Twins' playoff hopes are long shot

The Glacier Twins' hopes for a state playoff berth were all but extinguished this weekend after the team went 1-3 in conference play.

Mathematically, the Twins still have a shot - they have to win the rest of their games, and the Great Falls Stallions would have to lose their four conference games against Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. The Twins are 10-10 in

conference play this year.

The Twins split a doubleheader with the Great Falls Electrics Tuesday afternoon, but it was the Stallions that probably cost them a playoff berth.

The Twins led 13-8 going into the top of the seventh inning Saturday in the first game against the Stallions, three outs away from a much-needed victory. Three Twins errors opened up the floodgates for the Stallions, who

went on to win 15-13, and then win the second game, 7-3, in a series the Twins needed to at least split.

"I close my eyes, and I still see that first game. We just shot ourselves in the foot. We just didn't get the job done," said head coach

Jack Helber.

The Twins also had trouble finishing out a non-conference game on Sunday, as the Mission Valley Mariners scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning to take a 6-5 victory.

Although the Twins' chances of securing a state playoff berth are very slim, Helber was consoled by the fact that the team was - and technically still is - in the running.

"We threatened (to make the playoffs), and we didn't do that last year. That's pleasing," he said.

The Twins host the top seeded Missoula Mavericks Thursday (today) starting at 5 p.m. for a doubleheader, then go to Kalispell on Saturday to face the Lakers at 6 p.m. Ty Mikkelson and Justin Cooper will take the mound against the Mavs, whom the Twins haven't faced since the first game of the season, two and a half months ago.

The team's regular season will wrap up Sunday afternoon against the Kalispell Lakers at 3 p.m. in Whitefish.