Outlaws win district baseball title

After winning four games in four days to take home the Montana American Legion Class A South District Championship, the Gallatin Valley Outlaws now have their sights set on a state crown.

The Outlaws will open the 2019 Class A State Tournament in Florence Saturday, July 27 against the second seed from the North, Lewistown.

Gallatin Valley captured the district title with a 12-2 win over Dillon in Sunday's championship game.

The second-seeded Outlaws opened the district tournament in strong fashion with a 20-2 win over seventh seeded Livingston. Gallatin Valley continued their strong play Friday picking up an 8-2 win Friday over third seeded Helena. The Outlaws advanced to the finals with a 15-5 win Saturday over the Butte Miners.

Assistant Coach Ryan Murphy said the team had a great weekend of baseball, and "ten runned" three of the four teams they played.

"We have relied on our pitching all year, so it was nice to see our bat comes to life. Every kid in the lineup 1 to 9 got hits in clutch situations," he said.

This was the first district title for the Outlaws since 2014 and Murphy is hoping the team will carry momentum into play this weekend.

The team has a 3-1 record against Lewistown is 2019.

"This state tournament is really wide open in the sense of anybody can go out and win it. I feel like we have a huge opportunity and if we play to the potential, we are capable of playing too we could bring a state championship back," Murphy said.