LIVINGSTON — It was championship Sunday in Livingston for the Southern A Legion baseball district tournament.
The No. 2 seeded Gallatin Valley Outlaws beat the Butte Miners early in the morning to punch their ticket to state and to face off against the No.1 seed Belgrade Bandits for the Southern A title. The Outlaws had to beat Belgrade twice to win the championship. The Bandits only had to win once.
Gallatin Valley jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first-inning. However, Belgrade answered in the bottom half with four runs of their own and never looked back cruising to a 8-2 victory.
"This is a difficult conference," said Belgrade Bandits head coach Johnny Graham. "I think this conference is deep and has a number of good teams -- it's a challenge and to accomplish that challenge is a good thing.
Coby Richards led Belgrade at the dish. In three at bats, he finished with two hits, two RBI and two runs scored. The Bandits had seven different players with a run batted in.
Evan Hamburger was solid on the mound for Belgrade. He pitched five innings, giving up only four hits, striking out six Outlaws and giving up two earned runs. Gavin Waters came in to close out the final two innings of the game for the Bandits. He didn't allow a hit and struck out three.
The Bandits head to the state tournament in Havre to take on the No.2 seed from the East at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 29.
The Outlaws take on the No.1 seed from the East at 10 a.m. on the same day.
