Riverdogs win pair at Libby's wood bat tourey

It’s early in the season, but not too early to start thinking “hey, these guys are pretty good.”

These guys are the Clark Fork Valley Riverdogs, the local American Legion baseball entry that has gotten off to a 7-4 start and just took two out of three at the Libby Wooden Bat baseball tourney in eye-opening fashion.

Sunday afternoon the Riverdogs came within two runs of winning the tournament despite one of their best offensive players being sick with the flu and another leaving the championship game in the second inning with an injury.

No excuses from this Jon Zigler-coached team, they lost to a solid Mission Valley Mariners A team, 5-3 after hammering their first two opponents.

Still, they were tied after four-and-a-half innings of play before the Mariners dusted off their bats and pushed two runs across the plate in the bottom of the fifth to grab a lead they would not relinquish.

But without starting shortstop Jack Taylor’s red-hot bat in the line-up for the final game, and with an injury to starting pitcher Nate Zigler that sidelined him in the second inning, the Riverdogs could not quite overcome the two-run deficit.

Taylor had accumulated seven hits in eight trips to the plate during the Dogs’ first two games of the tourney and in the process scored four runs and drove in another four as the Riverdogs routed host Libby 12-3, then slammed Cranbrook, British Columbia 18-9 to advance to the championship game on a cold and rainy day.

Zilger, meanwhile, had to step aside from his starting pitcher appearance just one out into the second inning due to an unspecified injury. Zigler, who also plays second base for the Dogs, has been a valuable part of the team’s starting rotation and has made several relief appearances in the early days of this season, was able to stay in the game and move to second where he had a hit and drove in a run.

Zigler’s injury brought Kody Carter to the mound for the Dogs and he proceeded to keep the Mariners in check most of the rest of the way, striking out three and allowing just four hits over 4.2 innings.

But without Taylor’s hot bat and some clutch pitching by Mission Valley’s D. Dumont, Clark Fork could not overcome the two-run deficit, which ended with a double play that closed out the Riverdogs chances in the top of the seventh.

Clark Fork had seven hits during the loss to Mission Valley while the Mariners pulled out the victory despite having just four hits.

The Riverdogs reached the Sunday afternoon final in impressive fashion, first dispatching host Libby. Clark Fork scored in every inning during the game that was halted after six and a half innings by inclement weather and the large Riverdogs’ lead.

The Dogs scored two in the first, three in the second and two in the top of the third inning to build a 7-0 lead before Libby finally got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third.

The home team was held in check most of the afternoon by starting Dogs pitcher Trevis McDonald, who went the distance on the mound, striking out six and walking just one.

Riverdogs outfield Alessi Rolando, who went five for nine in the three tournament games and was instrumental in getting things going from his leadoff batting position, had a pair of hits and scored a run in the win over Libby.

Dogs catcher Orion Plakke was the hitting star of the game, getting three hits in four at bats, including a double and triple, drove in two runs, while Taylor was two for three with an RBI and two runs scored.

The win Saturday morning over Libby pushed the Riverdogs into a semi-final match-up with the Bandits from Cranbrook, Canada Saturday afternoon.

Once again Clark Fork wasted no time getting runs across home plate, scoring three in the first and two in the second as they built a 5-1 lead that held up through the first four innings of play.

Cranbrook trimmed the lead to a single run in their half of the fifth when they scored three times to make it 5-4 Riverdogs.

Clark Fork came back with a single run in the top of the sixth to make it a 6-4 game, then exploded for 12 runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach for the visitors from the Great White North.

Cranbrook battled gamely in the bottom of the seventh and managed to bring in five runs, but it was way too little and way too late to prevent the Dogs from advancing to Sunday’s final. Rolando was two for five at the plate with three runs batted in, joining Taylor who also knocked in three during his five-for-five performance. Zigler joined in the scoring assault with a pair of RBIs while Beano Fisher and Eli Ratliff also had two RBIs each.

The Riverdogs had 15 hits for the game, while Cranbrook had seven.

The weekend’s work left the Dogs with a 7-4 overall record. They return to action this Wednesday when they journey to Whitefish for a meeting with the Glacier Twins.

The Riverdogs play at home Friday versus Libby in a game at Amundson Sports Complex that starts at 5 p.m.

“We were disappointed that we lost the final game,” said coach Zigler. “But the boys played really well this weekend."