Glacier 15 ready for the World Series

Everything seems to be falling in place at the right time for Glacier 15.

The Babe Ruth baseball team has won a state championship this summer along with the Pacific Northwest Regional title.

Glacier coach Chad Green said both were season goals.

Now, something even bigger is just ahead - the Babe Ruth Baseball 13-15 World Series.

Glacier is one of 10 regional winners competing in this event later this week in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

"I'm very proud of the boys, happy for the opportunity to go to the World Series," Green said.

"They are very excited. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We've been practicing hard. We're going down to Tennessee to compete."

The team left Tuesday, flying out of Spokane, Washington, at 5:45 a.m. to Nashville via Denver. The team then took a bus for the one-hour trip to Lawrenceburg.

There will be a banquet on Wednesday with first-day action beginning on Thursday.

Glacier is in the National Division along with regional champions from Southwest, Southeast, Pacific Southwest and East Tennessee.

Ohio Valley, New England, Midwest Plains, Middle Atlantic and Lawrenceburg are in the American Division.

Glacier's first game is versus Southeast on Friday at 4 p.m. MDT.

"A team out of Florida," Green said of the opening foe.

"That's all I know."

Glacier brings a 25-7 overall record to the tournament, which ends Aug. 20.

All teams will play four pool games over the course of four days. The top three teams from each pool advance to single-elimination play with hopes of a trip to the championship game.

"I've talked with them about it all week," Green said of participating in the World Series.

"It's gonna be a little bit of a shock how big it is, but once the game starts, we'll be able to compete with any other team down there."

This team has been together for three summers. As 13-year-olds, they won state and went 2-2 at regionals. Last year they finished second at state, hosted regionals and finished third.

"We've taken some great steps mentally," Green said.

"As they have matured, they have gotten stronger. As 13-year-olds, when they would make an error, their heads would be down, their attitude would go down. Now they know they will have another opportunity and they are able to play through it. That comes with maturity."

Glacier is currently on a roll, having won 11 of its last 12 games. The loss was at regionals and snapped an eight-game winning streak.

"Sometimes you need to lose to show you it can happen," Green said.

"You get a little too cocky. I think we were sitting in that boat and the loss was a little eye- opener for us."

The strength with the Glacier squad rests with its hitters. The all-star team, made up of players from Bigfork, Columbia Falls and Whitefish, has a .374 overall batting average.

Austin Green, second baseman/pitcher, is hitting .522. Max Smyley, left field/shortstop, is next at .440. Green, the leadoff hitter, has the highest on-base percentage (.593) on the squad.

Tom Hellwig, third base, is hitting .418. He has scored the most runs (47). Ryan Thompson, first base, is hitting .397 with Terek Bistodeau, shortstop, at .379

Smyley and Quinton Schriber, catcher, have nine doubles each, which is a team best.

The leaders in triples are Smyley and Logan Kolodejchuk, right fielder/pitcher, with four apiece.

Kolodejchuk has the team's only home run.

On the mound, Green, who will start the opener at the World Series, has a 1.10 ERA. Drew Scherrer is next at 1.90. Scherrer has the most strikeouts with 72.

Bistodeau's ERA is 2.10

"He pitches spots, corners, gets a lot of ground-ball outs," coach Green said of his son Austin.

"He doesn't walk batters, which is huge at this level."

Green pitched three times at Regionals and won all three games.

Two fundraisers have helped get the team to the series.

"The community support has been great," coach Green said.

In addition to preparing on the field for the World Series, coach Green has given his players something else to work on.

Johnny Bench, a Hall of Fame catcher with the Cincinnati Reds (1967-83), will speak at the Babe Ruth World Series banquet.

"I want them to know who he is when he's speaking," coach Green said. "I told them to Google his name, do a little research so they know what a great player he was and not just another guy up there talking."