until the fourth inning when Davin Sorrell doubled under the outfield fence to score Evans. A passed ball in that inning also allowed Crawford to score for the Rockies and give them a 3-0 lead. After Geibar came in, he held them scoreless until the bottom of the seventh when Delaney was able to bring home the winning run and clinch an undefeated 15-0 season for the Mission Valley Rockies.

"I don't think we were as focused today I don't know if there was a lot of pressure on them as far as wanting to play really good because there was a lot on the line," Sorrell said.