MH Big League Baseball gets set to host ‘AA’ State tournament

By JAMES TUBB on July 23, 2025.

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jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

Medicine Hat will be on display at the end of the month as the city plays host to the Alberta Montana Legion AA State Tournament.

Medicine Hat Big League Baseball will host seven visiting AA teams July 29 to Aug. 3 with a spot in the North West regional tournament in Billings, Mont. on the line. The five-day tournament will be played at Athletic Park.

It will be the third time Medicine Hat will play host to the State Tournament, previously hosting in 2010 and 1996. They were slated to host in 2022 but that was altered due to COVID-19.

“These kind of tournaments are sort of prestigious, they’re really fun to organize and there’s lots of work to them, but the level of play is really good,” organizer Lovell McDonnell said. “To be able to put it together and watch these teams go at it, to declare a champion, is lots of fun and for baseball fans, they’re going to see a good level of baseball.”

The Monarchs will open the tournament with the final game of play on July 30, with an opening ceremony to kick-off the five-day tournament. McDonnell organized the last two State Tournaments held in Medicine Hat and he says the difference from the last 15 and 29 years to this year’s tournament is the costs have risen. He says the only thing that hasn’t changed is the exceptional baseball.

“At the beginning, it was more a learning curve there that we had to figure out and now some of us have been around a long time, or myself the longest, but we kind of know, in general, how it has to work,” McDonnell said. “There’s challenges too, you never know what weather can do and those kind of things as well. So we’re prepared for it too, and we’re ready to run it.”

As a team, the Monarchs carry a 7-27-2 record into play Tuesday night. It’s been a season of ups and downs head coach Lyall Foran says. Heading into the state tournament, he says it’s about getting hot at the right time and stringing games together.

“Major leaguers say, it’s when you get into the postseason, it’s a brand new season. The same is true for us when we get into the state tournament, it’s a brand new season,” Foran said. “There’s just a bit of atmosphere around every single game and players come to play at the state tournament, I’m excited to see what our kids are going to be about in the state tournament and the energy and the enthusiasm that they’re going to bring.

“Even though we may not be the top seed for this tournament, every team knows from the performances that we’ve given throughout the course of the year, that we’re a team that you probably don’t want to meet up with in the state tournament. They know that our pitching has depth and and they know our hitters, when we come alive, we can be dangerous.”

Foran says the baseball will be must-watch all week and he hopes they can get a crowd fitting of the tournament’s prestigious. He recalls the atmosphere the crowd brought in 2010 and what it can do for a team in the tournament.

“We were maybe a seven seed and we were playing one of the top teams in the Billings Royals and came out with a win, it was pretty thrilling,” Foran said. “It’s a great opportunity for the guys to just show that in front of the home crowd. So I’m looking forward to the guys enthusiasm, their excitement and hopefully letting it play out on the field.”

The tournament gets underway July 30 with games at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The second day of action has games at the same time. The tournament winds down as teams get eliminated from the two-loss knockout, with Day 3 (Aug. 1) have just three games, 1, 4 and 7 p.m.

Aug. 2 will decide who advances to the finals, with games at 4 and 7 p.m. The final runs Aug. 3, an 11 a.m. championship game.