Mavericks down Royals for AA Legion title

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta — Make it a hat trick for the Missoula Mavericks.

Colter Nicolarsen hit the go-ahead double in the sixth inning and Missoula won its third consecutive Montana/Alberta AA State Legion tournament title with a 6-5 win over the Billings Royals Wednesday. 

After Billings took a 1-0 lead, Rowan Miculka put Missoula in front with a single to left field that scored one and an error on the throw allowed two more Mavs to come in and make it 3-1. Remington Howard followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-1. 

The Royals had an answer in the fifth with four runs of their own, highlighted by a two-run single that put Billings up 5-4. 

In the bottom of the sixth two hit batsmen brought up Nicolarsen, who lined one to center to score Ethan Paugh and Gabe Gibbs and put Missoula ahead for good. 

Nicolarsen sat down the Royals in order to close out the win in the seventh. 

Missoula now advances to the Region 7 AA tournament in Medford, Oregon where they are slated to play the host Medford Mustangs in the opening round on Aug. 5.