Hensel Sharp but Missoula Impact Drops Pair in Spokane

SPOKANE - Madden Hensel threw an impressive three-hitter but the Columbia Basin RiverDogs kept the Missoula Impact bats in check to escape with a 3-1 victory in pool play on Thursday at the Spokane 4th of July Woof Bat Tournament at Mt. Spokane High School. Missoula dropped its opener to Lakeside Recovery, a Seattle-area 18U team, 14-4.

Missoula’s pitching was plenty good. Hensel was brilliant in using his tailing fastball and nice off-speed stuff to handcuff Columbia Basin over six innings. The Class of 2026 right-handee continued an impressive run dating back to the V Tool tournament in Denver three weeks ago. Sawyer Tackett also had good stuff in tossing four innings of two-hit ball against Lakeside Recovery, overcoming some early wildness in which he walked four batters and allowed three runs in the first inning. Lakeside manufactured three more runs in the third on a couple of weak singles and several stolen bases. The story of the day for Missoula was its inability to deliver with runners in scoring position.

Nick Karvandi led Missoula with a jaw-dropping laser show at the plate, drilling three doubles off the fence in left field. Kody Evans chipped in three hits on the day but the rest of the lineup struggled to put together quality at-bats. Missoula’s leading hitter, Cole Smith, was sidelined for the whole tournament with a hamstring injury.

Lakeside Recovery put three runs in the board in the first inning, but Missoula came right back. Landin Ramsay lined a single to right, Kody Evans smoked a line drive single to center, and Ramsay scored on a RBI groundout by Cash Mickey. Lakeside added three more in the third. Gunlock singled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Mickey to make it 6-2, but that’s as close as they would get the rest of the way.