American Legion Baseball Lakers AA face Helena, again, in state tourney opener
The fifth-seeded Kalispell Lakers will face the No. 4 seed Helena Senators on Wednesday at noon in first-round action at the Class AA Montana/Alberta American Legion state baseball tournament in Bozeman.
It marks the second straight year both teams hold those seeds and will meet in the second game in opening-round action. The Lakers won last year’s state matchup in Missoula 16-9.
Wednesday’s Lakers-Senators winner will face the Bozeman vs. Billings Scarlets winner on Thursday at 7 p.m. Bozeman is the top seed. The Scarlets are seeded eighth.
The Lakers-Senators loser has a loser-out game Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in the double-elimination tournament.
The Lakers are making their ninth trip to state in coach Ryan Malmin’s 12 seasons with the team.
The two teams met six times during the course of 2017 schedule, both winning three times.
The Lakers won a doubleheader at Kindrick Legion Field in Helena on April 30, 7-5 and 4-3.
The Senators followed with a doubleheader sweep at Griffin Field in Kalispell on May 13, 7-6 and 7-1.
The two teams met again at Griffin Field on June 27 with Helena winning the first game of another doubleheader 4-3, while Kalispell came back to take the second game 9-3.
Kalispell wrapped up regular-season action by taking two games from the Butte Miners last Saturday, 12-3 and 10-9.
Helena dropped its two season-ending games, 14-9 and 7-4 to the Billings Royals.
The Lakers won seven of their last 10 conference games.
The tournament champion, along with Missoula, advance to the 2017 Northwest Regional in Missoula. Missoula qualifies for regional action as the host team. Play starts on Aug. 2.
Regional champions head for the World Series in Shelby, North Carolina, the following week.
Class AA Montana/Alberta
American Legion State Baseball Tournament
Heroes Park at Legion Fields At Bozeman
Wednesday
9 a.m. — No. 3 Missoula (12-6) vs. No. 6 Great Falls Chargers (9-9)
Noon — No. 4 Helena Senators (12-6) vs. No. 5 Kalispell Lakers (11-7)
3 p.m. — No. 2 Billings Royals (13-5) vs. No. 7 Lethbridge Elks (7-11)
7:30 p.m. — No. 1 Bozeman Bucks (14-4) vs. No. 8 Billings Scarlets (6-12)
Thursday
9:30 a.m. — Game 1 loser vs. Game 3 loser
12:30 p.m. — Game 2 loser vs. Game 4 loser
4 p.m. — Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 winner
7 p.m. — Game 2 winner vs. Game 4 winner
Friday
Noon — Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 loser
3:30 p.m. — Game 5 winner vs. Game 8 loser
7 p.m. — Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner
Saturday
3:30 p.m. — TBD
7 p.m. — TBD
Sunday
11 a.m. — Championship Game
Class AA State Tournament Rotation
2018 — Kalispell Lakers
2019 — Billings Royals
2020 — Great Falls Chargers 2021 — Billings Scarlets
2022 — Medicine Hat Monarchs
2023 — Helena Senators
2024 —Lethbridge Elks
2025 —Butte Miners