NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY K of C Knights third baseman Carter Krauss receives a throw as Lewistown Cardinals' Jacob Clinton slides in safely during the American Legion Montana-Alberta North District A tournament at Jeffries Field Thursday, July 18, 2019.
On any other day Evan Morrison knows the ball he hit was over the fence.
But as the winds turned on a turbulent day at Jeffries Field, the K of C Knights first baseman had to settle for a double off Lewistown Redbirds pitcher Kyle Lee.
It was nothing to worry about in the third inning of a 2-2 tie at the American Legion Montana-Alberta North District A tournament Thursday – until Morrison and Ben van der Sloot were unable to score. Medicine Hat stranded the bases loaded the next inning, then Lewistown struck en route to a 10-3 win.
“I thought it was gone,” said Morrison of his big swing, one of two hits he had on the night.
“It’s the at-bats, we need to work on more team at-bats. Our guys are trying to launch them it seems, but when there’s a runner at third with less than two outs you’ve got to score them any way you can.”
Now the Knights are down to their last life, facing Fort Macleod today at noon in the loser’s bracket of districts. There’s still a chance to get to Sunday’s final, but it involves winning four games in a row.
“I don’t really think about it as do-or-die, high-pressure situation,” said Morrison. “You don’t want to put as much pressure on yourself like that, you’ve got to go in, compete, do the best you can.”
Lee went the distance, walking six but only allowing one earned run on six hits. He also helped his cause with 2 RBI on 2-for-3 batting.
The Redbirds now play Lethbridge, which beat Fort Macleod 10-1, at 6 p.m. with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
“We had a couple moments early where they were on the verge of breaking it open a little bit,” said Lewistown coach Scott Sparks. “That’s the difference when you have a senior on the mound, a guy who’s been there, done that. He didn’t get rattled with the baserunners, Kyle did a good job of working out of trouble and they made plays behind him.”
Lewistown plated five the half-inning after getting out of the bases-loaded jam, helped by two Hat errors. Payton Eddy only surrendered four earned runs through 4 1/3 innings but was charged with the loss.
“We fought hard,” said Knights coach Lane Aman, whose message to his team was simple. “Just preach to keep having fun. When we’re playing loose we’re hitting well, we’ve just got to clean up a few of those miscues and be confident.”
In the day’s other games, Havre’s North Stars took an 8-5 win over the Tri-County Cardinals.
Two Cards errors in the first inning were a bad omen, then back-to-back doubles in the second from Ethan Roberts and Quinn Reno made it 4-0 early. Two more errors in the fifth added insurance runs for the tournament’s fourth seed, who advance to play No. 1 Vauxhall which had a first-round bye in a 3 p.m. game.
Kennedy McKay struck out seven for Havre in 5 2/3 innings and got the win despite six walks. Jette Pruttis took the loss for the Cardinals, who were led at the plate by Tony Daley’s 2-for-4 effort.
Tri-County now has a day off before resuming play in the loser’s bracket Saturday.
Second-seeded Lethbridge showed their pedigree in a 10-1 win over No. 7 Fort Macleod in Thursday’s second game. Nolan Nishikawa threw a complete-game three-hitter, striking out six and walking none. He was also 2-for-3 in the cleanup spot, scoring in a six-run fifth inning that blew the game open.
The Royals got their only run on an error in the top of the fifth. Ty Schaffer took the loss pitching and was 2-for-3 at the plate.
