Rockies pick up first win
LIBBY - It's the Senior Babe Ruth version of the Red-Sox-Yankees
rivalry. Once again the Mission Valley Rockies found themselves
squaring off against their old nemesis, the Missoula Pioneers, last
Saturday.
LIBBY - It's the Senior Babe Ruth version of the Red-Sox-Yankees rivalry. Once again the Mission Valley Rockies found themselves squaring off against their old nemesis, the Missoula Pioneers, last Saturday.
"They're a good team, that's why we like playing them," Rockies' manager Alan Anderson said.
And with Jeremiah Crawford on the mound for the Rockies, it was a pitchers' duel as it was scoreless until the top of the fourth when Mission Valley plated a run. The Pioneers would answer back with five in the bottom of the frame.
Missoula added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the 7-1 run before Mission Valley mounted a comeback. They scored three in the top of the sixth and then had Trent Thompson pitch one inning of shutout relief to round out the sixth.
"He shut them down," Anderson said. "He hadn't pitched in four years, so not bad."
The Rockies' rally was limited to one run in the seventh and the Pioneers came away with the 7-5 victory.
Eneas Inmee went 1-for-2 with a triple and two RBIs in the game, while Riley Grogan, Ryan Anderson and Lane Wheeler also plated a run.
On Sunday, the Rockies faced the tournament's undefeated Cranbrook Bandits in their first game of the day. Thompson, who's going to play basketball for Montana Tech, went to work on the mound for the Rockies and pitched a complete game.
"He's kind of an intimidating big kid on the mound," Anderson said.
Mission Valley jumped all over Cranbrook, taking the 6-0 lead through two innings and extending it by two runs in the top of the fourth.
"We played a really good game and only had one error," Anderson said. "Our bats really came alive in that game."
The Bandits scored one run in the bottom of the fifth but the Rockies answered back with a run of their own in the sixth. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Cranbrook rallied for four runs, but Mission Valley came away with the 9-5 win.
"I had seen them the day before and they had some really good hitters," Anderson said. "They made a pretty strong comeback but we were able to shut them down. I was proud of the guys."
The Rockies had 10 hits and were led by Inmee who went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs. Kurt Sidel and Ryan Anderson also drove in two runs. Fifteen-year-old Babe Ruth call-up, Brady Ovigt, and Riley Grogan plated a run as well.
In their final game of the weekend, the Rockies lost a close 5-4 game to the Kootenai Valley Rangers.
"That was a hard-fought battle," Anderson said. "We had some good pitching too."
Crawford and Riley Grogan split pitching duties in the game and held the Rangers scoreless for three frames. Mission Valley took the early lead, scoring three runs in the bottom of the third. Kootenai Valley answered back with three of their own in the top of the fourth and then two in the fifth.
The Rockies would get more runs in the bottom of the fifth, but couldn't score after that and fell 5-4. They were led by Thompson, who went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Sidel who went 1-for-2 with an RBI and Inmee who hit a triple and drove in a run.
"Eneas had a good weekend," Anderson said. "He's finding the gap and he was pretty darn consistent."
Overall, the Rockies had a good weekend, losing just two games by a combined margin of three runs and defeated undefeated Crankbrook.
"Across the board we've improved week to week," Anderson
said.
The Rockies will now host double-headers on Saturday and Sunday.
PIO. 7, ROCKIES 5
MV - 000 - 103 - 1 - 5
P - 000 - 520 - x - 7
Rockies batting - Nick Grogan 1-4, Justin Hoel 0-2, Jeremiah Crawford 1-3, Kurt Sidel 0-3, Riley Grogan 2-3, Eneas Inmee 1-2, Lane Wheeler 1-3, Ryan Anderson 2-3, Trent Thompson 0-3.
Triple - Inmee. RBIs - Riley Grogan, Inmee 2, Wheeler, Anderson.
Rockies Pitching - Jeremiah Crawford (5 IP), Trent Thompson (1 IP)
ROCKIES 9, C-BROCK 5
MV - 150 - 201 - 0 - 9
C - 000 - 010 - 4 - 5
Rockies batting - Riley Grogan 2-3, Eneas Inmee 3-5, Trent Thompson 0-3, Kurt Sidel 1-5, Jeremiah Crawford 1-4, Ryan Anderson 1-3, Lane Wheeler 0-2, Justin Hoel 1-3, Brady Ovigt 1-4.
Doubles - Inmee 2. RBIs - Inmee 2, Sidel 2, Anderson 2, Ovigt
Rockies Pitching - Trent Thompson (CG)
KV 5, ROCKIES 4
KV - 000 - 320 - 0 - 5
MV - 003 - 010 - 0 - 4
Rockies batting - Riley Grogan 0-3, Eneas Inmee 1-3, Trent Thompson 2-4, Kurt Sidel 1-2, Jeremiah Crawford 1-2, Ryan Anderson 1-3, Lane Wheeler 0-3, Justin Hoel 1-3, Brady Ovigt 0-2.
Triple - Inmee. RBIs - Inmee, Sidel, Thompson, Rockies Pitching - Jeremiah Crawford (3 IP), Riley Grogan (3 IP)