All-state selections were recently announced for Montana American Legion Baseball and Joe Pistorese, a southpaw pitcher for the Kalispell Lakers, made the list, as expected.
Pistorese generated headlines over the summer when he threw a perfect game against the Glacier Twins. But beyond the masterful performance, Pistorese, a junior at Flathead High School, proved to be consistently un-hittable throughout the season. This is the second straight season he has been one of only 11 players in Montana to be named all-state at the AA level.
Pistorese was 9-3 this season with a 1.65 ERA, 150 strikeouts and 32 walks in 84 2/3 innings pitched. At the plate, he batted .354 and drove in 37 runs, second best on the team.
When I wrote a story about Pistorese earlier this year, Lakers head coach Ryan Malmin told me the 17-year-old is as good as any pitcher he’s seen in his coaching career. As for Pistorese, he has another year playing for the Lakers and then hopes his baseball career continues on.
“I’m just going to keep doing my best and ride it out as far as I can,” he said. “We’ll see what happens, but I want to do it for a living.”
Class AA All-State:
Justin Black, Billings Scarlets; Josh Benjamin, Billings Royals; Colter Sternhagen, Helena; Blake Loran, Billings Royals; Joe Barta, Billings Scarlets; Brody Miller, Missoula; Joel Lutz, Medicine Hat; Ben Roberts, Missoula; Joe Pistorese, Kalispell; Sean Dwyer, Missoula; Casey Johnson, Great Falls