Missoula Impact Defeats Billings Expos AA
Mitchell Hurls Sparkling Three-Hitter, Smith and Labbe Deliver Firepower
May 29, 2022 - By Dave Smith
BONNER – Easton Mitchell tossed a brilliant complete game three-hitter to lead the Missoula Impact Baseball Club to a solid 6-2 victory over the Billings UpperDeck Expos AA 18U club team in the final game of a three-game series on Sunday morning at Kelly Pine Field.
Sophomore Cole Smith continued his torrid pace with two more screaming line-drive hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Sophomore Brennan Labbe chipped in two hits and two RBIs, and Mitchell helped his cause with three hits. Mitchell, Smith, and Labbe accounted for all seven of Missoula’s hits, delivering big knocks with two outs and runners in scoring position several times. The red-hot Smith put on a laser show against the Expos, going 6-for-9 for the weekend with three extra base hits to lead the Impact attack.
Yet the story of the day was Mitchell’s spectacular performance on the mound. The Frenchtown senior, who was worked his way into the starting rotation with strong outings the last two weekends, limited the potent Expos offense that scored 20 runs in Saturday’s doubleheader, to three well-spaced hits and zero earned runs. Mixing his pitches beautifully to keep the Expos’ timing off, Mitchell demonstrated elite command in notching seven strikeouts and issuing only one walk in seven innings.
“Easton was dominating on the mound today,” said Michael Hutcherson, Impact Manager. “The Expos are a good hitting team, and he kept their timing off all day. He deserves a lot of credit for not giving in when our defense was a little spotty. Easton really pounds the strike zone. And, at the plate, our kids were ready to hit and jumped on the first pitch several times. We squared up a lot of balls today.”
Mitchell gave up a two-out double to left by Colton Salminen in the first inning after a runner reached on an error but escaped the two-out jam when shortstop Henry Gibbs made a spectacular leaping grab of a liner by Tarin Marker. Mitchell allowed a double by Micah Reeves in the second and a double by Evan Johnson in the third but made big pitches to escape unscathed each time. Mitchell was brilliant the rest of the way, giving up only two unearned runs in the fifth and retiring the side in order the other three innings to close out the game in convincing fashion.
Labbe delivered the first big knock of the day by pounding a key two-out, two-RBI single to center in the second, plating Smith and Dillon Gunlock. Missoula tacked on two more runs in the third to go up 4-0 on three walks, a hit batsman, and a RBI single down the right field line by Mitchell.
In the fourth after two walks, Mitchell greeted hard-throwing reliever Wasker Copellon with a line drive RBI single to right-center. Smith then drilled the big hit of the day, a line-drive RBI double two hops to the wall in right field, scoring Matty Herzog to extend the lead to 6-0.
Missoula (11-5) travels to Hamilton on Wednesday to take on the Bitterroot Red Sox A American Legion team for a nine-inning game, starting at 6:00. Come on down to Hamilton to watch the exciting Impact ballclub play a perennially solid team in one of Montana’s most picturesque and iconic American Legion ballparks!
