NEWS PHOTO RYAN MCCRACKEN
Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs third baseman Theryn Berndt puts a ball into play during Fridays Servus Credit Union AA American Legion Baseball Tournament at Jeffries Field.
Medicine Hat News
The Medicine Hat Moose Monarchs held on for a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Redbirds to kick off the 30th annual Servus Credit Union AA American Legion Baseball Tournament on a gloomy Friday evening at Jeffries Field.
Medicine Hat built up a 3-0 lead on a 2 RBI single off the bat of right fielder Ashtyn Street in the fifth and a bean ball in the first, then Ethan Boutkan held off a late push to collect the save and put the Monarchs on the rack track moving into Saturday.
Calgary finally got on the board in the sixth and narrowed the deficit to a run in the seventh before Boutkan got the ground ball he needed to end the game after holding the Redbirds to two runs on five hits through three innings of relief work.
The Monarchs hit the diamond at Athletic Park to continue round robin play Saturday against the South Jasper Place Jays at 12:30 p.m. and the Regina White Sox at 6 p.m.
The Lethbridge Elks kicked off the tournament with a 1-0 win over the Calgary Blues and the Southeast Twins followed up with a 3-2 win over the Parkland Twins.
The top two teams from each division will meet up in a pair of semifinal matchups at Jeffries Field and Athletic Park Sunday at 9 a.m., with the winners advancing to a 2 p.m. championship game at Athletic Park.
Wyatt Bergen collected the win for Medicine Hat after holding Calgary hitless through the first four innings while fanning seven and walking three.
