Glacier 15U All-Stars World Series Bound

Head coach Chad Green knew he had a special team when the baseball season started.

Now he knows it’s one of the 10 best in North America.

The Glacier 15U all-stars captured the Babe Ruth Pacific Northwest Regional Championship last weekend and earned a bid to the World Series in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. The team, made up of players from Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Bigfork, leave early Aug. 11 for the 10-team tournament, which runs Aug. 13-20.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s a pretty great feeling,” Austin Green, Chad’s son and the team’s pitcher and second baseman, said before practice this week.

The boys will begin with pool-play action at 3:30 p.m., Aug. 15. Tournament games begin Aug. 18. Games will be broadcast locally on 95.9 Hank FM.

“We’re going to play the way we’ve played all year and let the chips fall how they may,” Chad Green said.

This is just the latest banner season for a group of talented players from across the Flathead Valley.

As 13-year-olds, the boys won the Babe Ruth state championship and advanced to the regional tournament in Washington. The team finished 2-2.

Last summer, the group fell to Kalispell in the state championship game but still advanced to the regional tournament as the event’s host. The team finished third.

As the all-star season commenced, Green knew he had a talented club of experienced players. To test the boys early, he took the team to Spokane for a tournament against American Legion teams, which field older rosters. Nevertheless, the Glacier squad dominated.

“I thought it would be an eye opener for them. Instead, we 10-runned the teams. That’s when I thought this team has some real potential,” Green said.

The offense is consistently powerful and the pitching staff is equally impressive. As Green describes them, it’s a balanced attack with no superstars; instead it’s a well-rounded machine.

“We play as a team and a family,” Austin Green said. “When we have an error or something bad happens, everyone is picking each other up.”

As the state tournament approached, the boys’ potential shined, steamrolling through the bracket and easily capturing the title.

The regional tournament in The Dalles, Oregon, featured the best eight teams from Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Alberta. In six games at regionals, Glacier lost only once, a 8-7 decision to the hometown Dalles team. That set up Glacier to play the top seed from the other pool, a dominating squad from Longview, Washington that had a reputation for squashing opponents.

Glacier made quite the statement, winning 10-6.

The championship game was another statement. Glacier jumped ahead 2-0 early on against Union County from northern Oregon on Aug. 2. But then the boys gave up five runs over the next few innings. By the bottom of the sixth, it was 5-2 and Glacier was facing defeat.

“One downfall we’ve had with this group is hanging our heads a little bit when things don’t go our way,” Green said.

The team rattled a few hits together and loaded the bases with two outs as Terek Bistodeau stepped up to the plate.

“I was pretty dialed in and just focused on my breathing,” he said. “Definitely the biggest at-bat of my life.”

Bistodeau nailed a double in between center and right. Glacier erupted for five runs that inning and notched three outs the following inning to capture the momentous victory.

The team rushed the field — regional champs. Green stayed put in his chair for a few moments as reality sunk in.

“I stayed in my chair and kept my sunglasses on so I wouldn’t tear up. I thought I had my composure but then I went on the field and my son jumped in my arms and we shared a few tears,” Green said.

“I just told everyone, ‘We’re going to Tennessee!’”

By the time the group arrived back home in the Flathead, the word had spread and the community congratulations were flooding in.

“People I don’t even know are saying congratulations,” Bistodeau said.

Support rolled in from everywhere to help the team travel to Tennessee to represent the Flathead Valley, the state of Montana and the entire Pacific Northwest.

“Just to make it to this level is breathtaking,” Green said. “Top 10 in North America. All’s I can really do is smile about it at this point.”

The regional championship team is made up of Green, Bistodeau, Ryan Thompson, Skyler Warner, Tom Hellwig, Max Smyley, Quintin Schriver, Brandon Thomas, Drew Scherrer, Caleb Meehan, Matt Morrison, Logan Kolodejchuk and Luke Schwaiger, and assistant coaches Brian Bistodeau and Tom Kemppainen.