FLORENCE – The first round of the Montana/Alberta State A Baseball Tournament began in Florence on Saturday morning.
VAUXHALL 6, DILLON 0
In the first game of the day, it was the Dillons Cubs taking on the Vauxhall Spurs. It was Dillon’s first trip to the state tournament since 2011 but they were not greeted kindly by the Spurs.
In the second inning, Vauxhall picked up their first run on an errant throw to first. They added another when Grady Honess grounded into a fielder’s choice. In the fourth inning, they added to that two-run lead with a two-run single from Carson Cleland.
In the seventh inning Dillon looked to get a rally going but with two outs and what looked to be a double, Vauxhalls’ Dallas Cummins made a sliding catch to end the game.
GALLATIN 6, LEWISTOWN 3
In the second game, it was the Gallatin Valley Outlaws taking on the Lewistown Red Birds. In the top of the first inning, Lewistown was in trouble after Gallatin got a runner to second with no outs, but Cody Henderson worked out of the jam nicely as he struck out a batter, followed by two flyouts.
It was the same story for Gallatin in the bottom of the inning as Lewistowns’ leadoff batter found first but the defense turned a beautiful tailor-made 6-4-3 double play followed by a flyout to right to escape the threat.
In the fifth inning, the Outlaws’ bats came alive. Already leading 3-0, Gabriel Delgatty cracked a two-run triple over the right fielders head to grow the lead to five.
In the seventh inning, Lewistown finally found the scoreboard, tacking on three runs but it proved to be too little, too late as Gallatin closed the door and took the win in their first game.
To find all the scores from the first round click here.
