AA Legion: Lakers bow out at State

MEDICINE HAT, Alberta — Plenty of pitching, not enough hits for the Kalispell Lakers.

Ryder Murdock capped a two-out ninth-inning rally with a walk-off RBI single, and the Billings Royals eliminated the Lakers 3-2 at the Montana/Alberta State AA Legion tournament Friday.  

The Royals moved into Saturday’s loser-out play against the Missoula Mavericks, at 4 p.m. The Billings Scarlets also moved on, bouncing the Bozeman Bucks 3-1 on Friday. The Scarlets will take on the Helena Senators at 1 p.m. 

The Mavericks, the defending state champions, edged the Senators in Friday’s unbeaten game, 2-1, and will play in Sunday’s championship win or lose on Saturday. 

Royals 3, Lakers 2 

The Lakers (38-21) scored in the second and sixth innings to take a 2-0 lead of this one: Brady Buckmaster hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to score Andre Cephers, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the second; Hunter Fann walked to lead off the second and came around on an error, a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. 

The Royals (28-18) got two runs in their half of the second on Anthony Williams’ two-out, two-run single. 

Kalispell got two on with one out in the seventh but didn’t score, and Lakers’ reliever Ostyn Brennan worked around a Murdock single in the bottom of the frame. That set up extra innings, where the Lakers — as they did in eight out of nine innings — got a runner in scoring position with less than two out, but didn’t score. They left 15 men on base. 

The Royals broke the tie after making two quick outs in the bottom of the ninth. Then Brady Baker singled, took second and third base via wild pitches and scored on Murdock’s single to center field on a 2-0 pitch. 

The Lakers’ pitching was strong for a third straight day. Jackson Heino allowed six hits in 5 1-3 innings, along with two walks. He struck out three. Ostyn Brennan came on in the sixth and cruised into the ninth. He allowed three hits and a walk, fanning two. 

Severin Cellan threw seven innings for the Royals, allowing five hits and five walks and hitting two Lakers with pitches. He struck out none. Connor Smith got the win with two innings of relief, allowing one hit and two walks. He fanned one Laker. 

Lakers    010    001    000    -    2    6    1 

Royals    000    002    001    -    3    11    1 

Jackson Heino, Ostyn Brennan (6) and Brennan, Brady Buckmaster (6). Severin Cellan, Connor Smith (8) and Anthony Williams. 

KALISPELL LAKERS — Brennan 0-4, Cale Brink 1-4, Carter Schlegel 2-4, Luke Nikunen 1-3, Andre Cephers 0-2, Hunter Fann 0-1, Kaiden Kahler 1-3, Oscar Kallis 1-3, Buckmaster 0-1. 

BILLINGS ROYALS — Chaise Tracy 1-3, Kooper Beard 0-3, Paxton Fitch 1-3, CJ Jenkins-Antle 2-4, Williams 2-4, Camden Wilson 0-3, Smith 1-4, Brady Baker 2-3, Ryder Murdock 2-4. 

RBIs — Williams 2, Murdock, Buckmaster. 

Scarlets 3, Bucks 1 

Sam Reinker threw a complete game to lead the Billings Scarlets, allowing six hits and two walks with five strikeouts. 

Brady Randall broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning with a one-out RBI double; he came around on a two-out single by Jakob Wilcox.  

Van Shockley put the Bozeman Bucks up 1-0 in the third inning with an RBI single; the Scarlets tied in their half thanks to an error and Bridger Leland’s sacrifice fly. 

Quinn Pershing threw five innings on the hill for Bozeman (32-22), allowing seven hits and a walk with one strikeout. None of the three runs he gave up were earned. Gus Musial threw the sixth inning for the Bucks, fanning two. 

Mavericks 2, Senators 1 

Missoula’s Andrew Richardson and Stellan Ridley combined on a three-hitter, Rylan Davis’s RBI grounder broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning and the Mavericks made it back to the title game. 

The go-ahead run was manufactured oddly: Carter Taylor reached on an error with one out, and advanced to third on Colter Nicolarsen’s single. That brought up Davis, whose grounder to shortstop was nearly a double play: The relay throw got past first. 

Davis was then tagged out for turning toward second; meanwhile, Taylor had scored. 

Richardson retired six of the next seven Senators he faced, and Ridley worked around a one-out error in the seventh for the save. 

Helena got its run in the first on James DeMers’ two-out RBI single; the Senators had two hits and drew two walks in the frame. Richardson allowed one hit and one more walk after that; he fanned seven in six innings. 

Aaron Fuzesy went the distance for Helena, allowing three hits and a walk. He struck out three. He allowed one earned run, on Easton Reimers’ bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the second.