Patriots take second at tournament in Whitefish

Palouse Patriots Friday will start a three-day run at the Lewiston American Legion tournament which is the last event on their season schedule prior to the district playoffs in Spokane the following week.

The Pats will commute down to Lewiston after rolling out a 3-2 record and the Legion tournament in Whitefish, Mont. They placed second after losing to the Kalispell Lakers in the title game.

The Lakers, who defeated the Patriots in the final Summer Series game at McDonald Park in Colfax two weeks ago, now hold a 3-0 series edge over the local club.

The Patriots defeated Montana teams from Butte and Glacier on the first day of the tournament last Thursday, bowed to Kalispell on Friday, defeated Lethbridge on Saturday and then collided with Kalispell  Sunday in the tourney’s title game which matched the teams with the best records after the first four rounds.

In the title game, Kalispell put Wes Palmer back on the mound. Palmer, who has good size and puts a lot of speed on the ball, held the Patriots to two hits when the Montana team prevailed at Colfax.

The Patriots Sunday tagged Palmer for eight hits, but Kalispell rolled up 11 hits. Another factor was six errors booked by the locals in the title round.

The two teams locked up at 2-2 after the first inning, but the Lakers broke out for four runs in the third frame, and three more in the last two innings for a 10-2 title win in a game which closed down after five innings.

Reece Chadwick pitched the first three innings when the Lakers scored six runs, all of them unearned. Connor Parrish finished for the Patriots.

Zane Wilson tagged a two-run single in the first inning, and Kyle Appel and Chase Hayton each had two of the eight Patriots hits.

The Patriots had their best round with the Lakers on Friday when they took a 3-2 lead into the top of the fifth inning before Kalispell took control with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Final score was 6-3 for the Lakers.

The Patriots out-hit Kalispell 9-5 in the Friday round.

Parked Huber pitched six innings in the Friday game, allowed four hits but walked six Lakers. Konnor Kinkade finished on the mound.

Wilson hit two RBIs with a double and single, and Chase Hayton rapped three singles.

Saturday the Patriots rolled out a 4-1 win over the Lethbridge Elks with an eight-hit attack. Cal Gregory allowed the Canadian club just three hits over the first six innings. He walked just one batter. Connor Parrish finished the win.

Konner Kinkade topped the eight-hit attack with a double and a single.

The Patriots started at Whitefish last Thursday with a 10-6 win over Butte and a10-5 win over the Glacier Twins.

Chadwick, Jackson Horner and Appel pitched the win over Butte. Chadwick held Butte to just three hits into the fourth inning.

The Pats scored two in the first inning and five in the second to take control.

Gregory and Payton Kallaher each had two hits.

Kinkade booked a season footnote by getting hit by a pitch in his last two trips to the plate.

Against the Twins, the Patriots scored five runs in the first inning on the way to a 10-5 win.

Kallaher pitched into the fifth inning, fanned five and walked three while giving up five hits.

Huber doubled in three runs in the first inning and added a single to top the eight-hit Patriot offense.

The Patriots are now 11-16 overall going into the tournament at Lewiston.