Knights open District tournament with all-around win

By JAMES TUBB on July 25, 2025.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

Success on the mound, at the plate and around the horn was the recipe for a District-opening win for the Medicine Hat Knights of Columbus Knights.

The Knights scored four times in the first inning Thursday to beat the Fort MacLeod Royals 9-3, an opening win for the No. 5 seed, taking down the No. 4 seed.

Head coach Cole Schreiber says the early success at the plate freed them up to just play their game the rest of the afternoon.

“Kane Bishop getting us going with a double right at the start of the game and then the guys behind him following suit and us having an inning at the start where we can score four runs that way you can go in and (Jayden) Mook’s got some confidence now that he can attack hitters because he’s got a lead,” Schreiber said. “It just kind of settles everybody in pretty well. Defensively, we played a great game, we didn’t make any errors. We made the routine plays that we had to make.”

Mook worked all seven innings on the mound for the Knights, allowing just three runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out three. He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning, allowing a lone run. Schreiber says his performance on the mound sets them up well for the rest of the tournament.

“He was throwing both pitches over for strikes, throwing 0-0 curve balls to get ahead and anytime you got a guy getting ahead with his off speed, it really puts hitters in a tough spot,” Schreiber said.

“He just battled ball game for us and that was huge.”

Bishop led the Knights offence with three hits and two RBIs. Behind him in the order, Ethan Chenard had two hits and an RBI in the two-hole and Liam Cunningham had a hit.

Ryker Miller had two hits and two RBIs to round out the order. Of the Knights 10 hits, six game from the top three in the order.

“Those guys have been so good for us all year and you just have to trust they’re going to be themselves and that’s what they were,” Schreiber said. “They go out, they lead and I can’t say enough about the guys and they’ve been here before they’ve played in a district tournament last year. They were good players for us last year but now they’re even more valuable.”

The Knights will face the No. 1 seed Havre Northstars today at 4:30 p.m. They beat Havre twice to end the regular season, finishing with a 3-1 record against them on the summer. Schreiber says there is confidence facing them but he cautions they have to stick with their game and forget previous results.

“We know that they’re going to be hungrier than ever, they only lost six games all year and three of them were to us so I can say confidently that they’re going to come out pressing like they haven’t before,” Schreiber said. “They’re going to be hungrier than ever and we have to be ready for that.

“Hopefully we weather the storm early and keep it close. The longer it goes that we’re in the game, the better chance we have. They’re a good team, they have lots of guys, especially the top of the order, that can really swing it, but we’re going to do the best that we can. We beat them before, so hopefully our guys come in confident tomorrow that we can do it again.”

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