Knights punch ticket to State Championships, fall short of North District title
By Ryan McCracken on July 24, 2017.
Medicine Hat News The Medicine Hat K of C Knights battled their way to the American Legion Baseball North District A championship game through the back door of a double elimination tournament thanks to three consecutive victories — but they ran back into the only team to defeat them and were unable to exact their revenge. While the Lewistown Redbirds completed a perfect run through the tournament with Sunday’s 12-5 win over Medicine Hat in Havre, the Knights still earned a place in the upcoming state championships as the North District runner up. Justin Bourassa took the loss despite a strong start to his outing. Bourassa held the Redbirds to just one run while his team ran up a 4-1 lead through three innings, but Lewistown managed to figure him out in the fourth — cutting to within one before stealing away a 6-5 lead in the fifth and adding a 6-spot in the sixth. Wyatt Bergen went 2-for-3 from the cleanup position, Zach Stark and Ethan Boutkan each went 2-for-4 with 1 RBI. Keon Vereschagin, Theryn Berndt and Ethan Bartram all added 1 RBI in the loss, but Medicine Hat was unable to dig their way out of the deficit in the seventh. The Knights fell into the B bracket after falling 21-11 to Lewistown in their second game of the tournament, but they refused to go quietly. After stringing together a 10-7 win over the hosts North Stars and an 11-7 win over the Vauxhall Spurs on Saturday, the Knights punched their ticket to the final — and beyond — with a 7-1 win over the Lethbridge Miners on Sunday morning. The Knights will kick off the Montana State Championship on Thursday in Three Forks. 8-7
